Hrishikesh Kanitkar joins Goa as coach

Former Maharashtra batsmen Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Dheeraj Jadhav have joined Goa as coach and professional respectively for the forthcoming domestic season. Both men have been handed one-year contracts by the Goa Cricket Association.

While Kanitkar announced his retirement from competitive cricket earlier this month, Jadhav has moved closer to his hometown Pune after playing for Assam for six seasons, starting from 2009-10.

"After helping Assam qualifying for the top tier as captain, there was a sense of achievement. When the Goa opportunity cropped up, I took it up since it is again a new challenge to help the team into the elite," Jadhav told ESPNcricinfo. "And it is a great feeling to be able to be reunited with Hrishi. We had some great memories as team-mates. Let us hope we can revive the same magic for Goa this time around."

Kanitkar was the captain when Jadhav scored more than 1000 runs to help Maharashtra win the Ranji Trophy plate group in 2003-04. While Jadhav left Maharashtra to join the Indian Cricket League in 2007, Kanitkar joined Madhya Pradesh the following year. Kanitkar then joined Rajasthan and led them to consecutive Ranji titles, in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Jadhav, meanwhile, signed for Assam after returning to the BCCI fold and made 3256 runs, including 12 hundreds and 10 fifties from 44 matches at an average of 56.13.

While Kanitkar played two Tests and 34 ODIs for India, Jadhav never got an international cap, though he managed to make the Test squad for three matches.

The Goa stint will be Kanitkar's first full-time coaching responsibility. In 2011, he was appointed as Kochi Tuskers Kerala's assistant coach, but walked out of the contract even before the IPL season began because of disputes with the owners.

"Coaching is something I am very keen on. If I get an opportunity to work with teams, it would be a great learning experience," Kanitkar had said at the time of his retirement.

The GCA has also announced former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra as its Under-19 coach. Ratra, who too announced his retirement earlier this month, has also played for Goa as a professional.