Former India pacer Vinay Kumar is set to return to Karnataka as their head coach for the upcoming domestic season. Vinay has been successful as Karnataka captain, leading them to consecutive Rnaji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy title wins more than a decade ago. He will replace Yere Goud who has served for two seasons.
42-year-old Vinay will have his former teammate Deepak Chougule as fielding coach. Karnataka’s bowling coach Mansur Ali Khan is likely to continue.
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Chougule has represented India Under-19s and has played 26 first class games, 30 List A games and nine T20s.
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This won't be Vinay's first coaching stint. He has been MI Emirates' bowling coach in the ILT20 2022. Earlier, he was a talent scout for five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI).
How Karnataka did in the previous domestic season?
Vinay will be working with Devudutt Padikkal who took over the captaincy from Mayank Agarwal. In the previous edition, Karnataka lost the final to Jammu & Kashmir under Padikkal's leadership. In the Vijay Hazare 2025-26, Agarwal-led Karnataka lost to Vidarbha by six wickets in the semifinal. Vidarbha went on to win the title. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025, Karnataka couldn't make it past the group stage as they faced five defeats from seven games.
Vinay’s record as player
Vinay made his Test debut in Perth, took one wicket and never played another Test. He made his ODI and T20I debut in 2010 against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively. He hasn't played international cricket since November 2013. From 31 T20Is, he claimed 38 wickets at an average of 37.44, including a four-fer against England in Delhi. He played nine T20Is and took 10 wickets at an average of 24.70. His economy rate was 7.84 runs per over. In his last T20I game, he claimed three wickets for 26 runs against Australia.
Vinay has played for four IPL franchises in a career that spanned over a decade. He made his debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the inaugural IPL season and played three seasons. He played for now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala before returning to RCB for two seasons. He joined Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2014, winning the title with them. He joined MI for three seasons before finishing his IPL career at KKR. Overall, he has been part of three IPL-winning seasons. In 105 IPL games, he has as many wickets including a solitary four-fer.
He has been a domestic cricket legend, bagging 504 wickets from 139 appearances at an average of 22.44. He has 26 fifers to his name. After representing Karnataka, he also played for Pondicherry as guest player. From 141 List A games, he took 225 wickets featuring three fifers. He has 194 wickets from 181 T20s.