The IPL may still be three months away but that hasn’t stopped the two new franchises from finalising their support staff.

It is learnt that the Lucknow franchise, owned by the Sanjiv Goenka-backed RPSG Ventures Ltd, has finalised Andy Flower as their head coach. The former Zimbabwe captain and England head coach had for the last few seasons worked with Punjab Kings.

The Lucknow franchise is also learnt to have finalised their three players, which they are entitled to rope in from the pool of unretained players.

While KL Rahul has been their first choice as captain, they are also learnt to have been in advanced talks with Rashid Khan and Ishan Kishan.

The Ahmedabad franchise — which is owned by international investment firm Irelia Company Pte Ltd, an arm of CVC Capital Partners — have also shortlisted their three players. Shreyas Iyer is likely to be the captain while Hardik Pandya is their second man on the list. The third player is yet to be finalised with David Warner being preferred over Quinton de Kock.

CVC Capital Partners, however, are yet to get the letter of intent as the Board has set up a neutral committee to look into its betting links.

Iyer had been with Delhi Capitals and had led the franchise till his injury in 2020 put Rishabh Pant in the captain’s seat.

Dale Steyn is likely to be the bowling coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The former South Africa fast bowler, who has played 95 IPL games, had announced retirement from all forms of cricket in August.