"It will be pretty cool to link up with him again" - Michael Bracewell on reuniting with Mike Hesson at RCB in IPL 2023

New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell is keen to reunite with former Black Caps coach Mike Hesson at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2023.

Bracewell recently replaced England spin bowling all-rounder Will Jacks in the RCB squad for the 16th edition of the cash-rich league. He has been signed by the Bangalore outfit for his auction base price of INR 1 crore.

Bracewell has played 117 T20 matches and scored 2284 runs at a strike rate of 133.48 while picking up 40 wickets at an economy rate of 6.52. The spin-bowling all-rounder made his first-class debut for Otago when Hesson was the coach of the South Island domestic side in New Zealand.

While talking about the opportunity to once again work under Hesson, who is the current Director of Cricket Operations at RCB, Bracewell was quoted by Stuff.co.nz as saying:

“He [Hesson] was the coach of the team when I've made my first class debut, so it'll be pretty cool to link up with him again and probably share a few old Otago stories along the way.”

Bracewell is currently playing for New Zealand in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka. Reacting to his inclusion by RCB for the upcoming IPL season, the 32-year-old said:

"I haven't afforded myself too much time to get too excited because obviously there's a big game in front of me."

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Michael Bracewell happy to play with cousin Doug Bracewell in same team

Michael Bracewell registered figures 3 for 50 as the Black Caps bowled out Sri Lanka for 164 in response to their humongous first-innings total of 580/4. They enforced a follow-on in the second innings, but Sri Lanka displayed a spirited fightback with the bat.

Dhananjaya de Silva (98) and Dinesh Chandimal (62) put up 126 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter departed. Bracewell denied de Silva his 10th Test century as he got the Sri Lankan batter caught at short leg by Henry Nicholls.

The most important thing for Bracewell was to play alongside his cousin Doug Bracewell in the same playing XI. Doug replaced the injured Neil Wagner in the second match to mark his return to Test cricket after nearly seven years.

The Bracewell brothers often face each other in the matches between Otago and Central Districts in the Plunket Shield (New Zealand's first-class domestic championship).

Expressing his thoughts on playing with his cousin Doug, Michael said:

"My family grew up in Dunedin and Doug grew up in Tauranga, so we'd see each other sort of once a year and there'd be some pretty fierce backyard cricket games and forceback rugby games as well"

He added:

"He's played a lot of really good first-class cricket leading up to this point, and in all formats really. He's put those performances back on the board, and it's great to see him enjoying his cricket and playing freely. It’s probably a lot more fun being on the same team as him, than coming up against him."

Michael Bracewell was initially named in the New Zealand squad for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting on March 25. However, he was released from the squad by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) following the all-rounder's inclusion by RCB.

Wellington left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra replaced Michael in the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka series.