Gareth Batty leaves Surrey to join CSK coaching staff

Gareth Batty, the head coach who led Surrey to three consecutive County Championship titles between 2022 and 2024, is leaving the club to join Chennai Super Kings as an assistant to his former Worcestershire team-mate, Zaheer Khan.

Batty, 49, took up his Surrey role in 2021, immediately after ending his playing career with the club. In 2025, they followed their historic three-peat by finishing as runners-up to Nottinghamshire, but this season's Championship campaign proved to be more difficult.

The club flirted with relegation going into the final rounds of the season before eventually finishing seventh, and also failed to reach the latter stages of either the T20 Blast or the One-Day Cup.

Batty was also an assistant coach at Oval Invincibles for their title-winning campaign in 2025, then joined the Mumbai Indians' affiliated MI London in this year's rebranded competition.

However, he is now transferring his allegiance to their IPL rivals, CSK, as part of a sweeping overhaul to their back-room staff following the appointment of the franchise's long-term head coach, Stephen Fleming, to the England Test role, and his subsequent recruitment of assistants Eric Simons and James Foster.

Batty's departure ends a 21-year association with Surrey, whom he played for at the start of his career from 1998 to 2001, then returned to in 2010. Prior to taking over as head coach, he also served as club captain from 2015 to 2017, before handing over to the current incumbent, Rory Burns.

"Thank you hardly seems enough for all that Surrey has meant to me," Batty said in a statement. "It has been a privilege to serve this great club, to share in its success and challenges.

"The new journey is a very exciting one for my family and I with CSK in the IPL and I'm looking forward to getting going."

Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket, acknowledged that the "expectations and traditions" of English cricket's best-resourced county could be hard to live up to, but praised Batty for doing just that during his long association with the club.

"I have known and worked with Gareth for many years, and throughout that time he has shown an outstanding commitment to this club," Stewart said. "As a player and then as captain he has always put the team first and played a significant role in helping to move the club forward.

"He has a passion and knowledge for the game as well as a determination to get the very best out of himself and those around him. When he made the transition into coaching, he brought those same qualities with him.

"His achievement in leading the side to three consecutive County Championship titles is a reflection of his hard work, his understanding of the players and his fierce will to win."