Simon Toughest Katich
Australian cricket team is known for their toughness. They are fierce competitors and play the game hard. It is also debated many times who was the toughest among them. Brett Lee had mentioned in BwC that by far the toughest cricketer in the world was Simon Katich. Katich’s ability to cope with pain was amazing. He never wore an arm guard or chest guard on the net. He simply ignored the bruises and continued the batting as if nothing happened.
Embed from Getty ImagesDad was a Detective:
Katich’s grandparents were from Croatia. They emigrated to Australia during the 1920s and settled in Perth. His Dad, Vince, was a detective in police and solved the case of serial killers David and Catherine Birnie.
The Tussle with Michael Clarke:
It was during a Test match at SCG, Australia beat South Africa and they were celebrating in the dressing room. The celebration ended with a heated discussion between Katich and Clarke over the team song. As per the team members, the fight started because Clarke wanted to sing the song quickly so that he could attend another function.
Post Retirement:
Katich was appointed as the assistant coach for Kolkata Knight Riders in October 2005. Since August 2019 he is the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He also plays the role of Operations Manager of the Greater Western Sydney Giants AFL club.
Simon Katich played 56 Test and 45 ODI matches and scored 4,188 and 1,324 runs respectively.