Powering The Action

The IPL is intense. Players let off the fireworks on the pitch, but it is the coaches and support staff that light the fuses. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED traces the evolution of this critical aspect of the game, and why Indians still need to make a mark

- Vimal Kumar

THE MORE THINGS change, the more they remain the same. A lot has changed in the IPL since its inception in 2008. On the coaching front, however, much hasn’t changed. Despite the Indian cricket teams emerging as superpowers across the formats in international cricket and countless young players getting tremendous exposure from the League, Indian coaches are still not able to make their presence felt. Out of the eight teams, the only Indian who may not technically be the ‘head coach,’ but is at the helm is Zubin Bharucha with the Rajasthan Royals. The rest of the seven teams are being led by foreign players who are head coaches for various teams.

While this may speak very poorly of the Indian system that consistently fails to produce world-class coaches, the story is more complex than just the numbers and not all gloom.

Ideally, a country that has a record number of first-class teams (28 Ranji trophy teams) should lead the coaching set-up across the globe, but it is not in great demand even at home in the most high-profile domestic league that is the IPL. When it comes to coaches, the IPL could well be the “Indian Foreign League.” The only saving grace is that the number of Indian assistant coaches has been increasing in the tournament.

“It baffles me too. It’s tough to understand why they don’t hire more local coaches who might have a better connect with the domestic players, are better communicators (can speak in English and Hindi, and other local languages),” says Surendra Bhave, a former India selector who also was the head coach of the Maharashtra Ranji Trophy team when they reached the tournament’s final after 21 years in 2014.