Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq© Instagram
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 playoffs spots were confirmed on Sunday, with Mumbai Indians joining Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants being the top four sides. There was also disappointment for a number of franchises including Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore who narrowly missed out. Seeing the progress of certain franchises and their players, India great Sunil Gavaskar explained how Indian coaches have helped certain emerging talents step up their game.
Gavaskar gave the example of Rinku Singh and Chandrakant Pandit from KKR along with Naveen-ul-Haq and Gautam Gambhir from LSG as he lauded the contribution of Indian coaches.
“Look at the progress made by Rinku Singh under Chandu Pandit, the terrific coming back to form of Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy, and Nitish Rana growing as a captain. Under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir, see how Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, and Naveen Ul Haq are flowering, as also under Ashish Nehra and Hardik Pandya, who invariably find a new player of the match,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Gavaskar feels some domestic Indian players who come into the IPL face language barriers with foreign coaches. Hence, having an Indian coach guiding them turns out to be a huge advantage.
“That’s simply because communication and reach are easy for the domestic Indian players in these teams. Mind you, there will always be the overseas champ who has a way with young players and can act as a guide and mentor to them. These are rare exceptions and not the norm,” the original Little Master explained.
To conclude his case, Gavaskar shared a critical statistic. “Out of the 15 titles so far, 12 have been won by teams led by Indians,” he rested his case.
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