3 minutes agoAuthor: Ashwin Solanki
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The day of 14th May 1999. One Day World Cup match was going on between India and South Africa. African captain Hansie Cronje was wearing ear pieces while fielding. Team coach Bob Woolmer was telling him the strategy from the dressing room. ICC then banned the activity of operating the game from the dressing room.
Now fast forward to IPL 2024. Here the captain is not playing with earpieces in his ears but the coach or mentor sitting in the dugout is taking decisions for his team. This raises the question whether the importance of captains is decreasing in T-20 cricket?
First of all, let us know in which IPL team the coach and mentor are seen dominating the captain. There appear to be 5 such teams…
1. Kolkata Knight Riders
The captain of the team is Shreyas Iyer. He could not do anything special as a batsman. Important decisions of the team are being taken by mentor Gautam Gambhir and coach Chandrakant Pandit. From playing 11 to elections to match plans, they are preparing the same.
2. Gujarat Titans
The captain of the team is young batsman Shubhman Gill. This IPL is going well for Gill as a batsman. Coach Ashish Nehra is deciding the planning and strategy of this team. Nehra was also seen giving instructions outside the boundary line while the team was fielding.
3.Mumbai Indians
Hardik Pandya got the captaincy of the team in 2024. Hardik was criticized when MI lost the initial matches, then mentor Kieron Pollard said that the team’s decisions were taken jointly by him and coach Mark Boucher. The influence of both of them was clearly visible on the match and Hardik during the entire season.
4. Delhi Capitals
The captain of the team is Rishabh Pant. He has played well as a batsman but the team’s decisions are being taken by head coach Ricky Ponting sitting in the dugout. The strategy was decided by coach Ponting and director Sourav Ganguly.
5. Lucknow Supergiants
The captain of LSG is KL Rahul, he was the top run scorer of the team but coach Justin Langer played an important role in the decisions. Due to his influence, the team gave a chance to left arm spinner M Siddharth against RCB, who took the wicket of Virat Kohli in the powerplay. However, the team could not make it to the playoffs.
Langer was brought in to replace Andy Flower and Gautam Gambhir, with the help of whom Lucknow played the 2022 and 2023 playoffs. Flower became the coach of RCB, while Gambhir took over the mentorship of KKR. Both the teams made it to the playoffs this season.
Due to these 3 reasons the role of coach and mentor is increasing…
1. The pace of the game is very fast
T20 cricket is a fast paced game. 20 overs have to be bowled in 100 minutes. It is the captain who has to bear the penalty of slow over rate. In such a situation, the captain is not able to focus on all the aspects. To overcome the problem of lack of time, more than one brain of the team applies to the match. This task is easy for a mentor or coach.
2. Analyst feedback is important
Data is used a lot in cricket. A data analyst is present with every team. This analyst gives his feedback according to every type of situation. Data analyst cannot enter the field. Based on his feedback, the mentor or coach takes the call and passes the message to the captain.
3. Experience of coach and mentor
Most of the coaches or mentors are experienced players of the game. Gambhir has made KKR champion twice. In the presence of Ponting, MI transformed from an ordinary team to a champion team. Nehra is known for fresh ideas and has a lot of experience as an Indian player.
How do coaches and mentors help during matches?
These days there are 2 strategic timeouts in IPL matches. In these timeouts of two and a half minutes each, the coach and mentor reach the field and talk to their team and explain to them the game plan ahead. Apart from this, when the wicket falls, the extra player goes to the field and conveys the message of the coaching staff to his team. Even during the innings break, the support staff has 10 to 15 minutes to talk to their team.
Sunrisers got the benefit of changing coach and captain
Sunrisers Hyderabad has also made changes in its leadership staff after poor performance in IPL. SRH’s coach in 2022 was Tom Moody and captain Kane Williamson. In 2023, the coach was Brian Lara and captain Aiden Markram. The team did not reach the playoffs in both seasons. In 2024, Daniel Vettori became the coach and Pat Cummins was given the captaincy. The result was that the team finished second in the points table and made it to the playoffs. The special thing is that Markram, who was the captain last season, is no longer a part of the playing-11.
What do experts say?
Amay Khurasia said – Captain’s role reduced by 20%
Former Indian cricketer Amay Khurasia said, ‘The role of the coach and support staff has increased and the role of the captain has reduced by about 20%. In these also the role of data analyst became even more important. There are 2 to 3 data analysts in every team, they guide the coach as to which particular player can be sent to which position.
Data analysts extract the statistics of players like Ashutosh Sharma, Shashank Singh and Riyan Parag and share them with coaches and mentors in team meetings. They tell which player takes 2 runs in the last over, which player hits a four and which player hits a six. Coaches and mentors understand the role of the player from the analyst and make a strategy and apply it in the match. That is why the hiring of data analysts has increased in most of the teams.
Ajay Ratra said- T20 fast game, external support is necessary
Former Indian cricketer Ajay Ratra said, ‘At present there are two types of teams in IPL, one coach dominating and one captain dominating. The role of the coach is more important in coach dominating. T20 is a very fast game, teams want their captain not to face much trouble, that is why he keeps getting constant guidance from coaches and mentors.
The game of T-20 changes in a single over, in such a situation the captain gets less time to make a game plan. Therefore, the coach keeps guiding with the help of extra players during timeouts, drinks breaks and fall of wickets.
The role of coach is important in these sports also
Apart from football, basketball, hockey, rugby, kabaddi are also such sports in which the responsibility of planning and strategy rests more on the coach than the captain. In these sports, coaches also play an important role in selecting the team. Accountability is also greater for the coach. Therefore, for poor performance, the coach is dismissed before the captain.
English club Chelsea fired its manager after poor performance
In football, the coach is called the manager, his role is so important there that after poor performance the manager is the first one to be fired. Its best example is the English club Chelsea. The team fired its coach Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday, as the team remained sixth in the EPL points table.
Chelsea has fired 6 of its permanent managers in the last 5 years. Whereas since 2018, the team captain has been changed only once. This proves that the role of the manager in football is bigger than that of the captain. This is slowly happening in cricket now.
Graphics: Anklesh Vishwakarma
expert eInput: Rajkishore Yadav
