Some of the members of Team India is reportedly unhappy with the involvement with some of the foreign coaches in the ongoing edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). All the head coaches of the IPL teams are foreigners.
While Chennai Super Kings is supervised by the former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, Ricky Ponting, Paddy Upton, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Gary Kirsten, Mike Hesson and Tom Moody are the coaches of Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
Most of the coaches along with the assistant coaches are foreigners. The Indian team doesn’t have any problem with the involvement of all the foreign coaches but only the personnel who will be involved with their national team after the tournament. Ricky Ponting will be Australia’s assistant coach in the upcoming World Cup for Australi and it hasn’t gone down well with some of the Indian cricketers.
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa’s analyst Prasanna Agoran who is presently with the Kings XI Punjab will be part of the South Africa set-up during the World Cup. There are chances of more involvement of some foreign IPL coaches in the World Cup which means they can pass on important information about the Indian players during the showpiece event.
“Imagine the extent to which they understand Dhawan the cricket. What clicks for him… what doesn’t… It’s clearly unhealthy. Rishabh, Prithvi, Shreyas – see the amount of analysis they’re being able to gather,” Times Of India quoted a source close to Team India.
Meanwhile, Prasanna is working very closely with the likes of KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami who will be part of India’s World Cup squad.
“The amount of work Prasanna has put in with the South African national team is tremendous. We got to know about it first hand when we visited South Africa last year. Now, this guy gets to spend two months right here in the Indian domestic circuit just weeks before he’ll accompany South Africa to the World Cup. This just doesn’t sound correct,” said some members of the Indian cricket team.
“We don’t think it’s fine for Australia’s national assistant coach (Ponting) to be spending time with the Indian team opener just weeks ahead of a World Cup campaign, or even otherwise with a franchise that includes four India Test cricketers. Of course, the IPL’s a free market but some lines have to be drawn,” the report added.