Having been appointed as Rajasthan Royals’ head coach for the next edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), former Australia all-rounder Andrew McDonald has already outlined plans for the success of the franchise.
McDonald's first assignment as head coach of Royals will be at IPL auction, scheduled for December 19 in Kolkata.
“It’s all in the process at the moment, in terms of retention and discussing the way forward for the team. The deadline is next month, everyone is working through what we need, what’s viable in the market place. It’s all about improving the squad for the style of cricket that we feel can win the IPL. That’s all under consideration at the moment, and that’s where all the discussions are hovering around at the moment. How we can improve Rajasthan Royals,” he told Sportstar.
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McDonald’s CV as a coach is quite impressive. The 38-year-old has helped Victoria clinched the Sheffield Shield title in his very first year with the team in 2016-17 season before the state won both the One-Day and Shield titles under him the following summer. He also ensured Melbourne Renegades were crowned Big Bash League winners in the 2018-19 edition.
Talking about his challenges and targets for IPL 2020, McDonald said: “Improvement is the big thing. Any time you can improve, from year to year, with your list in terms of your performance, as we saw only last year small improvements could have meant that Rajasthan could have made the top four. And if you’ve made the top four, then you have a genuine chance of going all the way as was seen in the past. So, every team at the start of the year would be looking to make the top four. Finals would be an indication of improvement, something that’s a realistic challenge for the group in terms of captaincy.”
Despite having some top players in its ranks, Royals had failed to make it to the play-offs last year. In fact, they had sacked Ajinkya Rahane as captain midway through the season.
“We will assess where we are at in terms of leadership, in terms of the group that’s available for that window and so we’ll be having those discussions. Clearly with the team (faltered) last year so we are working through candidates for captaincy moving forward. These are the thoughts that matter at the moment,” the newly appointed coach said.
McDonald has been a part of the Indian Premier League in the past as he played for Delhi Daredevils in the 2009 season before being signed up by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012-2013. He was also the bowling coach of RCB.
Whether he will be able to revive Rajasthan’s fortune or not is to be seen, but McDonald is looking forward to the new challenge.
“Challenges that we’ll face in the upcoming tournament as a new coach coming in is really the connection with the group, not only the players but also the staff members that I will be working with. So getting to know them in the lead up to the tournament is pretty cool. I’m particular with the challenges of the short field into the tournament without access to players only a couple of weeks after the tournament. So, that will be a big challenge. Then also putting a list together. We’ve got retention coming up and then clearly, the auction and at some stage leading to mixed IPLs as well, so putting a list of players together that can implement a style of play that you think will win and take you to the business end of the tournament so, they are probably the key challenges that we’ll have weighing in particularly as a new coach coming in to that environment,” he concluded.
