Former India captain and chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar has questioned foreign coaches’ appointments in India and in the world’s biggest T20 franchise tournament – Indian Premier League (IPL) while asking how many Indians are coaching in foreign leagues.
Almost all cricket playing nations have their own franchise tournament but they all opted against hiring the foreign coaches, offering opportunities to local coaches.
Vengsarkar, who is known for his strong and erudite views about the game, asked IPL franchises why they hire foreign coaches, knowing the fact that there are no Indians coaching in other leagues like Australia’s Big Bash Leagues.
For the 13th edition of the IPL in the UAE, there is only one Indian coach, Anil Kumble (Kings XI Punjab), who is heading the franchise while the other seven teams have non-Indian head coaches, namely Ricky Ponting (Delhi Capitals), Brendon McCullum (KKR), Stephen Fleming (CSK), Mahela Jayawardena (Mumbai Indians), Trevor Bayliss (SRH), Simon Katich (RCB) and Andrew McDonald (Rajasthan Royals).
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Ahead of the IPL 2020, the 1983 World Cup winner has urged the IPL franchises to give more opportunities to local coaches, saying the Indian coaches have the experience and the potential to do the job since they are coaching the domestic teams exceedingly well.
Vengsarkar told Gulf News: “I believe more Indian coaches should coach the IPL teams simply because they have the experience; they have also been coaching the states exceedingly well.”
Former batsman further asked, “Besides, how many Indian coaches are coaching teams in other countries' league like Australia's Big Bash, etc.? We find none. So why should we hire foreign coaches? I feel our coaches are equally good and some of them are even better.”
He signed off by saying, “It's time we give more opportunity to Indian coaches, I am sure they will do exceedingly well. Hopefully, IPL teams will have more Indian coaches than foreign coaches.”
