Darren Sammy, who is working as an expert and commentator in the ongoing Indian Premier League, has accused Australian coaches in the IPL for being biased towards their homeland players.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter on Tuesday (May 15), Sammy endorsed the views of former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith, who has raised the same question during Star Sports’ game analysis show ‘Select Dugout’.
“Totally agree with that call @GraemeSmith49 and the #SelectDugout about Australian coaches in the @IPL being bias to their players from their country @StarSportsIndia #shotsfired” Sammy tweeted.
Totally agree with that call @GraemeSmith49 and the #SelectDugout about Australian coaches in the @IPL being bias to their players from their country @StarSportsIndia #shotsfired
— Daren Sammy (@darensammy88) May 15, 2018
If performances of the IPL teams coached by former Australian players are to be taken into consideration, it would be fair to say that Sammy and Smith’s remarks were directly pointed towards Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Brad Hodge. While Ponting is mentoring the Delhi Daredevils franchise in IPL 2018, Warne and Hodge are coaching the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively.
The Aussie trio have backed their country players to the hilt despite their inconsistent performances. Ponting has given constant opportunities to Glenn Maxwell even though he hasn’t hit a single fifty in 10 innings of this year’s IPL whereas Warne has done the same with D'Arcy Short, who has recorded the highest score of 44 in his 7 innings for Rajasthan Royals.
On the other hand, Hodge has preferred Aaron Finch over David Miller in the Kings XI Punjab’s playing XI. In the seven innings of this year’s IPL, Finch has managed to register the highest score of 34.