Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin has batted for more Indian coaches in the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying the franchises should give an opportunity to former national players in their coaching staff, rather than hiring foreigners.
Since the inception of the IPL in 2008, the trend of hiring not just the foreign coaches but also overseas players continued in the cash-rich tournament, but Azharuddin believes that the Indian coaches must get chances in the support staff since it’s an Indian League while pointing out other T20 leagues like Australia’s Big Bash League didn’t have Indian coaches.
Azharuddin told Pahar TV: “The IPL teams should give an opportunity to former India players, who're fairly experienced, to coach their teams. After all, it's the Indian Premier League, and more Indian coaches must get chances in it.
Our coaches don't get to coach in the Big Bash or coach the Australian or England teams. It's the franchisees' prerogative to hire anyone, but we must remember that we've former cricketers who've played a lot of international cricket in their time. They too deserve a chance, encouragement, and the financial benefits of coaching in the IPL.”
The head of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) further added, “I agree that the Board is giving financial benefits to these former cricketers, but if a lot of foreigners can come here and become millionaires through coaching in the IPL, why can't our players be allowed to do the same? I raised this issue in the BCCI's Annual General Meeting (AGM) last year.”
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Azharuddin was also critical of a trend that several players have been choosing to miss domestic matches following the arrival of the IPL and former captain urged the BCCI to take action against such players.
He signed off by saying, “The Board should take action against the players who are missing domestic games deliberately. When an India player plays for his domestic team, then youngsters get to learn a lot from him. I agree that the IPL is the premier tournament in world cricket, and everyone - the board and the players - benefits from it, but playing domestic is necessary.”
(With TNN Inputs)
