Famous Indian commentator and legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that he believes it’s a disadvantage for Indian cricket to have foreign coaches in Indian Premier League in the roles of mentors, and consultants. This enables them to get first-hand information about Indian players. The IPL has not only been the breeding ground for overseas players to stake their claim in the league. But it also has given the platform to overseas coaches. Majority of the IPL teams place their bets on foreign coaches till today despite having no less options in their country.
During the recently held Edgbaston Test between England and India, England head coach Brendon McCullum, who was associated with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), signalled his bowlers from the balcony to bowl short deliveries at Shreyas Iyer. Iyer has been the captaining the Kolkata-based franchise in IPL 2022. This incident has been the key factor to light up this hot debate.
Are foreign IPL coaches spies in disguise?
In an interaction on Sports today, Sunil Gavaskar was asked about the incident. He said the BCCI needs to “look at” foreign coaches obtaining crucial first-hand information about Indian cricketers during their IPL stints.
“It is something that we need to look at when it comes to coaches in the IPL. You have a lot of players who are coaching their national teams. and when they come to the IPL, they tend to see our players first hand. Now getting data from the computer and seeing players first hand is something different,”
SUNIL GAVASKAR SAID.
Gavaskar highlighted that having foreign coaches in IPL is a disadvantage to Indian cricket as they get first-hand information about Indian players.
“So it is of disadvantage to Indian cricket because some of them may go back and assist. perhaps not be the main coaches but as assistant coaches or batting consultants or bowling consultants, who are coming in and getting first hand information about Indian players, that might not be advantageous for India,”
HE OPINED.
