At 49, Anil Kumble has witnessed many things. The top Indian bowler, with the most sets in ODI and Trials, and one of only two players to take all 10 wickets in a Test inning, has also captained and coached the national team.
Still, when it comes to the Indian Premier League (IPL), he’s eager to keep trying new tricks.
As head coach of Kings XI Punjab, he is “trying to talk to the Punjabi boys with as much Punjabi accent” as his Kannada language allows. It is part of Kumble’s familiarization process with the team before the tournament begins with the first match in Abu Dhabi on September 19.
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Kumble is fortunate to try such things in an IPL franchise, unlike other Indian coaches who have not found a prominent place in front of any of the other seven franchises.
Kumble can’t help but see irony in the situation. “I can’t answer that (why don’t other teams have Indian head coaches). Clearly, it is not a true reflection of our resources. It’s kind of ironic that there is only one Indian head coach at IPL. Hopefully in the future we will see more Indians as head coaches, ”Kumble said in an interaction.
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All other IPL franchises have head coaches overseas this season: Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders), Ricky Ponting (Delhi Capitals), Andrew McDonald (Rajasthan Royals), Mahela Jayawardene (Mumbai Indians), Trevor Bayliss (Sunrisers Hyderabad) ), Stephen Fleming (Chennai Super Kings) and Simon Katich (Royal Challengers Bangalore).
There have also been very few cases in the past where teams have gone with Indian head coaches. Lalchand Rajput (MI), Robin Singh (SRH) and Venkatesh Prasad (RCB) are the three to coach an IPL team entering its 13th edition.
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