Gujarat Titans batting coach and mentor Gary Kirsten was all praise for the Head coach of the franchise Ashish Nehra. Under their mentorship, the Gujarat Titans won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season title by defeating the Rajasthan Royals in the finals.
Ashish Nehra was part of the 2011 ICC World Cup-winning team coached by Kirsten. The duo has also worked together as coaches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. With the Gujarat Titans, Nehra took up the Head coach duties, while Kirsten assisted him in the role.
Speaking about Ashish Nehra’s mentorship in the Indian Premier League 2022 season, Kirsten said:
“Ashish is a close friend and we have walked a long journey together. As a player I enjoyed his willingness to keep understanding his game and his professionalism. He coaches with his heart, always thinking about his players and how he can help them.”
“He’s low profile and does not like the spotlight. He is tactically one of the best coaches in the IPL and is always talking to his players about how to make better performances,” he added.
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In IPL you need very strong Indian leadership – Gary Kirsten
The former India coach further expressed that he enjoyed his time with the Gujarat Titans. He also mentioned in a tournament like the IPL, when most of the players speak Hindi, it is important to have an Indian leader. Kirsten expressed,
“It was a great learning experience for me not being the head coach. First of all, I really enjoyed it. Secondly, I have a belief that in the IPL you need very strong Indian leadership – it is an Indian tournament in which 85% of the players’ first language is Hindi. When you’re in a 10-week campaign, Indian leadership understands how the whole massive machine runs.”
Gary Kirsten further opened up about the strategy of the Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2022 season. He stated that they wanted to be the best bowling side in the powerplay and the death overs.
“We realized that we were the team who were going to hit the least sixes, but we hit the most fours. We knew we faced the least dot balls in the entire competition. From a bowling perspective, we knew we wanted to be the team who were best in the PowerPlay and best at the death, and that’s exactly what happened,” Kirsten said.
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