2011 India World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten highlights his philosophy behind Gujarat Titans' success in the IPL 2022.
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Gujarat Titans have given a fair account of their cricketing and management prowess in the debut season. The Ahmedabad franchise forayed into the lucrative tournament in IPL 2022 and became the first team to book the playoffs berth before becoming the first to seal a place in the final. And one of the major highlights of their IPL 2022 success is that the franchise performed consistently under the likes of an inexperienced captain Hardik Pandya with the experienced brains of Ashish Nehra (coach) and Gary Kirsten (assistant coach) guiding him from the sidelines.
Nehra, the India bowling great, has been an easy to go with kind of coach while South Africa’s Kirsten brought in a lot of experience to groom the talents of a young team. Kirsten believes that the India all-rounder has done well as the leader of the side and Nehra has made sure that the franchise operates smoothly right from the word go.
“I guess a whole lot of things. Hardik has done a great job from a captaincy perspective as a new captain. Ashish (Nehra, head coach) has also made sure that the team operates smoothly. The guys have put in a lot of effort into their training. Recruitment is also an important one – putting the team together. The guys have stepped up when they have needed to. Every game has required an impact player and we have been able to deliver on that. We have got a good blend of experience in the team with some talented young players,” Kirsten told moneycontrol.com.
‘Kirsten further highlighted that his philosophy at the onset of the lucrative tournament was to assemble a ‘team’ without having any large expectations. But as it turned out, Gujarat Titans, went beyond the expectations of the fans and critics alike to emerge as the favourites to win the IPL 2022 final against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
“I don’t think we had any expectations. It was more around putting a team together from scratch and doing what we could do as coaches to set up an environment where players could play as well as they could. That was the intention. With a new team, the benefit is that the expectations are not that high. But at the same time, everyone is striving to do well and win,” Kirsten said.
“We are No. 1 on the table, so we’ve put in a lot of wins. So, I think there definitely is that belief. But you still have to play good cricket. One thing that has worked well for us is that we now understand what the personality of the team is, what our performance flow is as a team and how each guy performs at his best. We have to make sure that individuals play to their strengths,” the South African added.
