Ashish Nehra breaks 14-year old jinx by becoming first Indian head coach to win an IPL title

Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra became the first Indian to clinch an IPL trophy and broke the 14-year-old record that had been set so far in the tournament history. Right from the inaugural edition, the international coaches like Shane Warne, Darren Lehmann, Ricky Ponting, Trevor Bayliss, Tom Moody, Stephen Fleming, John Wright, and Mahela Jayawardene have all managed to win the title for various IPL franchises.

Among the names, New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming has the most titles with four to his name so far and all have come for the Chennai Super Kings in the tournament. Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene is second with three titles for the Mumbai Indians and there hasn’t been an Indian on the list so far. However, Nehra broke the jinx with the Gujarat Titans going on to win their maiden IPL title in their very first season.

Ashish Nehra joins the elite list of cricketers who have won an IPL title as a player and head coach

Also, Nehra has joined an elite list of cricketers who have won IPL trophies both as a player and a head coach. Ponting, Lehmann, and Warne were the other three to do so, and Nehra has become the fourth introduction to the list. The left-arm seamer won an IPL title as a player for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 under David Warner’s captaincy.

Nehra achieved the feat on the back of an excellent season for the Titans this year who were up to the task with both and ball throughout IPL 2022. Nehra’s insights into Hardik Pandya played a key part in winning the tournament and it was one of the best player-head coach duos in terms of relationship and team bonding.

Pandya recently hailed Nehra for bringing the best out of him and also for allowing the players to express themselves in the dugout ahead of the finals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.