Reports: Members of the Indian Cricket team are unhappy with involvement of foreign coaches in the IPL

The flow of the first edition of the Indian Premier League hasn’t been as smooth as one might have thought would be. First, the delay in announcement dates due to the elections and also the change in the venue for the finals of the tournament. But the biggest worry has been the conflict of interest between the marquee T20 league and the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

While foreign players have been shuffling between national team duties and their respective IPL franchises, the Indian players have been provided with a workload management scheme. But the real issue, the newest one to emerge right ahead of the World Cup is the one involving foreign coaches. While foreign players have been shuffling between national team duties and their respective IPL franchises, the Indian players have been provided with a workload management scheme.

The real concern here is how the foreign coaches and analysts are affecting the players in the IPL and what information they’re taking with them to their national duties right ahead of the World Cup, that starts on May 30. Ricky Ponting, the head coach of Delhi Capitals will also be the assistant coach to Australia national team in the upcoming ICC event. Also, Prasanna Agoram, a Chennai-based analyst who is with the Kings XI Punjab currently, will be working with Cricket South Africa during the World Cup.

Players believe there need to be some lines drawn in the IPL

These roles played by the experts might be essential in the interest of these IPL teams, but this season is somewhat different due to the ICC World Cup being the big picture. To quote some players of Team India raising their concern, according to the TOI- “Imagine the extent to which they understand Dhawan the cricket. What clicks for him… what doesn’t… It’s clearly unhealthy. Rishabh, Prithvi, Shreyas – see the amount of analysis they’re being able to gather.”

Members of the Indian team have also been quoted saying, “The amount of work Prasanna has put in with the South African national team is tremendous. We got to know about it first hand when we visited South Africa last year. Now, this guy gets to spend two months right here in the Indian domestic circuit just weeks before he’ll accompany South Africa to the World Cup. This just doesn’t sound correct.”

Earlier Sourav Ganguly’s involvement as the mentor od the Delhi Capitals was questioned as it was seen as a conflict of interest for the administrative head of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). But that’s about policies of the BCCI. The real alarming issue was raised by the said Indian team members. 

“We don’t think it’s fine for Australia’s national assistant coach (Ponting) to be spending time with the Indian team opener just weeks ahead of a World Cup campaign, or even otherwise with a franchise that includes four India Test cricketers. Of course, the IPL’s a free market but some lines have to be drawn,” the players added.

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