Ranking top 10 current coaches in world cricket
They are often the unsung heroes but teams and players around the world cannot ignore the role they play.
3. Gary Kirsten
Gary Kirsten was not one of most gifted batters cricket has seen but yet, his name comes among South Africa’s prime scorers because he was a class Methodist with the bat who knew how to regain form each time he lost it. After retiring from international cricket, the former opener applied the same skills to his coaching and he got rich benefits.
After his playing days got over, Kirsten worked with South Africa’s domestic team Warriors as a consultant batting coach for some time and in 2006, he formed his own academy in Cape Town, his home town. In 2007, he became India’s coach and the stint proved to be a life-changing one for him. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side became the No.1 team in Tests and won the 2011 World Cup and Kirsten was praised for his low-profile amid all the success and celebrations.
He then moved on to coach South Africa but while the same success could not be replicated, he managed to make the Proteas the No.1 team in the long format. They registered away series wins against England and Australia which catapulted their ranks in Test cricket. Kirsten gave up South Africa’s coaching in 2013 and became the coach of the former Delhi Daredevils (currently Delhi Capitals) in the IPL.
It will be incorrect to label Kirsten only as a Test success since he was as accomplished a batter in one-day internationals. A modern-day cricketer who had worked with legendary coach Bob Woolmer and captain Hansie Cronje, it is not surprising to see Kirsten has evolved as a sharp cricketing brain. The man has been a student of Test batting for most of his life and when he took over as the coach of his home country, he put most of the focus on red-ball cricket and it paid off.
The 54-year-old will be looking after the Gujarat Titans, the new franchise that will make its debut this year. The Ahmedabad-based franchise roped in Kirsten as the batting coach and mentor besides Ashish Nehra and Vikram Solanki and the South African’s experience in working with franchises like Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Hobart Hurricanes will come handy during his stint with the Titans.
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