T10 League: Bengal Tigers rope in Stephen Fleming for the upcoming season

The second season of the UAE-based T10 league will kick off in November this year and promises to be bigger and better than the previous season. In the inaugural season last year, it was Eoin Morgan’s Kerala Kings who were crowned champions.

The Bengal Tigers, who qualified for the playoffs last season, have snapped the services of Stephen Fleming for the upcoming season. The former Kiwi captain has a wealth of experience in coaching especially in the shorter formats of the game. He will replace the former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis as the thinktank wanted a non-Asian coach this year

“No doubts, Waqar gave more than 100 percent but after the first season, I realised that we needed a non-Asian coach. “It (non-Asian coach) definitely makes a different impact on the players, especially the Asian players,” Bengal Tigers team mentor Anis Sajan told Khaleej Times.

Anis was particularly impressed by Fleming’s exploits with the Chennai Super Kings, for whom he has coached for nine seasons since the Indian Premier League’s inception in 2008. “Six times he has taken CSK to the IPL final and has won it three times. He has made it to the IPL knockout stage nine times,” he remarked further.

The Kiwi veteran is touted as the best T20 franchise coach but Anis quipped that Fleming’s paycheck won’t burn the team management’s pockets by saying, “Fleming is not expensive, it suits my pocket.”

Fleming delighted to join Bengal tigers

Stephen Fleming expressed his excitement for signing up with the franchise in an email. The former opener is new to this format but because the tournament is still about 12 weeks away, he has enough chance to exchange notes and prepare himself ahead of a gruelling season.

“I am delighted to accept the invitation to coach the Bengal Tigers this year. I watched with interest the success of last year’s tournament and look forward to working with the Team Mentor – Anis Sajan and the team in this year’s competition. This form of the game is still very new so the chance to work with a progressive franchise with Mr. Cricket of UAE as its mentor and some of the best players in the world is very appealing,” he wrote.

The upcoming season will commence from November 23 and will have two new teams – the Karachians and Northern Warriors – increasing the participating teams to eight.

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