Gary Kirsten reveals reason behind failure in coaching Virat Kohli's RCB in IPL

Former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten enjoyed a successful coaching tenure with the Indian team between 2008 and 2011 before he coached his national side till 2013. His three-year stint with India ended with the ‘Men in Blue’ lifting the 2011 World Cup under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Kirsten also led India as well as South Africa to World No.1 Test rankings in 2009 and 2012 respectively. Despite his many achievements as head coach at the international level, Gary Kirsten was not able to replicate that success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they finished at the bottom of the points table in 2019.

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Gary Kirsten talks about his RCB stint alongside Virat Kohli

Gary Kirsten recently appeared on The RK Show on YouTube. During his interaction with the host, he recalled his time as RCB’s coach and differentiated between coaching an international team and an IPL team. He said that coaching an IPL team is slightly more difficult because one has to build an “identity within a team”. According to Gary Kirsten, IPL franchises have a diverse group of players and successful teams like Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have “been able to build time into their program”.

Gary Kirsten also coached Delhi Capitals between IPL 2014 and 2015 before he joined RCB as their batting consultant in 2017. He said that while shifting from one franchise to another in IPL requires the application of similar cultures and philosophies, his jump to RCB required a “culture shift”. Kirsten cited RCB’s earlier performance history and said that his job as their coach was “on the line from game one” itself.

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Gary Kirsten talks about his challenges as RCB coach

IPL 2020: Virat Kohli in RCB

Indian captain Virat Kohli is set to reprise his role as RCB captain. During the IPL 2020 trading and transfer window, the franchise retained the battle-hardened campaigner for ₹17 crore ($2.2 million) for the 2020 season. However, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has postponed the launch of the much-awaited tournament until further notice. IPL 2020 was originally intended to commence on March 29.

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Image Courtesy: RCB Twitter