Indian Premier League (IPL) has always seen players hog the limelight but very few know that the coaches and the backroom staffs' hard work is the reason why a particular franchise and their players become successful in the tournament. (As It Happened | Match Report)
On Sunday, May 26, KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit became the second Indian (after Ashish Nehra) to win the IPL title as head coach. Under Pandit and his backroom staff consisting of Gautam Gambhir, defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to lift the IPL trophy for the third time in history.
Pandit is the fourth head coach to win the tourney without participating as a player. Trevor Bayliss (KKR 2012, 2014), John Wright (MI 2013) and Tom Moody (SRH 2016) were the names before him.
Here are the most successful coaches in the tournament's history -
Stephen Fleming (Chennai Super Kings)
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Stephen Fleming have been a successful combination ever since 2009. The Kiwi has led the MS Dhoni-led side to IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. His success with Chennai saw him being recruited in other franchises that included Joburg Super Kings in SA20 and Texas Super Kings in USA's Major League Cricket in 2023. So much was his success that Fleming was even linked to the Indian cricket team's coaching job. The former NZ captain has a repertoire of being a 'no nonsense' coach and his partnership with MSD, will surely go down as one of the finest ever in IPL's rich history.
Mahela Jayawardene (Mumbai Indians)
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is another name to be on the list of most successful coaches in IPL. Jayawardene joined MI as head coach in 2017 and then went on to have a successful stint with the franchise as he helped them lift IPL trophies in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Under the Sri Lankan, MI has won three titles, and thus making him only the second coach to lead a franchise for more than two titles.
Ashish Nehra (Gujarat Titans)
After retiring from IPL duty in 2016, former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra joined RCB as their bowling coach in 2018 and remained there for two seasons. He left RCB to go and join Gujarat Titans in 2022 as head coach. He led them to their first title as GT won the 2023 season under Hardik Pandya's captaincy.
Tom Moody (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
Australian all-rounder Tom Moody led Sunrisers Hyderabad to their maiden title in 2016 under David Warner's captaincy. He coached the Hyderabad outfit from 2012 to 2019. Despite one title to their name, SRH made to five playoffs out of the seven editions under his coaching.
