The perennial under-achievers of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore, has from the beginning of the league in 2008, been trying to achieve the level of success that the franchise deserves. Things, however, have not sailed well for the Bengaluru-based IPL team till now.
The current head coach of the RCB is former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower. The franchisee roped in Flower ahead of the 2024 season of the IPL.
Let’s look at how Bangar has fared so far in his stint as RCB coach, along with the past coaches the franchise has had.
All about Andy Flower
Andrew Flower is a former Zimbabwean cricketer and current cricket coach. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters of all time and is esteemed as the finest cricketer ever to emerge from Zimbabwe.
Throughout his illustrious career spanning over a decade, Flower held the role of Zimbabwe’s wicket-keeper, demonstrating exceptional skills both behind the stumps and with the bat. He holds the distinction of being statistically the greatest batsman produced by Zimbabwe, with his remarkable performance highlighted by his highest ODI score of 145 against India during the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which remains the highest score by any Zimbabwean player at major tournaments.
Flower’s prowess extended to Test cricket, where he reached the peak of his career from October to December 2001, being ranked as the best Test batsman in the world during that period.
Following his retirement from playing, Flower transitioned into coaching, notably serving as the coach of the English cricket team from 2009 to 2014. Under his guidance, England clinched the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 title.
Presently, Flower holds prominent coaching positions in various cricket leagues around the world. He serves as the head coach of the Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League, the St Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League, and the RCB in the IPL.
RCB’s Backroom Staff
Andy Flower as the coach of RCB in IPL 2024, is assisted by Sridharan Sriram as the batting and spin bowling coach. Sriram has played eight ODIs for India and has also played for Delhi Daredevils and RCB. He comes with numerous coaching experiences under his belt. The former Indian all-rounder was a coaching consultant for Australia during their 2015 Bangladesh tour. Sriram also served as the assistant coach of the Delhi Capitals.
While Aussie pacer Adam Griffith is the bowling coach for RCB, Malolan Rangarajan is the fielding coach. Sanjay Bangar (Batting Consultant) and Mike Hesson (Director of Cricket Operations) are the other big names in the RCB leadership group.
Going Back In Time
Royal Challengers Bangalore, which played the first match of the IPL at its home-ground — Chinnaswamy Stadium, was coached in the initial year by former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad.
Prasad, who had previously been part of the coaching set up for the Indian national team at the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, came to RCB after success with the national side. Things, however, were not smooth sailing as RCB ended the tournament at a lowly seventh position.
RCB Takes Foreign Coach Route
For the next edition of IPL held in South Africa in 2009, RCB appointed Ray Jennings as the head coach. The South African wicket-keeper gelled the team together by making Anil Kumble the captain of the franchise. Under Jennings, RCB saw success and made it to the finals of the 2009 edition of the league, opposite Deccan Chargers. Though the team lost the finals at Johannesburg, this was a big turn-around for RCB, who had a bad run the previous season.
For the 2011 season, Kumble was replaced by Daniel Vettori as the captain, after the Indian spinner had retired from all forms of cricket. RCB, under Vettori’s captaincy and Jennings as the head coach, qualified for the finals again, losing out to Chennai Super Kings in the summit match of the IPL.
Jennings continued as the head coach of RCB for the next two seasons — 2012 and 2013 — but failed to achieve the same success that he got in the previous editions, with RCB finishing just outside the top four of the table.
Vettori Becomes RCB Coach
The year 2014 saw a new face in the coaching set up at RCB, Jennings was replaced by former RCB captain, Daniel Vettori while Virat Kohli retained captaincy. RCB, however, failed to qualify for the knock-outs and ended the season in seventh place, winning just five games. The next season, 2015, was much better in terms of results as the team finished third in the league and only lost out to Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifiers.
RCB’s Finest Year
RCB’s finest hour was, however, the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Under Vettori as the head coach and Kohli as the captain, the Bangalore-based franchise played the best cricket it had played to date, with captain Kohli especially being in fine form, scoring 973 runs in a single season, which included four centuries. RCB defeated Gujarat Lions in the first qualifiers but lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the finals at their home ground in Bengaluru.
The 2016 results were, however, encouraging, and RCB persisted with the New Zealander for another season as the coach. The year 2017, however, was an embarrassing year for the team, which for the first time finished last in the league standings, winning just three games in the entire season. The dismal performance by RCB in 2017 led to major up hauls in the team for the upcoming seasons.
RCB Gets World Cup-winning Coach
For the 2019 season of the IPL, Daniel Vettori was replaced by Gary Kirsten as the head coach. Having already represented RCB in the past, Ashish Nehra was asked to shore up the team’s bowling attack. Kirsten, an experienced coach, having won the ICC Cricket World cup 2011 with India, was given the charge to improve RCB’s batting and look beyond the Kohli-De Villiers pairing.
Also Read: Who is the owner of Delhi Capitals?
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