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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
FORMER Zimbabwe Cricket international captain, Andy Flower has showered India’s new head coach, Gautam Gambhir with praise, saying he will play an inspirational role to his players.
Gambhir is one of India’s most celebrated cricketers and took over the hot seat from another India legend, Rahul Dravid after the completion of the T20 World Cup.
Flower and Gambir were colleagues for a couple of years at Indian Premier League (IPL) side Lucknow SuperGiants.
Flower found a handful of impressive characteristics in Gambhir.
After watching India bag their first T20I series under Gambhir’s coaching with Flower labelling the World Cup winning former Indian vice-captain as someone who can inspire the team extensively.
He believes Gambhir does not have much experience as a coach but his rich cricketing history would help inspire the players.
“He’s certainly got some of the characteristics of a successful coach. He hasn’t really coached, though, has he? He is not your conventional coach. It would probably be better to describe him as an inspirational leader than a coach. That might be more accurate,” said Flower.
The Zimbabwean great added that his Indian counterpart has good leadership skills, which will be good for both players and supporters.
Flower believes that Gambhir’s courage inspires confidence in others.
“He’s a guy that has the conviction and courage of his own beliefs and principles that will allow other people to really want to follow him. Followers or teams like to trust that their leader has the courage of his convictions. And GG definitely has that.
“He has strong opinions. He knows where he wants to go. He’s willing to make tough decisions. He will have a very clear idea of the type of cricket that he wants his teams to play,” said Flower.
Having coached both at international and franchise level, Flower noted that there are differences between the two roles.
He believes that franchise cricket is a short term project, driven by hope of a positive outcome while international cricket is all about building character within players, for the greater good of the team.
“The biggest difference between the two jobs is that in the international arena, you are developing a team and you are developing individuals with a medium- to long-term outlook. Franchise cricket is more about short-term results and getting a bunch of disparate individuals together heading in one direction and believing in something in a very short space of time.
“Whereas in international cricket, you have just more time for individual development and to develop a deeper culture in the group. (Gambhir) will be doing three formats, so those might differ a little. They might have different captains, for instance, different senior players, but the tenets and principles of the culture and the unit that you are developing across three formats will be similar,” he said.
Flower is currently head coach of a star studded IPL side Royal Challengers Bengaluru where, in his first season in charge of a team that boasts of the likes of Virat Kohli and Faf Du Plessis, he managed to make history.
Flower solidified his status as one of the most elite minds of the game, making RCB the first team in IPL history to make the playoffs after managing just one win in their first eight games.
In franchise cricket, his records speak for themselves. Some of his achievements as head coach in T20 leagues include finishing as finalist in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL, 2020),reaching the eliminator in the 2020 Pakistan Super League (PSL), winning 2021 PSL, reaching The Hundred eliminator in 2021 and finishing as the finalist in the 2021 CPL.
He also went on to reach the finals of the 2022 PS before reaching the playoffs of the IPL in the same year with Lucknow SuperGiants. In 2022 again, Flower won The Hundred and in the following year, he won the International League T20 (ILT20). He also managed to reach the PSL and IPL playoffs in that same year. — @brandon_malvin
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