Online Reporter
FORMER Chevrons captain Andy Flower and the national team’s pace spearhead Blessing Muzarabani are on the verge of winning the Indian Premier League today.
Flower has guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the final where they will take on Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
With a capacity of 134,000 people, the Narendra Modi Stadium is the biggest stadium in the world. It has been a good hunting ground for Zimbabweans so far this year.
In January, local hip-hop artist Shone played before a record 134,000 fans at the same stadium.
He was one of the supporting acts for British rock group Coldplay when it staged its biggest show in history, and the biggest musical show in India, with a record-breaking 134,000 fans converging at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
It was the final show of the Indian leg of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour.
Now, can Flower lead RCB to their maiden IPL title?
They reached the final by obliterating Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1.
The two teams now meet in the grand finale. Muzarabani arrived at RCB recently as a late replacement for South African’s Lungi Ngidi.
Ngidi is now in England preparing for the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s. RCB have won 11 out of 14 completed games, and have lost only thrice.
They had a near perfect game against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur.
While players have done a great job on the field, there’s one man who deserves much of the credit for RCB’s run to the IPL 2025 final.
That is their head coach Flower.
RCB appointed Flower as the head coach in August 2023.
He had to work with more or less the same set of players available as there’s not much you can do in a mini auction.
Flower led the team’s strategy in the IPL 2025 mega auction, the results of which can be seen. For a long time, RCB were a team that relied heavily on big stars, and that was often the reason for their downfall.
This has changed in the last few years, and IPL 2025 is the best version of it yet. They have had eight different players winning the ‘Player of the match’ this season. It is unprecedented.
Having multiple players stepping up at different stages makes RCB an extremely dangerous team.
And why has that happened?
Flower has had a history of assembling teams with role clarity. He has done the same with this team. Instead of buying high-profile names, Flower acquired players for specific roles.
Phil Salt has the licence to go berserk in the powerplay, Jitesh Sharma is told to go mental from the get-go, and Tim David is the designated finisher. The batting unit has shown high intent throughout the season.
In the bowling attack, they added Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Krunal Pandya.
Bowlers who are adept at defensive T20 bowling. Hazlewood has been the point of difference for them, with the extra bounce he generates.
Flower has created a legacy of his own in the T20 arena as a coach.
His understanding of the game is far ahead of his peers, and that reflects in his coaching style.
He is brilliant at team construction, focusing on role-driven tactics.
The success he has had as a coach shows his methods have worked. Flower first won the T20 World Cup in 2010 with England.
After spending over a decade at the ECB, he entered the franchise circuit in 2020. He turned the fortunes of Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League straight away.
A franchise that had never reached the playoffs won a title in 2021 and topped the league stage either side of it under Flower’s tenure, going on to play in three out of four finals.
He also took the formerly known St Lucia Zouks to back to back Caribbean Premier League finals in 2021-22.
The franchise has reached the playoffs only once in seven seasons before Flower joined them. Flower led Trent Rockets to the title in The Hundred in 2022 and won with Gulf Giants in the ILT20 in 2023.
If the IPL 2025 goes well, Flower will have done the almost impossible, and that is coaching RCB to a trophy. — Sports Reporter/IPL
