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Follow UsIn a month, three Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have replaced their head coaches. In the most recent development, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have replaced Brian Lara with Daniel Vettori for the upcoming season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Andy Flower as their head coach earlier this month, replacing Sanjay Bangar. In July, Justin Langer took over the control of Lucknow Super Giants from Flower.
The Hyderabad franchise were in shambles in the previous edition. Despite having a balanced team, they finished as the table footers. Post their championship year (2016); the team now has their fourth coach. Tom Moody, who was with them since its inception in 2013, was replaced by Trevor Bayliss in 2020. However, Moody took over the duty in 2022 but was replaced again by Brian Lara in 2023. Now, the New Zealand legend has replaced Lara for the upcoming season.
Vettori's coaching career started in 2014 with RCB. He was with them till 2018. For the 2014/15 season of the Big Bash League, Vettori replaced Stuart Law as the head coach of Brisbane Heat for three years. He then had two years of extension, continuing his role before stepping down after the 2018/19 season.
In England, for the 2017 season of the T20 Blast, Vettori was at the helm for Middlesex for one year. In 2021, Barbados Royals assigned him as their head coach for that sole year. He is currently the head coach with Birmingham Phoenix Men's team in The Hundred.
Despite coaching for a long time, the Kiwi player turned coach is yet to taste success in the franchise league. Here are a few highs and lows of his coaching career.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (2014-18)
In 2012, Vettori stepped down as Bangalore's skipper after nine matches, after playing his last IPL game for the franchise. Two years later, he joined the franchise as the head coach in 2014.
In his first season as the coach, the team couldn't find the required consistency. They started with two wins but lost the track with three losses on the bounce. The pattern was similar throughout. In 14 matches, they could win only five. Bangalore finished just above Delhi Daredevils (Capitals now) at the seventh spot in the league stage.
In the next two seasons, RCB bounced back. They reached the second qualifier in 2015 but then lost to Chennai Super Kings.
Come the following season, the batting might of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle helped them reach their third finals. However, the team fell eight runs short of their first IPL title. Though they made it to the finals twice before (2009 & 2011), 2016 was undoubtedly Bangalore's best season in the IPL.
After two good seasons, there was a lot of hope from the Kohli and Vettori combo. The 2017 edition completely went in the opposite direction. They held the wooden spoon. The following season also saw little improvement - a sixth-spot finish.
The failure in two consecutive seasons saw Vettori stepping down as the head coach. Bangalore played 73 matches under Vettori’s guidance, the most under a particular coach. In these 73 matches, they had a win percentage of 43.6%, the third lowest for any Bangalore coach.
Brisbane Heat (2014/15 to 2018/19)
Alongside Bangalore, Vettori signed a three-year contract with Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League, starting from the fourth edition.
The story was the same at the start. Heat finished last in that season with just four points in eight matches. In the following edition as well, they failed to make it to the playoff.
When Vettori's stint with Heat was going nowhere, the Kiwi combo of Brendon McCullum and Vettori helped them reach the playoffs in the 2016/17 edition. Unfortunately, their dream run ended with a super-over loss against Sydney Sixers in the semi-final.
Riding on the back of the success of the previous edition, Vettori got another two-year extension. But it did not work out. Heat ended seventh in the 2017/18 edition and fifth in 2018/19, failing to qualify. The Brisbane-based franchise reached the playoffs only once in the five years with the New Zealander as their coach.
Also, the only time they finished last (2014/15) was under Vettori. Heat, under Vettori, won 41.6% of their matches in 49 games (Wins - 20, Loss - 28, NR - 1).
Middlesex (2017)
For a brief time, Vettori was at the helm for Middlesex in the T20 Blast (England). He was with them for just one year, and nothing went right. In 14 matches, Middlesex managed only five wins and were seventh out of nine teams in Group B.
Fascinatingly, they never managed to have back-to-back wins.
Barbados Royals (2021)
The Kiwi's tenure with Barbados was also a short one. Trevor Penny replaced him in the 2022 edition. He was appointed as the coach for just the 2021 season, and Barbados finished last. In ten matches, Barbados won only three matches.
Unfortunately, the 2021 season was the only one in which Barbados suffered the wooden spoon in CPL.
The former left-arm spinner and captain is currently with Birmingham Pheonix Men's team in the Hundred. His campaign as a full-time head coach started in 2022 with Birmingham. With a negative net run rate of -0.172 (10 points) in the 2022 season, they failed to qualify for the Eliminator.
With a win percentage of 62.5%, his stint with Birmingham has been the most successful one in his coaching tenure.
Please note: At the time of writing, Birmingham's matches this season (2023) have been washed out. Also, in 2021, he was their interim head coach as Andrew McDonald faced logistic issues.
In the Bangladesh Premier League, Vettori was assigned as the head coach of Rajshahi Kings (Royals now) for the 2018 & 2019 seasons. However, the 2018/19 season collided with BBL. Vettori had a long-standing commitment with Heat and did not participate in that season.
Lance Klusener took over the duties that season, and Owais Shah was appointed as head coach of the franchise in 2019/20.
