Ashish Nehra is tactically one of the best coaches in the IPL – Gary Kirsten

Gujarat Titans batting coach and mentor Gary Kirsten has rated Ashish Nehra as one of the best coaches in the IPL.

Nehra was handling the role of head coach for the first time in the IPL and he played a key role in getting the best out of his players. GT was the most consistent team in the league stage and went on to win the title in their debut season of the IPL.

Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra were able to hit the ground running and it played a key role in their success. Nehra has all the experience under his belt and guided the team on the right path.

The Titans won 10 matches out of the 14 they played in the league stage and thus finished at the top of the points table. GT then went on to beat Rajasthan Royals in the first qualifier and once again bested the inaugural champions in the final to create history.

Gary Kirsten said on Cricbuzz: “Ashish is a close friend and we have walked a long journey together. As a player I enjoyed his willingness to keep understanding his game and his professionalism. He coaches with his heart, always thinking about his players and how he can help them.”

“He’s low profile and does not like the spotlight. He is tactically one of the best coaches in the IPL and is always talking to his players about how to make better performances.”

Kirsten has the experience of coaching national teams in the past but revealed he enjoyed his role at Gujarat Titans despite not being the head coach of the team.

“It was a great learning experience for me not being the head coach. First of all, I really enjoyed it. Secondly, I have a belief that in the IPL you need very strong Indian leadership – it is an Indian tournament in which 85% of the players’ first language is Hindi. When you’re in a 10-week campaign, Indian leadership understands how the whole massive machine runs.”

Meanwhile, GT scored a total of 79 sixes, which was the least for any team. However, GT batters scored a total of 250 fours in the tournament, which was the second-best in IPL 2022.

“We realized that we were the team who were going to hit the least sixes, but we hit the most fours. We knew we faced the least dot balls in the entire competition. From a bowling perspective, we knew we wanted to be the team who were best in the PowerPlay and best at the death, and that’s exactly what happened.”