3 successful coaches who failed to win the IPL title with RCB
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have reportedly decided to part ways with head coach Sanjay Bangar and director of cricket operations Mike Hesson after their sixth-place finish in IPL 2023. Hesson was also director of the RCB women's team which finished fourth among five teams in the inaugural WPL.
Under Bangar and Hesson, the men's team struggled with familiar issues of over-dependence on a few star players and a lack of balance in the team.
This makes the pairing the sixth since 2008 which has failed to win them the title. Interestingly, most of the former coaches at RCB had either been successful before they took on a role in Bengaluru or have done well since leaving the job.
Here's a look at three such coaches:
#3 Venkatesh Prasad
Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad was picked as RCB's first head coach in 2008 after India's win in the 2007 World T20, where he was the bowling coach.
With most of the first-choice players pulling out, India not only had a young team but were also without a designated coach for the tournament. Manager Lalchand Rajput, Prasad, and Robin Singh took care of everything together.
Prasad is often credited for making the team practice bowl-outs in the nets, which helped them win against Pakistan in the 10th match.
However, in his first stint in the IPL, RCB just won four in 14 matches and finished seventh. In a 2020 interview, Prasad blamed less preparation time, high expectations, and the mid-season sacking of CEO Charu Sharma as reasons for the failure.
“When I came into the RCB, there was too much pressure," Prasad told Sportstar. "They wanted to run the team like a corporate. They were not ready to listen or accept the psychology of the cricketers. You cannot just go back to the board and draw all these things. It doesn’t work like that. The franchises I work for were expecting a mountain."
RCB sacked and replaced him with Ray Jennings in 2009.
Prasad also lost his national bowling coach job the same year after the team's poor form. However, under him, India defeated England away in a Test series for the first time since 1986 and defeated New Zealand in Tests and Australia in ODIs.
He was also a part of the staff in the Chennai Super Kings' first title win in 2010.
#2 Simon Katich
One of the most experienced T20 coaches going around, former Australia Test opener Simon Katich took over RCB in 2020 after the sacking of Gary Kirsten. He stuck around till 2021 after which Bangar was made the coach.
RCB finished in the top four in both seasons under Katich. In 2020 they lost to SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator and faced a similar fate against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2021.
Katich never really saw great success in the IPL. His coaching stint started as an assistant coach in Kolkata Knight Riders in 2015 and ended with an unceremonious exit from the same role at SunRisers Hyderabad in 2022 where reports said he was unhappy with the franchise's decisions in the auction.
However, Katich has a brilliant record outside the IPL, having won back-to-back Caribbean Premier League titles in 2017 and 2018 as head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders. He took Manchester Originals to the final of The Hundred in 2022 as well.
#1 Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra
Perhaps the most stark change in fortunes for a coach at RCB versus another team has been with Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra. Both joined the team in 2018 as batting and bowling coaches during Danil Vettori's tenure as the head gaffer.
Vettori was sacked after a poor season and Kirsten was made the head coach with Nehra joining him in the leadership group. Although Nehra joined soon after retirement, Kirsten had a shining trophy cabinet, including the 2011 World Cup.
However, under them, RCB had one of their worse couple of years in the IPL. A sixth-placed finish in 2018 and a wooden spoon in 2019, which was only the second time in their history. Both were sacked together the following year.
Two years later, they were together roped to lead Gujarat Titans in their first IPL season in 2022 with Nehra as the head coach and Kirsten as a mentor. The franchise finished top of the table in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons, winning the title on debut and then finishing runners-up after a close final in 2023.
Both are highly credited for galvanizing a team of under-rated match-winners and making them perform like a unit and also for helping Hardik Pandya build a strong "culture", something that Virat Kohli has always demanded in Bengaluru.