In the current day and age, there are more foreign coaches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) than Indian coaches. Things changed in the Indian cricket ever since John Wright made his impact as India coach and since then, the overseas coaches have got more preference. At present, Anil Kumble is the only Indian who will coach an IPL side in the upcoming season.

And as the IPL teams are showing no signs of signing in Indian coaches, former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin reckons that it is high time that the scenario changes. The legendary batsman has batted for the appointment of former India cricketers as head coaches. He has asked the board and the IPL Governing Council to think over the matter.

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As per the quotes in Sportstar, Azharuddin said, “I know it is the franchise’s prerogative. I respect that, but when you call it the Indian Premier League, former cricketers need to get benefited. The players from abroad are getting benefited and I have no problem with that. But we have to promote our coaches as well.”

Azharuddin’s comments come after another former India skipper, Rahul Dravid had also made the same observation. Dravid too had batted for India coaches in IPL and had also said that the IPL franchises’ are missing a trick by not appointing former India cricketers as coaches. Dravid himself had coached Rajasthan Royals in the past.

Echoing Dravid’s sentiments, Azharuddin said: “We need to respect our players. Our players are as good as anybody, or even better than many. They should become head coaches. There is no dearth of coaches here. I have raised the matter to the Governing Council. Let’s wait and see.”

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Apart from Dravid and Kumble, Virender Sehwag and Lalchand Rajput had coached IPL franchises as well.  While Sehwag was the mentor of Kings XI Punjab, Rajput was the head coach of Mumbai Indians in the inaugural season of IPL.