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Good players make a good team, but it is always the coaches and super staff that organize everything so that those good players can come together and perform at the best level. That is why we see the role of coaches as extremely important. That is why teams often spend a lot to bring the best coaching staff for the players.
Here we will talk about one such topic, where we will cover the ten best coaches in the history of the Indian Premier League. Coaching an IPL side is never easy because here you get players from different countries with different attitudes. And to bring everyone together and take the best out of them is a pretty rare skill. So let’s talk about the best IPL coaches of all time.
Top 10 IPL Coaches of All Time
10. Darren Lehmann
Former IPL franchise the Deccan Chargers were part of the league for five seasons, from 2008 to 2012. They didn’t have great IPL success but won one IPL season in 2009. That win came under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist, and Darren Lehmann was the coach of the team. He is one of the few coaches who have led a franchise to a championship. He was the coach of Hyderabad until 2012 and became the coach of Kings XI Punjab in 2013, which was his last coaching assignment in the IPL.
9. Mike Hesson
Former Kiwi coach Mike Hesson joined the IPL when he was named as the head coach of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). He served until 2019 and joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore until 2022. His cricketing brain and calm attitude gained him popularity as a brilliant coach. Though, he couldn’t lead any franchise to victory, under his coaching, RCB made the playoffs for three consecutive seasons from 2020 to 2022.
8. John Wright
John Wright is a familiar name if you are an Indian fan. Former New Zealand cricketer was the coach of Team India when India reached the finals of the 2003 ODI World Cup. He also has immense experience coaching in the IPL and has been one of the most successful. Notably, Wright has worked with the Mumbai Indians for seven years. It took MI six seasons to win their maiden title in 2013. Rohit Sharma was the captain, and John Wright took the job of coach in the same season, and that duo led this franchise to its maiden championship.
7. Tom Moody
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody is one of the most re-owned names in the IPL as a coach. Since his playing days, he was a pretty smart cricketer, and he took that skill into his coaching as well. He started as a coach for the Punjab Kings from 2008 and 2010, and then he coached the Sunrisers Hyderabad for seven straight seasons, from 2012 to 2019. Currently, he is not associated with any IPL franchise, but he is one of the most experienced coaches in the IPL. Under him, SRH won the 2016 season and made the playoffs five out of the seven editions that he was coaching.
6. Shane Warne
Australian legend Shane Warne was part of the Indian Premier League for the first three seasons. He was a true advocate of this league and always promoted it worldwide. In 2008, he was given an inexperienced Rajasthan Royals side to captain. Notably, he was also the coach of the team, and he created history in the very first season. Under him, RR won the inaugural season, beating CSK in the final. He was with the team until 2011. RR appointed him as a consultant in 2018. However, he hasn’t done much coaching, but he is still one of the most successful coaches in the IPL.
5. Ashish Nehra
Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra played in the IPL until the 2016 season. After his retirement, he joined RCB as a bowling coach in 2018 and worked with them for two seasons. Later, he made his entry with the newly joined team, the Gujarat Titans, in 2022. He was the head coach of the team, which raised many eyebrows. But the way he handled everything was commendable. Nehra and Hardik Pandya led GT to the title in the inaugural season. Then, in 2023, GT made it to the final. These two successful seasons have certainly skyrocketed Nehra’s stock in the coaching domain.
4. Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting is probably the best captain of all time, as seen in the game. He was also one of the best individual performers in the game. However, his coaching style was pretty contrasting to his cricketing career. As a coach, he always kept a cool head, which actually brought success. After playing for MI, he worked as the head of the coaching staff for the franchise between 2014 and 2016. He was the head coach of the team when they won their second IPL title in 2015. Later, he joined the Delhi Capitals in 2018 and has been working as head coach until now. DC made three consecutive playoff appearances under his coaching between 2019 and 2021.
3. Trevor Bayliss
The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of three teams that have won multiple IPL titles. Their wins came in 2012 and 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. Those wins came under the coaching of Trevor Bayliss. He is probably one of the most successful coaches in franchise history. Trevor is one of those coaches who have coached a team to titles in the IPL, BBL, and CPL, respectively. He was with KKR in 2012 and 2014, and they won two titles. He made his re-entry in 2020 as head coach for SRH and stayed until 2021. SRH made the playoffs in the 2020 season.
2. Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene played in the IPL until the 2013 season. Later, he rejoined the league in a different role. He was appointed as the head coach of the Mumbai Indians in 2017, and with his first appearance, MI won the title in 2017. Then, in 2019 and 2020, MI won its third consecutive season and became only the second team after CSK to defend the title. Under Jayawardene, MI has won three titles, making him only the second coach to lead a franchise for more than two titles. In 2023, the franchise made him the Global Head Of Performance.
1. Stephen Fleming
This list is mainly about those coaches who have led an IPL team to the championship, and CSK head coach Stephen Fleming comes in at the top spot. Just after his retirement, Fleming was appointed as the head coach of CSK in 2009. Under him, CSK won the 2010 and 2011 IPL titles and the 2011 and 2014 Champions League titles. Later, CSK were suspended for two years, and he was appointed as the head coach of the Rising Pune Supergiants for 2016 and 2017. RPS made it to the final in 2017. Later, when CSK re-joined the league, he was appointed as the captain. After their return, he has guided Chennai to wins in 2018, 2021, and 2023, respectively. With his success as coach for the Super Kings, he was named the head coach of the Joburg Super Kings of SA20 in 2022 and the Texas Super Kings of Major League Cricket in 2023.
