IPL 2024: AB de Villiers Expresses Excitement Over Andy Flower's Appointment As RCB Head Coach
Published - 18 Aug 2023, 01:39 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:17 AM
Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers expressed excitement about Andy Flower’s appointment as the new Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach. AB de Villiers highlighted that a team will produce results when the captain and coach work together.
The Bengaluru-based franchise recently announced Andy Flower as their head coach for the upcoming season. Flower has worked with various franchises in T20 leagues across the world, including the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the last two editions of the IPL.
It’s Always A Good Thing – AB de Villiers
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers emphasized the importance of a strong partnership between the coach and captain.
“I saw Andy Flower actually posting about wanting to work with Faf and being very excited to work with him. It’s always a good thing,” De Villiers said.
When the coach and captain work really well together, it feeds off into the team. It’s really important for the players to feel the trust, feel that the captain and the coach are on the same ship, heading in the same direction,” he added.
Villiers represented the RCB franchise between 2011 and 2021. The right-handed batter retired from the IPL before the mega auction for the 2022 season. He scored 4491 runs for the team with an average of 41.20 and a strike rate of 158.64.
When They Did, They Were Fighting – AB de Villiers
“I’ve played in teams before… Ray Jennings, when Graeme Smith used to be captain, the two of them they literally didn’t speak to each other. When they did, they were fighting. It was really interesting. I won’t say it really affected the team. We sort of interacted more with Graeme.”
“Even though I had enjoyed Ray’s approach of coaching so much, Graeme was part of the boys and in the team. But the two of them didn’t talk and it was a very interesting dynamic back in the day,” he concluded.
Jennings briefly served as South Africa’s coach from 2004 to 2005, while Smith held the role of Proteas captain. He led the team to 53 victories and 29 losses in the 109 Test matches he led.
