Not MS Dhoni As Gary Kirsten Names The Cricketer He Found Easiest To Work With
Published - 29 May 2020, 12:26 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:29 AM
Former India coach Gary Kirsten is one of the most decorated coaches of this generation. His journey with India was highly successful. Under his coaching, India performed exceedingly well across formats. India achieved the number one ranking in Tests for the first time under Gary Kirsten before winning the 2011 World Cup as the South African’s stint ended in a fairytale manner.
The former South Africa opener recently opened up on his stint with Team India and made it clear that he still cherishes it. Gary Kirsten also revealed the name of the player that he found the easiest to work with. He named the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as the easiest player to work with.
Gary Kirsten also admitted that serving as coach of the Indian cricket team between 2008 and 2011 remains one of the most cherished memories of his career and revealed he saw tremendous promise in a young Virat Kohli during his coaching tenure.
“Sachin (Tendulkar) was easy to work with because he has such a strong value system as a person. Virat (Kohli) was potentially a great player in 2011 and he is one of the greatest now,” Gary Kirsten told Times of India.
“I loved coaching the Indian team. It was one of the best privileges of my life. It was a fantastic journey with the players and very fond memories of the World Cup. There were a lot of expectations from the players to win the World Cup and they handled it incredibly well,” he added.
After his stint with India, he coached South Africa. However, he could not manage to replicate his success he had experienced with Team India. Later, he had stints in Big Bash League as well as in the Indian Premier League but without much success.