Stephen Fleming Replaces Waqar Younis as Coach of Bengal Tigers

Ahead of the fresh season, Stephen Fleming will do the services as the coach for Bengal Tigers in the UAE based T10 league. Fleming will replace Pakistan superstar, Waqar Younis as the coach of Bengal Tigers.

“No doubts, Waqar gave more than 100 per cent, but after the first season, I realized that we needed a non-Asian coach,” Bengal Tigers team mentor Anis Sajan told Khaleej Times on Monday.

“It (non-Asian coach) makes a different impact on the players, especially the Asian players,” he reckons.

Stephen Fleming who has enjoyed his time with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League looks tailor-made for the job.

With his unique understanding of the game, Fleming had helped Chennai Super Kings to clinch the title in 2018 edition of the IPL. Under his tenure, CSK participated in the finals of the league six times so far and won the title three times out of it.

“Six times he took CSK to the IPL final and has won it three times. He has made it to the IPL knock out stage nine times,” he elaborated.

Apart from Chennai, Stephen Fleming also took Rising Pune Supergiants to the finals of IPL 2017. From the statistical point of view, he is the most successful coach across the T20 leagues.

“When you have a coach who can take the team along with him, it adds great value. That is where we knew we had to bring Stephen Fleming on board as our head coach,” Anis reiterated.

Anis who is popularly known as ‘Mr. Cricket’ in UAE said that Fleming is close to the stature of Mike Brearley.

When asked about the payment, he would pay to Fleming for his stint in the league; Anis said he is not the costliest coach.

“Fleming is not expensive, it suits my pocket.” The T10 League has capped coach’s salary to $20,000. “But he ‘deserves’ much more than that,” quipped Anis.

In reply to it, Stephen Fleming in his email message said he is gladly accepting the invitation from Bengal Tigers.