You Can’t Ask Players To Open Up, Coaches Must Build That Trust: Abhishek Nayar

From dealing with veterans like Dinesh Karthik to helping youngsters grow, Abhishek Nayar shares his coaching manual

Through his methods, Abhishek Nayar has established his stature as among the more promising Indian coaches in the franchise cricket circuit. In a stint with Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Nayar played a crucial role in the rejuvenation of Dinesh Karthik, and the emergence of a plethora of then-uncut prodigies, with Shubman Gill being perhaps the most notable example.

Now, the former all-rounder is trying to emulate the same in women’s cricket, as he joined Women’s Premier League (WPL) outfit UP Warriorz, in their recently-concluded camp at Bengaluru. 

Speaking to The Quint from that camp, Nayar offered an insight into his coaching manual. Here are excerpts from that interview:

You have been associated with franchise cricket for a while. From a coaching perspective, what exactly is your objective from these off-season camps? What are you specifically looking at?

That’s a great question. The objective of these camps, for every franchise, is player development. While that is the primary goal, we also try to build a connection between the players and the coaching staff.

During the season, everything becomes so result-oriented that the connection between a coach and a player can’t be made. Most importantly, coaches give players clarity on their roles during such camps, so that when they come into the season, they are not surprised by their assigned roles.

The objective of this camp with UP Warriorz is to understand how much players have grown from the last WPL, and to give them a set of goals for the upcoming season to achieve.

As a coach, you have experienced success in contrasting situations – helping a veteran like Dinesh Karthik make a comeback, while also helping youngsters prepare for the big stages. Is there any methodological difference between dealing with youth and veterans?

There is a big methodological difference – mainly because a youngster will have no baggage, whereas a veteran will have huge baggage.

The experienced players have already played a lot of cricket. They have built beliefs and notions based on their 10-12 years of international or senior-level cricket. You need to challenge their thought process and convince them that the changes I am trying to make as a coach will give them positive results. This might sound easy, but it is a difficult process.

On the other hand, youngsters are clean slates. They can be moulded in any way you prefer, and for a coach, the process becomes easier when someone buys into your ideas.

If I were to explain with an analogy – dealing with a young player is like filling an empty hard drive with good content, whereas dealing with a senior player is like deleting the bad files from an already filled hard drive, and then filling it back with good files.

You have always been very vocal about opening up and sharing one’s problems. But recently, we have seen professional cricketers saying how there are no ‘friends’ in the current cricketing environment, and they are very lonely. What do you do, to ensure players working under you feel they are free to open up?

You can’t really ask a player to open up. As a coach, the goal should be to ensure the players trust you. Players will trust you when they know you have their best interests in your mind.

Of course, I want my team to win, but I also want my players to develop. For this, the coach will also need the franchise's backing. Franchise cricket is very result oriented, but despite that, I try to speak with the players, know about their journeys, where they have come from.

All a coach needs to build relationships with players is to spend time with them. It is easier said than done, but it can be done as long as the coach cares for the players genuinely.

In your stint with Kolkata Knight Riders, have helped youngsters like Shubman Gill in taking their game to the next level. In UP Warriorz, we have seen the likes of Parshavi Chopra bursting onto the scene last season. How are you playing to help them?

The process is similar in both cases. When a youngster is coming up, you do share your tactical and technical knowledge, but the most important aspect is to give them a feel of what life is like at the top level.

In these camps, we build awareness about how to practice and improve skills. Once a youngster is aware of how to get better, growth becomes inevitable.

While young players might like clean slates, in your coaching career at franchise cricket, you are also working with a lot of established overseas players who are coming to the country for only a month or two. In their case, is your role restricted to only providing motivational support, and not looking into the minute technical aspects?

For those players, it is about providing the perfect environment. They come to India for a short while and are exposed to an environment that they are not generally used to.

The challenge for a coach here is to provide such an atmosphere where they can play their natural game. Irrespective of how experienced a player is, acclimatising to a new environment will always be difficult.

Performance-related aspects are irrelevant here, because renowned players will always find their way on their own. Of course, I will offer technical insight if an overseas player is out of form, but the primary objective is to create a set-up where they will feel happy playing for the franchise, and go back to their countries with good memories.

In your camp, you had players like Deepti Sharma, who had a difficult time against Bangladesh recently. When you are dealing with such players who are coming into camps on the back of dejections, what do you do to get them back to their best?

It is a common misconception to think that the coach does miracles. It is always about what the player is willing to do.

In Deepti’s case, she is an enormously experienced player, so it is about providing a platform where she can play the way likes playing. The more you play, the more people will judge you, so it is hard for the seniors to make comebacks.

People have already seen them doing good things, it’s not new. So, the focus should be on reinventing and coming back with a bang. Deepti is a player who has done everything she possibly could in her career, and has proven herself many times. Now, it is about giving her a new challenge and encouraging her to become better than she ever was.

You have witnessed the meteoric growth of the Indian Premier League from close quarters – since its inception to now. With the WPL taking off on a good note last season, how do you think the league can now elevate to the next level?

Investing in youth will be the most critical aspect. UP Warriorz flew in Jon Lewis and Lisa Sthalekar for this camp, to train the youngsters. When franchises do this, you are bound to see development.

Of course, it is always good to add new teams, but the objective should be to give these players proper exposure. The WPL lasts for a month, but when franchises will organise such camps and work on players’ development, new opportunities will open up. I’m certain there will be new teams in the future, but also, these players will be more developed.