It goes without saying that Indian Premier League is one of the most entertaining sports league in the world and the best T20 cricket league in existence. The sheer amount of money cricketers make in just this 45 days tournament attracts the best cricketers in the world towards this league.
As much money is being thrown around in this league, it’s quite natural for franchise owners to win the IPL trophy and according to former Australian cricketer Brad Hodge, if the coach doesn’t take the team to the finals then he should be ready to pack his bags.
“It’s pretty brutal (for coaches) in this part of the world (IPL). If you don’t make the finals here, you pretty much pack your bags and walk out the door,” Hodge said at ESPNcricinfo’s Talking T20 podcast.
“Look, it’s pretty cut-throat here actually… I sort of said to the Kings XI Punjab (owners), ‘How do you define success? What do you actually want to do?’ You haven’t won in ten years, so if I’m not to win next year, how am I defined?” Hodge added.
Hodge himself played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and now defunct Gujarat Lions and coached Kings XI Punjab last season, but the team ended 7th in the points table.
“I sort of said to them (Kings XI owners), ‘How many times do you want to win (the IPL) in a decade?’ And I thought three is realistic. It doesn’t matter whether you win this year, next year or the year after. You could win three in a row in the mid-pack. Just that if you’ve won three in a decade… If you look at CSK, they’ve won three. Mumbai Indians, they’ve won three. They’ve got a successful ten years,” Hodge said.
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