Designation:
Head Coach

Previous Experience: South African U-19 cricket team, South African cricket team,

Ray Jennings’ observations on the game, whether at breakfast or while watching a nets session, never fails to impress as did his stunning catches when he was South Africa’s No.1 wicketkeeper.

He’s largely credited for the reversal of RC’s fortunes from being a slow moving team during IPL-2008 to genuine contenders (Finalist, IPL 2009). Akhil Balachandra termed his impact as, “Amazing. Ray focuses on the motivational side of things and keeping the team together and does a great job”

Known for his forthright nature and emphasis on discipline, coach is never shy of letting a player go if he feels the commitment is missing because, in his words, “We don’t miss individuals”. At the same time, his caring nature keeps him close to the younger players in the team.

A fine balance achieved through a no-nonsense approach. When not thinking about bat versus ball, he enjoys his gardening and rides his Harley.

Designation:
CEO

Best known for his courageous 49 in India’s successful chase of 406 against the West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1976, Brijesh Patel was an exciting batsman and outstanding fielder for India in the seventies.

As CEO of RC, he has used his deep cricketing knowledge to put in place a young talent development program for RC with some of the brightest prospects, from India, in the squad and was also involved in the decision to hire Ray Jennings as coach; which, along with the appointment of Anil Kumble as captain, has seen RC attain consistent success over the last year.

Designation:
Manager

In the early 90s, as the wicketkeeper of Karnataka’s Ranji and Irani trophy winning teams, Avinash Vaidya handled Anil Kumble’s variations with aplomb. A decade and a half later, he’s managing Anil’s-(and everyone else’s) logistics in the travelling madness that is the IPL.

More often than not, it means using flights to catch up on sleep, as the days and nights are filled with running around to ensure the players are comfortable. Even a missing piece of baggage can mean an extra six hours of work.

In between occasional visits to the temple, ‘George’ (the nickname by which everyone at RC addresses him) takes care of it all with a smile, and never shies away from a jig after a well deserved victory. Manager ho to aisa.

Designation:
Physiotherapist

With over a decade’s experience in handling the South African national football and rugby teams, along with Transvaal’s cricket team, Evan’s hands can sense a niggle on mere touch and tapes are his next best friend.

His relationship with India began when Javagal Srinath went to get his rotator cuff surgery at Evan’s sports clinic from where his colleague Andrew Leipus, then came on board as the Indian cricket team’s physiotherapist.

On tour, his room is an open house, with players flitting in and out (fast bowlers more so) to ensure their bodies are in shape.

Legendary for his dry humour, Evan keeps the players going (mostly in splits) and is fantastic to have around the dressing room.

Designation:
Masseur

‘Kaka’, as he’s fondly known in the Indian cricketing fraternity, was an erstwhile social worker who had studied healing techniques and got involved with the sport after an accidental opportunity to treat a cricketer with a severe muscle pull. He joined the Indian cricket team in the 2004/05 season and has been with them ever since.

His primary objective at RC is to ensure that all the players going into a match are suitably rested and relaxed, physically and mentally. His methods to bring about the change include: massages, meditation, acupuncture and pranic healing.

A father figure to most, his delightful collection of old hindi music is usually the default stereo playing when the team travels. Oh, and he does one more thing which nobody else can. Cook ‘ghar ka khaana’ for a player-in-need. Kudos.

Designation:
Performance Analyst

Previous experience:
National Cricket Academy (Technical head), India U-19 cricket team, Indian hockey team, Rafael Nadal, Provident Bangalore (KPL), Karnataka Ranji team.

Prasanna’s the guy you saw on TV clenching his fist in delight when Dale Steyn bowled Yusuf Pathan in the RR-RCB clash in Jaipur (IPL 2010). There was a plan behind the dismissal, and he was the architect.

Twenty hours a day (on tour at least) he pores at his laptop screen, compiling and analyzing opposition videos on his self-developed proprietary software. These are then shown to the players after which, the team strategy is arrived at.

His expertise isn’t restricted to cricket; he’s developed video analysis software for tennis and hockey, during two big adventures in 2007. The first adventure led him to listen to one line for the first six months of 2007: “Tell me how to beat Federer” while the second put him on a plane from Bangalore to Dusseldorf in the second half of 2007 to help Indian hockey! The national team, by the way, won 30 out of the 37 matches they played while he was with them.

Abhimanyu Mithun says, “Prasanna’s impact with his analysis has been tremendous. His constant help and motivation made things easier for me and contributed greatly to my success in the previous Ranji season”

Oh, and he’s padded up too, having played state level U-19 cricket in Tamil Nadu.

Designation:
Head strength & conditioning coach

Previous experience:
National Cricket Academy (Head Trainer), Tamil Nadu Ranji Team.

The secret to Robin Uthappa’s booming sixes at IPL 2010, as he admitted, lies partly in the conditioning program he’s been put on by Basu, his best friend in the team.

Basu however refuses to take credit for it, saying Robin’s always been strong. His approach, of being friends with the players and winning their trust, is what makes him stand out and deliver effective results.

Basu is a certified coach from C.H.E.K., the premier institute worldwide in high performance conditioning, and the only C.H.E.K. practitioner in India. He's also a certified strength and conditioning specialist  (CS) from the National Strength and conditioning Association (NSCA) and a certified Personal Trainer (PT) from the American Council of Exercise (ACE)

A commerce graduate from the prestigious Loyola college in Chennai, Basu reads widely and attributes success to education. He was involved with training professionals across tennis, squash, basketball and track/field athletics before moving to cricket in the early 2000s.

A five year stint with the Tamil Nadu Ranji team was followed by an elevation as a head trainer at the National cricket academy and his stature has only grown since then.

Fit as a fiddle, one could easily be forgiven for mistaking him as a player. He reads Osho and catches up on Al Pacino flicks whenever possible. He can run as well, having represented India U-19 in the 100m at the Asian Championships in Japan (1987). There’s no escaping this guy.

Designation:
Assistant Coach

Previous Experience:
Karnataka Ranji team (Head coach)

A fast bowler for Karnataka in the 1980s, Sanath Kumar terrorized batsmen, even taking a 10 wicket innings haul in an inter-district tournament once, until he decided coaching was his thing.

Beginning with junior cricket and working his way up, Sanath passed the highest coaching certification at the National Cricket Academy with distinction and was the head coach of the Karnataka Ranji team for the 2009-10 season.

Talking about his role at RC, and always an anecdote on him, Sanath mentioned how he encouraged a slightly disappointed Ross Taylor (who’d been dropped) halfway through IPL 2009 and got our most explosive batsman to turn things around for the rest of the tournament.

With his pleasant demeanour and close relationships with almost all the Indian players in RC, he’s an ideal foil for Ray Jennings.