BCB Coaching Hire Enjoys Major Success In India
[Written by Patrick Bean]
The Bermuda Cricket Board [BCB] is excited about the prospect of an early 2023 return of Indian cricket coach Niraj Odedra to full-time duties as Bermuda’s national coach, particularly as the instructor recently enhanced his pedigree — and resume — in capturing a major honour in India.
Odedra coached the Saurastra cricket team to only their second ever title triumph in the prestigious 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy competition — formerly the Ranji Trophy — last Friday, with five wicket defeat of Maharashtra.
Odedra was lauded in the widely circulated The New Indian Express for his having guided a squad containing several Indian international players, including the likes Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat and Cheta SakariyaIndia national team players. This after being handed the reins previously held by former India international Karsan Ghavri following the team’s maiden title in the 2019-20 season.
BCB High Performance Chairman Allan Douglas explained how of final contract terms and employment requirements were currently being carried out in completion of the hire of the Indian national, who served in a temporary capacity for two months during the past summer.
“We are just finalising everything — all the legalities — for him to come back in January or February, but he is our coach without a doubt …. he’s the guy for the job,” said Douglas, a former Bermuda international player and coach. “He’s certainly ‘the man’ at Saurastra at the moment and we’re looking for him to, likewise inspire our guys to success.
“I hadn’t heard of [Saurastra] before, but once the resume came in and I got some information from other people and then read about him I was impressed.
“We’ve really wanted a different flavour and India’s one of the top teams in the world and if we can get somebody that’s working with guys like Pujara and Jadeja then you have to take a look a see what we can do to harness that.
“The opportunity was there and he’s agreed to come on. I see this as an opportunity to get a quality person, a person that’s in the know, is totally modernised with the game, and there’s none more modernised than the Indian game.
“Now we have someone like that and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Among the primary goals of the BCB is qualification for the 2024 T20 World Cup, with Bermuda already having been selected as the hosts of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 [Americas] Regional Final, slated for next September.
There is also the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, that forms part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualification process, demanding Odedra give a shared focus to T20 and one-day cricket.
In his first season at the helm of Saurastra, competing against 38 other regional teams at List A level, Odendra and his men only managed to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, before going a step further last year.
This year bore the ultimate fruit and corresponding acclaim, with the Indian daily highlighting the efforts of the coach over the course of his three-year tenure in charge, while noting a thirst for more titles in varying formats.
“Given the roadmap he had prepared three seasons ago, the coach is bound to be emotional but now he wants the T20 title, the only domestic trophy missing from Saurashtra’s cabinet,” read one published report.
Interviewed after the title match Odedra was quoted as saying, “Winning is a good habit. I am very emotional but we are hungry for more. There is one trophy left. SMAT. We came very close this season but it’s always one step at a time. Last year, we lost the Vijay Hazare semifinal to Tamil Nadu. This time we won the trophy. I hope we win the T20 title next season.”
