Once RCB Win Their 1st IPL Title, Won't Be Surprised If They Get 2-3 More Quickly: Mike Hesson | EXCLUSIVE

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Last Updated:March 25, 2025, 10:57 IST

In an interview with News18 CricketNext, Mike Hesson speaks about RCB, PBKS, and how can a trophyless team turn its fortunes around.

Mike Hesson has been in leadership positions at both RCB and PBKS. (Sportzpics Photo)

In the last decade, no IPL franchise has changed its head coach more than Punjab Kings (PBKS), seven and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), five. Being in any leadership position at either of these teams is the toughest job in the league at the moment and Mike Hesson has done both.

He served as the Director of Cricket Operations at RCB for four years and saw the team reach the playoffs thrice. He was appointed the head coach at PBKS for IPL 2019 and led them to a sixth-place finish – a result they didn’t beat in the next five years even as the tournament expanded to 10 teams.

Mike Hesson: The head coach kind of speaks for itself, you know, you are in charge of the day-to-day running of the team, and you have some support staff under you. I guess from a director of coaching point of view, it’s more holistic. So it’s more a year-round, more planning leading up to auctions, running camps for the squad, making sure that all the players have IPPs to work on from season to season, and then in season, it’s about supporting the coach, and I guess being the conduit between the support staff and the coach, and then the owners or the business that owns the the business. That’s kind of the broad difference between the two roles.

You have coached RCB and PBKS – two sides that haven’t been able to land the ultimate prize. Is there an extra pressure in those franchises that you need to make sure that the team is upbeat, that they’re not getting into the habit of losing? Or did you feel some extra pressure from the owners, from the fans, because of the desperation to get that trophy?

I don’t think there’s any extra pressure on the players, because they chop and change generally, you know, so they come in and they have high hopes for the season. I think it’s more the pressure on the owners, to be fair, because they’ve been there since the start. If I think of Punjab they’ve had so many changes every year searching for that elusive prize. And you can understand why, you know, they’re so desperate to get that monkey off the back and win that first trophy. If you look at their strategy, it’s a little bit more of, ‘Let’s maybe have a group for a period of time, if they don’t work, throw them out, try and get a new group in and go again’. And that’s something that’s been repeated many times. And as I said, they’re just desperate for that win.

And I guess at RCB, it’s a little bit more run like a business, so there’s a little bit more medium-term planning. There’s absolutely a desperation there to win that first title from the owners from the business that owns [the franchise] and obviously the fans. So there’s this huge pressure at any franchise that hasn’t won a trophy, and it just gets more and more every year.

But I think at RCB, the one thing I would say is they very much look at things from a business point of view so they’re able to let a plan roll out a little bit longer than potentially some other teams.

So what do you think is going wrong for these teams. From outside, for RCB, we see it as they have all the stars, they have everything right, but maybe the home venue doesn’t allow them that advantage that other teams have. With PBKS, it always seems like there are some things going on behind the scenes that we don’t get to know, which are hindering that team’s progress. You have been in both environments. What do you think is going wrong? What can be done better to get the team across the line?

I think you’ve also got to realise that you’re playing against eight, nine other very good sides. So I don’t think it’s a matter of if one side is doing anything particularly wrong. I think it’s just saying that there are other sides that have had a little bit of a success early on that’s given them the confidence to stick with a particular plan for a long period of time. And therefore, there’s no surprise that it’s a little bit self-fulfilling, you know.

You give guys some confidence in the environment, you have some early success, that breeds a bit of confidence, and then things flow on. And contrary to that, if you’re really searching for something desperately then sometimes you don’t always make the right moves because you’re after that quick fix or that you’re under that level of pressure to win the trophy. And sides that do well around the world, whether it be franchises or international sides, are actually quite calm environments. They’re environments that are really quite stable, and everybody knows their role and those sorts of things.

So I, as I said, I just think some sides have got it under control a little bit more in terms of that consistency around the environment, and I think that once RCB wins their first trophy, it wouldn’t surprise me if they go on to win two or three relatively quickly, because of the structures there. It’s a very, very well-run franchise. But sometimes you can try too hard and you can be too desperate for that elusive prize. So once you win one, you might relax a little bit and let things unfold.

Do you think someone like Rajat Patidar at RCB or Shreyas Iyer at Punjab Kings can solve the issues plaguing their respective teams? Or do the captains even have that kind of an impact on a franchise, given that we are seeing so much data getting involved the tactics are pre-made in the dressing room?

Oh, without doubt, they can. I think it is a combination between the coach and the captain that need to prepare the side as well as they can, but, a lot of the coaches’ work happens off the park, and a lot of it helps prepare the captain along with the other senior players. And then ultimately, you’ve gotta give trust to the captain to make some decisions out on the park. And the only way they will learn and get better and better in pressure situations is by being allowed to make those decisions.

So someone like Rajat, you know, Shreyas Iyer has benefited from having those experiences really young, and being able to make some mistakes and being able to make some good decisions and just keep learning from it. And now he’s a far better captain now than he was even two, three years ago. And cming to a new franchise, it’s once again, it’ll be that link between Ricky Ponting and Shreyas. They’ve obviously worked together before. They’ve got a relationship and a good understanding. So I can already see them being well advanced in terms of how those two like to work. The pressure from outside will always be there, and that’s just part of the IPL but those two are very experienced heads, and I wouldn’t expect that they will be flustered by that at all.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. They have almost more than half of the titles between them. So what are they doing right? Is it just the momentum that they got from the first few titles, or is, is there something that they are doing absolutely better than others, which is helping them stand out, helping them dominate?

Well let’s look at Chennai Super Kings for a start. I mean, obviously MS Dhoni is still in the team. He’s not the captain now, but Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni have been there since IPL 2, so it’s still run by the same team, still the same management group, so you’ve basically got so much consistency there. And I guess a true test of that is there have been times where CSK have had terrible years, you know, like I think the first time in Dubai (2020). But the next year, they pretty much retained all of those players. They were able to go, ‘Okay, we had a poor year, but we still trust the process, and we’ve learned from it, absolutely, we’re not going to neglect it, but we’re the right people to turn the turn it around.’

That stability is basically been the backbone of CSK, and then they’ve been able to have subtle adjustments in terms of the ground. So at Chepauk, they’ve been able to have very good spinners and able to select players that are very good against spin. They’re able to be quite specific in terms of the types of players they want. They’ve been called Dad’s Army, but basically, they just respect experience. They don’t neglect talent, but they respect experience. And I think there are a lot of players and countries around the world who get players at 25-26 you’ve had a go, and you get moved on. The bottom game is not like that. You have always got to be learning, always got to be evolving to survive. So I think CSK have gone down that route.

Some other sides have tried to do it to a certain degree, but I think CSK is very good at that, whereas MI, you know, MI, have a very good scouting program they’re always able to unearth some new talent to add to an already vastly experienced and skillful group. But they’ve had some bad years as well. They’ve had some years where it hasn’t gone their way. But when they’ve had good years, they’ve been able to build on that, hold that team together for as long as possible, and then that — they had a team there for about six years, which was the envy of most sides around so a lot of people like going and playing for MI, they feel well looked after.

They call it a family, I guess. That’s you getting people feel like they belong, and they want to be part of it, and if they do the right thing, they’ll be well looked after. And I think, as a player, that’s kind of what you want as well.

But there is also another thing. Now we have seen not just experienced players, but some younger players like Shivam Dube or Tushar Deshpande going to CSK and giving their best, while there’s a running joke about other teams, where we see players coming out and doing better. So what is it? Is this the environment, if, or is it just about the right kind of people getting the right kind of these players?

I think it’s also the role that they’re asked to play. A Shivam Dube, you come into that squad, and you’ve got all of this experience around you in the batting lineup and a really specific role in terms of your kind of coming post-powerplay you’re going to take on the spin. So by having that, that group of players around them, you’ve been able to narrow down what he’s going to be exposed to. And then as he gets more confidence in terms of banging the spinners out of the park, he knows that seemers are going to come back and bounce him, so he’s able to deal with that now way better than he ever used to. And you can do that by being out in the middle with experienced players and having a whole heap of them around them.

Shivam Dube was always a very good ball striker, but he wasn’t a great decision maker in his younger years. So he needed to be in a group where he had a lot of confidence that he could just trust his instincts. He also needed to learn. So he needed a lot of people around him to sort of teach him on the job. He obviously had a huge respect for MS Dhoni, who as a finisher and as a power player, was someone to really bounce off ideas with. And sometimes it’s just a spot where you feel comfortable. You know, you don’t feel like you’re playing for your spot all the time. But you also, as I said, you also have people around you that allow you to do the job that you’re best equipped to do.

And another example of that is Tushar Deshpande, he’s turned up he hasn’t been hidden. I think that’s the other thing. That’s the other thing — he had a couple of games early where he absolutely got met, and he went around the park, but he still got picked so it was like, it was early in the season, but it was like, ‘No sure, you’ve gotten hit, you’ve gotta get those poor performances out of the way, and then you start to believe that you belong.’ Then you get a good one, and then you’re away. And I think it’s much easier to do that when you’ve got some wins in the bank, so your side’s flying high, and it’s far easier to develop players that way. And if you’ve got a couple of titles in the back pocket as well, then you’re also not desperate for that immediate success and you know that if you keep doing the right things, then the results will come.

So what can teams like RCB, PBKS and DC do? What can it take for these teams, or rather, any team, to win the IPL? How do they build towards it — do they get the best batting lineup, the best bowling, do they get the best scouts. What does it take to turn that tide?

I think it’s a combination of all of those things. I think I would put bowling ahead of batting, just because with the impact player rule now, you’ve got to have a good defensive bowling lineup, or you’ve got to be able to take wickets. And if you look at all the sides that won the IPL, they’ve all had very fine bowling attacks. You know, they say it all around the world batters win matches, bowlers win titles. And I think that really does marry up, because you get one or two guys that fail in a final with the bat. You know, that can be, that can be huge. But if you get a bowling attack that can get it right on the day, you can defend anything. I think that’s really important.

You absolutely need succession plans all the time. So you need to be able to drip feed talent coming through, and you need to be able to identify when the talent is ready and just need opportunity, or when they actually just need to be in the environment, and in one or two years time, that’s when they be ready, and that’s when they’re going to start to perform. So you know, talent ID is a real skill in itself. And I think once you understand the environment that they’re going to have to play in, it’s far easier than going back down through the grades and selecting players for the IPL.

Which team do you think has the best chance this IPL season, considering this criteria, and which team can maybe surprise us? Can we see a new winner?

I’ve picked my four semifinalists, Mumbai, CSK, SRH and KKR. I think they are the best. I think Punjab and DC are not far behind. And I think they will certainly be there. You know, Punjab, I wouldn’t say surprise, because I think they had a very good auction. And I think they, they’ve got a very well balanced squad. There’s a couple of little holes there, which I have talked about in detail on my own channels. But they are a pretty good squad. And I think DC also with, with Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser McGurk at the top, and KL (Rahul), you’ve actually got a really nice batting line up there. And I think with Kuldeep and Axar you’ve got a couple of very fine spinners, and their seam attack is nice as well. Delhi certainly have a chance. But those top four I mentioned, I think will be the ones fighting out.

In that, I’ve got my favorite which I’m gonna talk about in a few days, but I think between those four for sure.

We spoke about Dhoni. You’ve seen him perform over the years. He’ll be now playing as an uncapped player. He’s in his forties. His reflexes aren’t that good. Despite the age catching up, Dhoni is still there with CSK. Can CSK not do without him or is there a business side of the things where the team needs him for the brand or so the youngsters are encouraged to give their best. Or is the franchise just not ready yet for that transition where someone younger takes over completely.

I think Ms Dhoni’s presence in that lineup will add huge value. He adds a huge amount of confidence to the playing group. So just being there, bringing the calm words that he says out on the park … With the bat, you know, he’s still capable of doing some things that are extraordinary — maybe not for long periods of time, but certainly the the high impact innings, there are very few people around the world that can do that. And look, MS will always be involved with CSK, I’m sure. So from a brand perspective, he’s either on the park, or he’ll be the mentor, or, you know, be in the back room there somewhere.

I don’t think they will lose him at any stage. I’m sure they won’t allow that to happen. He will also be the first one to know that, hey, enough’s enough and my body has said enough. And, and he is really pushing it out as long as he can. He knows he would never turn up to an IPL, being the thorough professional that he is, under-prepared. He just wouldn’t. He would be he first one to go, ‘Look, I’ve tried it. I’m just not quite right.’ And he hasn’t done that. So because he hasn’t, I would expect him to still be up to speed this year, and probably play some of those innings that we’re used to seeing, albeit with a bit of a cameos.

We can’t not talk about Virat Kohli. You have seen him go through some of his best phases and then some of his worst. There were murmurs about him taking over the captaincy, but ultimately it went to Patidar. Where do you see his career going from here? Will he be enjoying this phase where he doesn’t have the pressure – the team is younger and he’s the seniormost player? Or will that bring a bit of an added pressure that, you’re 36-37 and you still need to keep performing at the level that we expect you to?

Virat knows the stage he’s at mentally, and he will know when the time is right to move over. And I don’t think he’s even close, to be honest, because he’s incredibly fit. And I think you’re right in terms of the freedom, I guess, to play as a player, not have the responsibility of leadership, even though he will lead, and he always does. Even when Faf was there, Virat was always engaged every ball and offering and those sort of things. So that won’t change.