How Pep fan Yo Mahesh has embraced the ‘football model’

Amidst the calm that enveloped the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, a booming yet pleasing voice constantly made its presence felt during the Ranji Trophy fixture between Tamil Nadu and Railways.

Tactical inputs and words of encouragement and caution were served aplenty by TN head coach Yo Mahesh, who has embraced the ‘football model’ in a cricket dugout. Yo Mahesh, inspired by former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, highlighted the importance of “real-time” interactions, especially in an environment packed with young blood.

“I feel that coaching methodologies are changing. In the IPL, we watch Ashish Nehra (Gujarat Titans head coach) talk to his players from close to the boundary line. It is just a sense of reaffirmation to the players,” the former State team pacer told The Hindu. “We have a lot of youngsters like Andre Siddarth, Vimal Khumar, S.R. Athish, D. Deepesh and J. Hemchudeshan, so that extra bit of motivation will certainly help them. We do discuss things during team meetings and in the dressing room, but the progress could be faster with real-time inputs. Time makes a big difference in a competitive sport… everything that is within the rules of the game should be allowed,” the 38-year-old added.

Be it cheering his boys with ‘nambunga, nambunga (keep believing in yourself, keep believing in yourself)’ or ensuring there is no drop in intensity after bagging a wicket, Yo Mahesh never cared about the condition of his throat.

“Gone are the days when coaches just sat and observed the action. When you want the coach’s energy to transfer to the players, you should do stuff like this. We are slowly seeing some changes in white-ball cricket: it will be good if it happens in red-ball cricket as well.”

Irrespective of the colour of the sphere, Yo Mahesh has indeed been on the ball.