We are just over three weeks away from the start of the 10th edition of the IPL. The history of the competition has seen several players who played a key role in their side doing well over the length of the competition in the role designed to them.
Some of the those players have now turned into coaches for the same side that they represented at one point and we look at 5 such names here:
5.L Balaji
The former India pacer began his tenure in the IPL with the Chennai Super Kings, where he became the first player to take a hattrick in the history of the League.
After three seasons with the side, he moved the Kolkata Knight Riders and proved to be an effective customer with the ball.
In 2012, the Knight Riders lifted the crown for the first time in their history and Balaji could not feature in the final and Gautam Gambhir after the win in the post-match presentation praised the cricketer and dedicated the win to the player.
He then moved from far east to north where he represented the Kings XI Punjab and last year after announcing his retirement from the game, he succeeded Wasim Akram in the role of the bowling coach at the Knight Riders for the upcoming season.
4.Daniel Vettori
The New Zealand left-arm spinner was picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2011 season and was also named the captain of the team that year.
After playing for two seasons for the RCB, Vettori was appointed the head coach of the side ahead of the 2014 season and that call backfired as the Virat Kohli-led side finished 7th on the table.
However, the following year, the team staged a superb recovery to get the Playoffs of the competition, where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings. But it was last year that Vettori really transformed the RCB along with Kohli.
Stuck in a situation, where they had to win every game to make it into the knockouts, he galvanised the side from behind to inspire them to the final where they came second best to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
3.Jacques Kallis
When the IPL began, none thought that a player like Jacques Kallis had a place in the Twenty20 format. let alone in the League. Those critics were proven right in the opening season when the all-rounder struggled to get the Royal Challengers off to a good start.
He improved significantly in the following two seasons and then was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2011 season. In the 2012 season, Kallis played a key role in the final, scoring a half-century, anchoring the innings and eventually climbing the stage to be a part of a champion IPL side for the first time.
In 2015, when Trevor Bayliss had been roped in by England to revitalise their fortunes as a team, Kallis was named his replacement for the following season and the Knight Riders made it to the playoffs in his maiden season in charge.
2.Ricky Ponting
The former Australian captain was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders setup in the 2008 season and then in 2013, joined the Mumbai Indians. In an opening partnership for the ages, Ponting a Tendulkar strode out to bat right at the top of the order.
However, their partnership did not prove to be as fruitful as one wished it would and eventually the Australian was replaced at the top of the order by Dwayne Smith, who gave the team more impetus.
After a slightly below-par season in 2014, the management roped in Ponting to replace John Wright as the head coach in 2015.
Stuck in a position where they had to win everything in order to progress through to the knockouts, Ponting brought his winning mentality that he had so ruthlessly developed in his playing career and the Rohit Sharma-led side won nine games on the trot to eventually win the title.
It was the kind of run that was reminiscent of the World Cup win that he was part in 1999 and meant that after 4 years of hard toil, the charismatic Mumbai Indians had finally got their hands on the trophy.
Late last year, though, Ponting was replaced by Mahela Jayawardene as the head coach of the side.
1.Stephen Fleming
When he was picked by the Chennai Super Kings, Fleming was not considered as someone who would blaze away from the word-go. His job was to play the sheet anchor and that he did in the 10 matches that he played for the team.
The left-hander made 196 runs in those games at a decent strike-rate of 118.
A season later, Fleming was appointed the head coach of the team and under his helm, they reached the semifinal stage of the competition.
In 2010, the yellow brigade went one step further and won their maiden IPL crown defeating the Mumbai Indians in the final. They repeated that feat the following year when in front of their home fans, they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Fleming also coached the side to two Champions League titles in 2010 and 2014 and when the franchise was suspended in 2015 for two seasons, was roped in by the Rising Pune Supergiant.
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