Andrew McDonald interview: Would like to see Rajasthan Royals known for consistency rather than underdogs status

Currently, if there is one name buzzing in the cricket coaching arena, it's Andrew McDonald. The former Australian all-rounder was recently named the head coach of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Birmingham in England's new Hundred competition. He was also named the assistant coach of the Australian men's cricket team. In his four-year stint in coaching so far, he's built an impressive CV at just 37. He revived a struggling Leicestishire that hadn't won a single four-day match in two seasons in County circuit. He led Victoria to the one-day and Shield titles and a struggling Melbourne Renegades side to their first Big Bash League crown. He was also in the frame for England's men's cricket team's head coach role before Chris Silverwood was appointed. So it's not a surprise that he's one of the most sought after names in the coaching space.

Firstpost sat with McDonald in Mumbai to discuss Royals' IPL roadmap, his coaching philosophy, Steve Smith's reincarnation and much more.

What will be your biggest challenge at Rajasthan Royals?

How do you improve a group when you come in? There were some fine margins in last season, it's one game out from making the final four. And ultimately as a coach what you get judged on is between the losses and making the final. The key thing for me is improvement. How we prepare the players, how we make that as specific as possible with each individual, and how we go about getting a collective team performance and winning those key moments within games. Every coach talks about it, every player talks about it but ultimately if you can get a group that wins those key moments, inevitably you will find yourselves in the top 4. The first part of improvement comes through your playing list. If you can put a list together that can play the style of cricket you want to play, in particular at home. If you can bank a lot of wins at home, generally winning more than 50 percent of the games normally gets you in so the retention, trading and auction will be critical in improving the playing list.

What are the areas you are looking to strengthen in the auction?

Well, the easy thing is to say batting, bowling, and fielding (Smiles). But one of my key philosophies as a coach in particular in T20 cricket is having the bowling strength. I say the game is 240 balls of problems and the 120 with the ball you can actually control a little bit more. The other 120 you face with the bat is more a reaction to what's coming forward, so it's quite instinctive batting. The controllable for us are those 120 balls while bowling and that's something we would look to strengthen. If we could defend those 120 balls, it gives us a chance to score more than our opposition. I know that sounds really simple but it's a philosophy I've adopted across the teams I have been part of.

As a coach what different do you bring to the table at RR?

One of my key strengths is preparation. Strategy and tactical base as well. In T20 cricket it's pivotal, making sure that your players are prepared for everything that's about to come upon them within that next game. A lot of it is tactical work within a short period of time. It's not a first-class system where you get a lot of time to work with your players and build the skill. This is really making sure that your players are in good mental space to perform and then tactically go about it. For me, it's about connecting with the current playing group that's there. If I can connect, I can coach — that's one of my key mantras. They have a fantastic coaching staff currently in place. So tapping into their knowledge, they have greater nous than I have at the moment around how the players are positioned, ever since I have been appointed, I have been constantly chatting to those guys and getting as much info as I can. So when I get to the players I have as much information to prepare them.

RR were underdogs and won the title in the first year, but they haven't managed to reach those heights again. Will you try to change this underdogs tag to favourites? Is the underdog tag good enough as there is no pressure or the favourites tag which can intimidate an opponent?

When you start to get that favourites tag, it means you are being consistent for a period of time. Rajasthan have made it to the playoffs four, so there's probably a lack of consistency from year to year. Therefore the underdogs tag is going to stick. I would like to envisage in three year's time that people aren't talking about us as an underdog, they are speaking about us as a consistent team that's improved year on year and there is a way and style of cricket they play that will put them in top 4 at the end of the season. That's how you shake the underdogs tag. Ultimately that's the goal, to not be the underdog, it's to be respected, to be a team when they come up against the opponents they know what they are going to get. The assumption with some of the other IPL teams is that they are going to make the top 4, that's probably not with Rajasthan at the moment. And that's something we want to work towards, improvement and consistency on the back of that improvement.

Last year, the franchise transferred captaincy band from Rahane to Smith, was it really a difficult decision to continue with him as a captain this season? Were the other options in consideration as well?

Were there other options considered? There are always discussions around that but we felt that Steve Smith was the logical choice to lead this group going forward. He will be ably assisted by some high-quality people in and around him as well, we've got the likes of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes who've held vice-captaincy posts in international cricket and there are some very good Indian local cricket minds as well, so he will be ably supported within that role. Smith's got a very good strategic mind, understands the ebbs and flows of T20 cricket. In particular, has a great understanding of the majority of the current playing list having had some experience at the back end of last year's IPL.

You had started learning coaching very early while playing, at 27. What was the reason?

I thought potentially it (coaching) was something that might happen when my cricketing career ends. And unfortunately, it (career) came to a pretty quick halt due to injuries. So I did my coaching badges with Cricket Australia when I was 27. It was quite inquisitive. I took that opportunity and did some work with the underage Pathway teams in Victoria while I was still playing which really gave me an understanding of what coaches do. It actually helped me in the latter years of my playing career. A lot of players tend to assume what coaches do and know what they do but until you actually take that leap from playing to coaching, you don't fully understand what coaches do. I invested some time later in my career when I got some injuries. I had some big gaps at the backend with some long term injuries so I invested some time, sought out mentors, did a bit of work with AFL's Geelong football club as well. I really started my journey while I was injured, using that time wisely and embarking on potentially a coaching career which has unfolded.

I was lucky enough to have an opportunity with the Leicestershire county cricket club straight after I finished my career in Australia which really forged a path to where I am today. It was a little bit of gamble to go straight into the head coaching role. Most people tend to walk into assistant roles. It was a fast learning curve having being put in charge of a team that hadn't won many games over time. I am thankful I took that opportunity, I learned a lot, I made a lot of mistakes as young coaches do but it's helped me become and shape the coach that I am today.

In such a short time, your achievements have been impressive, you helped rebuild Leicestershire, led Victoria to the one-day and Shield titles and Melbourne Renegades to their first Big Bash League crown, what's has been the key to your success?

The understanding of myself. The understanding of how I want to implement and what I want to implement at certain times. The timing of when you intervene within an environment is a critical thing. But ultimately I have had some good teams around me in terms of coaches around me, so I give a lot of credit to the people I have worked with over time. It's not just one person. The head coach does get the plaudits from time to time but there is a huge team in the backroom. And ultimately I have had some good players to work with and I hope that the environments I have created have obviously lent itself to success as well. So critically, we have created a good environment of learning and enjoyment which are key fundamentals in bringing up-spark in performance. But it's not always guaranteed. I've had some good moments as a coach where it hasn't exactly equated the win-loss. I did some of my finest work at Leicester and it didn't always mean that we won games. So sometimes attributing wins and losses to coaches can be dangerous. But, yeah, I have enjoyed some success to date, hopefully, that can continue.

What's your coaching philosophy?

My philosophy is to prepare players to solve problems in the middle on their own under extreme pressure. Ultimately, the player will have to walk out there on his own and perform in the heat of battle. So, everything from training, to the preparation to the conversations is about getting the player to understand what he or she is up against and how they are going to go about their work against certain opposition in the middle on their own.

How do you make players understand that? How do you get a player to solve that problem in the middle?

Well, it comes through experience. It comes through allowing the player to self-reflect at times, not always telling the player what to do but asking the right questions at the right time. And it's a bit of a journey. For a 21-year-old player versus a 31, the conversation is going to be slightly different. The understanding of what the player does. The individual understanding what they do is sometimes different. A younger player needs to go through some ups and downs while a senior player might understand the game in greater depth. So, the conversations change. Ultimately that journey to getting that player to understand what he/she does is critical. As I said if they understand themselves, when they are out in the middle, they will understand the situation they are in, how they need to play that situation and ultimately get better performance than what they would have.

As a coach, what's your greatest strength?

My work rate in terms of preparation. Preparing the players for what's about to come up for them. I like to invest a lot of time in that preparation phase. The tactical nous within T20, I can value add to the Royals in that preparation phase in particular. I am a big communicator. With communication, there are no surprises, so always be upfront with players around, what it looks like for them and communicating the roles, making sure it's as clear as they can have it. As we know with the players, they want to know what their role in the team is. And there can be some difficult conversations in that as well, dropping, selecting and all sorts of stuff. So, ultimately man-management skills are critical in any team in particular as a head coach and that's not only for your players it's for the staff as well. Communication and management of backroom staff also go a long way in managing the players. That's what I try to pride myself on but you know it's not always perfect (smiles).

Somewhere, your cool and calm demeanor helps you in your job?

I understand how difficult the game is for the players so I don't want to get too emotional. The game has its ups and downs and I know that the players are trying their best ultimately. So to me, within games, it is taking all the information, see what's happened and where I can value add. If I am riding the ups and downs in the game, I am probably not focussing on some information that might be there within a strategic time-out to be able to lend up to the captain or a small conversation on the bench. My mind is ticking over in the coaching space as opposed to riding the ups and downs of what's happening out in the middle. And also you don't need the coach to be up and down like a yo-yo because that is only going to probably reflect in his team. Hopefully, your players see that and understand that you as a coach are backing them through the moments.

You have won varied titles, what's been the biggest challenge you have faced so far?

The biggest challenge in a domestic setup is the players coming in and going out, playing at a higher level. You don't get that in IPL. All the players are available all the whole time so I am looking forward to that. Not having players selected a couple of days out from your state game. But the biggest challenges for the domestic coaches is changing formats, shifting in between one-day, four-day and T20s. In international cricket, you do have blocks and IPL is a block, so I am looking forward to having a huge block with the players there the whole time to work with. Handling players that are disappointed and frustrated around the selection. I think selection puts a lot of people on the edge so that's probably one of the greater challenges, being able to get the people focussed on the job at hand at that point in time rather than thinking too far ahead.

There are T20 analysts that endorse the six-hitting approach, West Indies did that and won the 2016 World T20. Valuing the wickets less and outhitting the opponents, do you think it's the key to success in T20s?

No, I think there are many ways to play the game. We saw last year Chennai played a different style of cricket where they used the home ground advantage. So, depending on the players you have at your disposal, you can build a gameplan around that or the other way of doing it is picking the players to play a certain style of cricket that you want. But as we know with auctions, sometimes you don't get the squad you want. Therefore, you might have to shift the style of cricket you play. Every team does it slightly differently. My big thing is clearly the bowling has to match the batting. We've seen Sunrisers Hyderabad pick a strong bowling side and therefore they are able to win it with Kane Williamson as a more stable player. So every T20 winner has always had slight differences to the way they do it and it's based upon the personnel.

West Indies had a lot of power in that batting line-up so they utilised that. They also had a good bowling unit as well. Every team is different. We will certainly do it differently to West Indies, we don't have the same players what they had but we will be bouncing in and out of different strategies throughout the tournament. And I think the key thing is also the surfaces around in India lend themselves to a different style of cricket. So you have to adapt from game to game and that's all about picking a list of players that have the ability to play in all conditions around the country.

How much do you delve deep into data and analytics?

I look at it. It's there and available. A lot of time, it can confirm what you see and some other time it can really challenge what you are doing. It's there and obviously is representative of what's happening in the game so you shouldn't dismiss it. The key thing is what are you looking for. There is a lot of data and analytical information out there and some coaches probably don't look in the right areas to what's relevant for their team. So the art of that is to make sure that you are looking at the right things within that data. How you use that data as opposed to looking at it in its entirety. You've got to look at specifics within that. It is never right or wrong but 90 percent of the time the coach's eye will be a really good guide and 10 percent of the time the analytics will be there to challenge and give you different paths sometimes. But I think most of the times, the eye will be telling you what's happening. We've seen a lot of cricket games over time so that information from seeing games gives you good handle on it. And then obviously you use that data just to package up and give you different options if need be.

A lot of coaches try to employ out of the box stuff. What's the most interesting thing you've employed as a coach?

We opened with Sunil Narine three years ago for Melbourne Renegades and he became an opener. That was sort of a gut-feel match-up type scenario against the Melbourne Stars. He did well and that sort of allowed him then to destroy us a few times in the IPL (laughs) which wasn't great. But I don't think there are too many things outside the box. I think what you are trying to do is potentially spring the odd surprise on the opposition to throw out off their planning.

Sometimes you don't want to be too clever either. You want to make sure you are focussing on what you do well and almost saying to the opposition this is the way we are going to play. There is an element of predictability about this and you match up to it, every now and then you would want to change the formation of your team and in particular in the IPL with four overseas players complementing the seven local Indian players, your overseas balance is always going to be shifting so there is probably going to be some shifts in the way you play with the overseas four. You see that with most sides. I don't think there are too many left-field things that will happen. There will be a couple of moves where people scratch their heads but we will think at that point in time what will be in our best interest for our team.

Was it you who started Narine experiment or did it come from CPL or IPL?

I don't know. But we put him up there and we claim it....(laughs)...No, no, we don't claim it. It was outrageous. He was batting at No 8 for us and we didn't know much about Narine's batting. He may have opened somewhere else, I am not sure about that. That was a move we threw out just purely on match-ups. Michael Beer was a left-arm orthodox and Finch had his struggles against Beer over time. Some people saw it as left field We saw it as making a lot of sense to us. A lot of teams do that based upon match-ups. I don't think it is too left field, I think the way the game is heading, people are looking to make moves to throw out the opposition and how they want to play. So I am not claiming that by any stretch of the imagination.

What's the key to resurrecting a struggling team? You have had the experience of doing that with Leicestershire who hadn't won a four-day game for two seasons and Renegades as well...

Clarity in direction. Knowing where you want to end up. And then building how you want to get there, through your preparation, planning and playing personnel. A clear understanding of how you are going to win things. And then building back from there, step by step. A lot of teams take a bit of time to get to where you want to. Renegades were a struggling team, people unfold theses 3-5 year plans and things like that. I think just improvement year to year will see you get to where you want to. It's not linear.

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