After Stephen Fleming ended his long-term association with Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) earlier this year to join England as head coach, the five-time IPL winners are still without a head coach. While names like former England captain Eoin Morgan are doing the rounds, former Australian opener and CSK star Matthew Hayden has once again batted for Royal Challengers Bengaluru batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik for the CSK role, pointing at Karthik’s local connection with Chennai being the biggest factor.

“Well, I feel like Dinesh Karthik would be a really good choice for CSK. He has been kind of under the tutelage of other world-class coaches, including names like Andy Flower, for example, who have had very successful playing and coaching careers. But being a local Tamil boy, I feel like that is a really important piece. It’s not a must have, but for Tamil Nadu cricket in particular, I just felt like CSK has always been backed by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. So I feel like some local flavour would be the next best step for CSK,” Hayden said while speaking on Wisden Cricket podcast.

Chennai Super Kings won their fifth IPL title in 2023 but finished eighth in the points table the previous IPL season with MS Dhoni not playing a single match. With the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side not qualifying for the play-offs, it was a disappointing campaign for the side.

Hayden explained how any foreign coach with an IPL side faces the language barrier and how having Karthik as the head coach would benefit CSK.

“CSK notoriously picks from afar. You know, they drive over fish to get to fish. There have been very few players that have actually come from Tamil Nadu itself. They play everywhere else. But, I mean, our side at Gujarat (Titans), it’s full of Tamil boys, which we love because they love the game. The one thing I’ll say is it’s very difficult to be a foreign coach in the IPL as well. I give great credit to those that do it because there are some natural language barriers, especially not so much the seasoned campaigners and veterans of Indian cricket, but which sides are littered with. But to have that impact with the next level players, where it’s difficult to communicate at times, is a little frustrating. So having that local element that can be almost a translator, who can manage up and manage down with no language barriers, I think that’s a big factor in the IPL,” said Hayden.

Earlier, former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had spoken about former England captain Eoin Morgan taking over as CSK coach.

“I have a feeling Eoin Morgan might be coming. His name is doing the rounds strongly. Early discussions are on, no doubt. In this, two scenarios: Eoin Morgan- will he take it this year? Or someone else builds the team in a mini auction, and he takes it later?” Ashwin said on his YouTube show Ash ki Baat.