At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) upset Punjab Kings in the finals, eventually ending their IPL title drought. Even while the players and support personnel were ecstatic with the historic achievement, one man’s name—head analyst Freddie Wilde—became well-known due to the strategic decisions that helped turn around RCB’s fortunes.
Another journalist, Wilde co-wrote ‘Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution’ with Tim Wigmore in 2019. In ‘Why CSK Wins and Why Royal Challengers Bengaluru Lose,’ the book’s twelfth chapter, he examined Royal Challengers Bengaluru is flawed.
The chapter claims that despite having elite players, RCB’s demise was brought on by their ongoing instability, numerous roster changes, poor balance, and lack of strategic planning.
Wilde went on to write that the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) success might be attributed to stable leadership. It’s interesting to note that RCB hired Wilde to contribute to the exact answer he had described as an issue just four years later. Wilde, who had previously offered an honest assessment of the franchise, was appointed Head of Analysis in 2023.
Performance analytics, matchup breakdowns, opposing weakness analysis, and data-driven tactical decision-making were all part of Wilde’s responsibilities. Wilde replaced Nathan Leamon as England’s white-ball squad analyst at the beginning of 2023. He contributed his expertise from The Hundred’s Oval Invincibles, ILT20’s Desert Vipers, and RCB to an England team getting ready to defend their ODI World Cup championship.
However, Wilde and Leamon were fired from the ECB establishment prior to England’s five-match Test series against India beginning on June 20. Following England’s head coach Brendon McCullum’s preference for intuition over statistics, the choice was taken. The administration of England today feels that franchise leagues like the IPL are better suited for data-heavy tactics. Wilde’s involvement in RCB’s think tank has been crucial to their first IPL championship, even though he left the ECB.
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