India, May 29 -- Think of Ashish Nehra and his image of sipping coconut water on a training day springs to mind. Once the IPL is over, the Gujarat Titans head coach will be off to his home in Goa. When Nehra is not planning and plotting for GT, he is usually living a holiday life.

Nehra brings to his coaching the same coolness that players and his fellow support staff seem to love. He also has the results to show. This is the third out of four years under Nehra that Titans have entered the playoffs. They won the title in their first attempt in 2022 and lost the 2023 final by the barest of margins.

Coaching gigs in IPL, like with managers in football, can be fickle. Performance is the only barometer in keeping the job. But Nehra, in his ...