Gary Stead is slowly getting used to his daily commutes from Visakhapatnam to Vizianagaram. He makes the most of the hour-long journey by planning the training schedule, sorting out the day’s nets session, and catching glimpses of the scenic surroundings.
While he has been in India before, this time around, Stead has a challenging task in hand. Being the head coach of Andhra, he hopes to bring a fresh perspective and develop a winning culture in the team.
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Having spent nearly eight years with New Zealand, coaching the team through some of its iconic victories – including the World Test Championship in 2021, Stead steered New Zealand cricket to a new direction. He ensured that the side, under the leadership of Kane Williamson, emerged as one of the most talked-about units.
Now, he wants to emulate a similar trajectory with Andhra. He knows it won’t happen overnight, but he wants to take that step in the right direction. In an exclusive chat with Sportstar, Stead talks about his new assignment and what he expects from the young group.
What made you take up the role?
It’s a really exciting opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with Andhra and (working with) the staff and players to try and make them as good as they can be.
Look, I think they haven’t had success at the highest level of the Ranji Trophy, and I hope I can help them achieve that or certainly start (things) in the right direction in terms of getting performances that lift their status as cricket players.
You worked with New Zealand’s men’s team for nearly seven years, and during your tenure, the team won the World Test Championship and also made it to the finals of a couple of ICC events. The discipline and the culture of that team became a role model for many. Now, how do you plan to build the Andhra team, which has a nice blend of youth and experience?
The players are starting to find out about me, and I’m finding out about them in the same way. But there’s no doubt there is a lot of talent here in Andhra. I’ve seen in the last week or so that there’s a really good mix of batsmen, bowlers, and fast bowlers here.
We have some experienced players like KS Bharath and Ricky Bhui, who can help lead those youngsters. For me, it’s trying to get them to play as good cricket as they can and believe in themselves, and play really well as a team.
There’s quite a gap between domestic and international cricket in terms of skills and competition. What will your approach be with the Andhra team to sort of reduce the gap?
There are a lot of people who are in and around to support you here in India. The support staff here is fantastic, and they make me feel very welcome. My job is to help them become as good as they can be in coaching as well.
I do like to be hands-on. But I also think when you have such a big squad and a big staff, you’ve got to have a little bit of a helicopter view of everything that’s going on as well. So, I take my moments to get in there and learn more. I guess what I’m trying to do is give a lot of learning to the players and staff as quickly as we can.
Given your credentials, the expectation is huge. How do you plan to handle these expectations, and what are the realistic targets that you have set?
I’ve come here to try and treat this like any other coaching role that I can. And that’s to be as good as I can be and to try and get the very best out of the players as well.
The exciting thing for me was, I guess, being an international coach in an Indian sort of situation. And (in such times), you get to challenge the skills that you have as a coach, and whether that can be built into a different culture as well. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m very hopeful that it will.
FILE PHOTO: “It’s a really exciting opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with Andhra and (working with) the staff and players to try and make them as good as they can be,” said Stead.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: “It’s a really exciting opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with Andhra and (working with) the staff and players to try and make them as good as they can be,” said Stead.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
As long as both sides are open, like the players and staff are on the same page in terms of how we’re trying to grow and how we’re trying to track the right direction, then I’m sure we will get some positive results.
Like last year, the Ranji Trophy will be played in phases. While many players prefer it as it allows time to recover and recalibrate, there’s also not much time for turnaround, as teams need to switch formats in between. How do you see it?
I think most countries around the world do that now. It’s good because if you want to play internationally, you should learn to adapt to the different formats. I think doing that actually makes a lot of sense.
Andhra has a group of senior players, including Bharath, Bhui, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. With Reddy being a regular member of the Indian team, how much of his presence will boost the youngsters?
I haven’t met Nitish yet because he has been away with the Indian side. However, we have got the likes of Bharath, who’s played for India as well and is definitely a leader within our group.
My approach isn’t any different to them than it is to anyone else. I want to try and work with them, find out how I can help them, what they believe their strengths are, and where the holes are in their game. These are things we can try and develop. It’s nice that there are some experienced players around to help and guide some of the youngsters as well.
But I’m never a big believer that age is a big barrier to anything. You can be a very smart 20- 21-year-old and have good processes, and then, you can be a 35-year-old who doesn’t think so well. So it really comes down to how you can learn from your experiences.
The workload of the players has been a major talking point in Indian cricket. In a long and hectic season, how do you plan to handle that?
I think the ability to adapt quickly across formats is really important. The best players in the world do that very well. They find the tempo of the game quickly, and I think that’s no different from what we’ll be trying to achieve here at Andhra as well. I’m excited.
We had 30-odd players in the squad here last week. I think there’ll be a lot of pressure for places, which is a good thing.
What are the learnings from your stint with New Zealand that you would like to imbibe here?
I’ve been involved internationally with the New Zealand men’s and women’s teams for almost 11 years. I coached domestically for six or seven years, as well as at Canterbury. So, over time, you build up that experience of just being in the game.
You also build up a lot of experience with different players. The most important thing for me here is to build good, strong relationships with the players and staff. Hopefully, that can have crops, and then we can start progressing faster.
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It’s a big challenge ahead. I have no doubt about that. It may not happen immediately, but I think we can set some blocks in place to try and help make those improvements happen faster.
In the past, overseas coaches have often faced a language barrier while interacting with the players and the local support staff. How do you plan to handle that?
There’s no doubt that at times, language can be a little bit of a barrier. Some people don’t speak fluent English, and I certainly don’t speak the local dialect.
But what I can do is ask questions and make sure that they understand. I often check that. Likewise, I encourage the players to come to me and ask questions as well. It’s the coach’s responsibility to check for that understanding, and hopefully that is happening here.
Published on Oct 07, 2025