In May of 2019, Rasikh Salam found himself at a prime location in the Mumbai Indians dugout as the team sought to outdo fellow IPL royalty Chennai Super Kings and clinch a fourth title. Nearly two months earlier, Rasikh had played his first and only game of the season, but that didn’t alter his seating arrangement. He sat beside MI’s then Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan, their conversations flowing as they had all season while one of the greatest finals in the tournament’s history unfolded in Hyderabad.
Rasikh, young and still slightly green, was picked on potential and instructed to sit in during matches with the former India pacer. Zaheer drew the youngster into conversations that demanded he think deeper about the game. At the time, much of what the veteran spoke about went over Rasikh’s head.
“He [Zaheer] would make notes of what is going on in a particular over, and then ask me what do you think the bowler should do now? He’d ask ‘If you were there, what would you do?’. There were a lot of things we spoke about and at that time, I didn’t grasp a lot of it, but as I’ve grown older, I realise the importance of it,” Rasikh tells Cricbuzz.
“I would think why was he telling me to read the game. But he’d say along with your skill, you should know how to read the game. He used to tell me how to go about it and how to use my brain in the game. To train my mindset in that way at that time, I think that was the sign of a great coach.”
In his first coaching role, Zaheer brought an analytical mind shaped by an illustrious playing career. There are no guarantees that instincts from the field will translate into coaching, but the early signs suggested they had for him. At MI, though, Zaheer had the cushion of walking into a setup that was already designed to run at top speed, and an airtight coaching structure, despite the number of people involved, ensured nobody stepped on each other’s toes. MI were very clear: Mahela Jayawardene was firmly at the wheel as the head coach and everyone else worked around him.
“We were very robust in how we scouted. As a management team, we would meet for long periods of time discussing opposition, discussing our own team and then putting together some tactics. Zaheer played a very strong role in that,” James Pamment tells Cricbuzz. From 2018 to 2024, Pamment was a key member of the coaching staff at MI, serving as fielding specialist and assistant coach.
“Tactically, he [Zaheer] was very smart, especially around the bowling aspect with plans. When we were sort of working out how to bowl to the opposition’s best players, he had great insight into that. But, on the grass, he was just very personable, almost had a laid-back persona. He was certainly very wise in his knowledge around the technical aspect. But he never overstepped the mark.”
In 2020, Trent Boult arrived at MI and found an ally in Zaheer, to talk left-arm fast bowling down to the minute, tactical details. Zaheer was still always mindful about not overstepping his brief, with Shane Bond as the bowling coach. Zaheer in fact, brought a lot more to the table than just his tactical nous.
“He [Zaheer] never overstepped the mark,” James Pamment recalls of their time at MI. ©BCCI
“In 2019, we had that amazing win in Hyderabad. But then in the COVID season in 2020, when it was played in Dubai, we were an outstanding team. We were like a well-oiled machine. And he was part of that,” Pamment recalls. “And certainly off the field, he knew the importance of bringing the group together. So, he was very proactive in making sure the owners put on plenty of sundowners, get-togethers, dinners. We were obviously all living in the same bubble. But Zaheer made sure everybody came out of their rooms and joined in and were part of the group.”
Zaheer’s stint with MI gave him the space to figure out his approach to a behind-the-scenes role. He didn’t drive major decisions, or shoulder the burden of big calls. In return for a relatively soft landing in a coaching ecosystem, he offered technical inputs that MI valued dearly, ranging from ways to improve players and motivating those whose opportunities were few and far between.
“At one point, we had Jayant Yadav in our squad. And he would play maybe only two or three games throughout the campaign. But he knew which two or three games he was going to play, so he would prepare himself accordingly. And Zaheer was grooming him in that respect to stay positive. Telling him this is your opportunity, it’s coming along, and this is the role that you’re going to have to perform. He was very clear and very supportive of the head coach with those types of plans,” Pamment says.
His arm around Jayant’s shoulders, and how he pushed Rasikh to think, gave a peek into the kind of communicator Zaheer turned out to be at MI: Soft, thought-provoking and full of positive affirmations.
“In our environment, he operated in the background. You never really saw him stand up and make a Churchillian-type speech. He was way better just working one-on-one with individuals. He had a great relationship with Rohit Sharma. I know they spent a lot of time having their own discussions, especially around selection,” Pamment offers, before bringing in the caveat of the role dynamics. “It’s another thing, when you’re the head coach, you’re pretty much in charge of selection, aren’t you? When you’re sort of just operating in and around the environment [as a Director of Cricket Operations] you don’t carry the end can, do you?”
Scenes will likely be very different at CSK, where all roads will lead to Zaheer. After a successful tenure with MI, and a forgettable one with LSG, as Director of Cricket Operations, the head coach’s job at the other IPL behemoth is a definite step up. He will walk in through the door at CSK and take a seat that was occupied by the same coach for 18 years in an era defined by consistency and five titles.
Some of the excitement around the appointment is understandable given Zaheer’s relationship with MS Dhoni and the success they earned together. But when the dust of nostalgia settles, the focus will shift to Zaheer’s coaching credentials and ask one big important question of him: can he seamlessly carry forward the qualities he displayed in a relatively detached role at MI to a more hands-on one at CSK?
“I think what will come naturally to him is trying to bring the group together and getting everybody on the same page. The team spirit aspect of everybody [being] in it together. That relationship [with Ruturaj Gaikwad] will be pivotal in terms of who’s doing what, how they plan, how they review and how they get the best out of each member in the squad,” Pamment reckons.
Zaheer’s reunion with MS Dhoni has generated obvious excitement over his appointment as CSK coach. ©AFP
For a team that has five glowing trophies in their cabinet, bringing in team spirit might sound like a low-priority requirement. But let’s add some context. CSK have endured two of their worst seasons in the last two years, finishing 10th in 2025 and 8th in 2026. Picking up the pieces and fusing them together might just be the first order of business that CSK need from their new man in after deciding to shake up a long-standing coaching structure.
Zaheer also brings the advantage of being a former India international, someone the majority of the squad can look up to. But that reverence could come under strain when he has to make tough selection calls and find his voice at the top of the coaching hierarchy.
“The young Indian players that we had at MI would always be very keen to talk to him and I know that he shared good wisdom with them. But, I guess understanding the process of coaching is important. When you do take a job as a head coach like that, it’s not just about what you know. It’s making sure that you understand what your players know and how to develop those players and how those players learn,” Pamment says.
“Because some guys will be competent enough just to come in and perform and be almost left alone. But there will be a lot of other players who will need strong guidance. And some of it will be technical, some of it will be tactical, and some of it will be performance related. So, he’s going to have to rely on a strong staff and get them all on the same page. But from my experience his strength will be in bringing the group together,” he adds.
Zaheer will soon get a closer look at CSK’s ethos – carefully cultivated from the early years of the league, where role clarity and long ropes have defined their methods. He’ll learn that drawn out team meetings don’t happen there and the mood within the camp doesn’t necessarily swing wildly with the results. A philosophy rooted in emotional restraint might just be right up Zaheer’s alley.
“I can’t remember Zaheer ever getting negative,” Pamment says. “We had some challenging seasons in 2022 and 2024 when Zaheer was there, and I was there. I can never really remember him going negatively. He tried to remain positive and upbeat, and he tried to get the things that we’d done well across to the group to try and keep the environment positive. I think that’s a strong attribute of his that will stand him in good stead in Chennai.”
CSK and Zaheer then, make for an intriguing marriage. Beyond the World Cup winner vibes and the Dhoni camaraderie, there’s a budding coach with plenty of right ideas. How those ideas come to life from a more prominent seat and at a team looking to rekindle its dimming legacy will be one of the most compelling sub-plots of IPL 2027.
This is part of the Cricbuzz series – IPL Off-Season – where we will bring you stories from the T20 tournament all through the year. For more stories from the series, click here.