Shipperd is now the head coach of IPL2’s most successful team so far, Delhi Daredevils, who also boast of some of the biggest hitters, but the 52-year-old doesn’t find it ironic.

“You have to go with the flow; there is change in the game of cricket and if I have played like that, it doesn’t necessarily mean I still think or coach in the same manner. It’s not necessary that as a coach you teach how you have played yourself. It’s about adapting to the demands and coaching is a fresh phase of life,” he says.

‘Big challenge’

He does admit that coaching a Twenty20 side is a big challenge, especially when it comes to handling instinctive batsmen. “I have observed that the T20 format is a game of instinct. While it requires the fundamentals to be strong, there’s a need to give them the freedom to play instinctive cricket as well. I don’t think with a player like Virender Sehwag, I would have had quite an impact but with someone like David Warner, who’s young and needs a bit of polishing, or Gautam Gambhir, who is a technically sound batsman, it helps,” he says.

Shipperd never represented Australia officially and got to play all his international cricket on the two rebel tours to South Africa during the apartheid years.

“I remember the quality of South African cricket and I was blessed to have played against some of their greatest players at that time — the likes of Graeme Pollock, Clive Rice, Jimmy Cook. It was such an exciting tour and I was being a part of the transformation process that helped South Africa blossom as a cricketing nation. That is as big as any international cricket for me,” he recalls.

Is there any regret that being a “rebel” hampered his chances of earning the Baggy Green? “To be honest I don’t think I would have made the main Australian team — there were so many talented batsmen,” he says.

Shipperd, who also coaches Victoria Bushrangers, is happy to be back in South Africa once again, and adds that “this time, with the IPL, it is official”.

“We have a good side and we are focusing to this tournament. Last year we had a disappointing semi-final and the boys are keen to get better this time around. And I am happy that the boys are enjoying this format. And this is the indeed the best way I could play T20,” he says.