Earlier this year, Russell Domingo received his first T20 league stint as head coach of the Lahore Qalandars in the ongoing Pakistan Super League.
Since taking over the side last month, the former Proteas mentor has helped the side secure second place in the current standings with two more round-robin fixtures left before the knockout stage of the tournament gets underway.
In an exclusive interview with Independent Media this week, Domingo highlighted the differences between coaching in international cricket and in the T20 leagues.
“It’s my first venture as a head coach in the league space, and it’s totally different to coaching in a domestic team or national team in terms of time to prepare, in terms of selections, in terms of management,” he said.
“But it’s been a great experience. Players are all experienced players.
“They know what they need to do. Players are very influential in the style of play and strategy because there’s so much experience around. So, it’s been a great learning experience in that aspect.
“You cannot come and change the mantra or the way the team operates.
“You’ve got to fit into the way teams operate and how teams function, which is totally different to when you’re running a domestic team where you sort of mould teams to your way – the team’s very much self-run.
Updated points table after today’s match.
Two games to go! pic.twitter.com/1Ev5vlZGeo
— Lahore Qalandars (@lahoreqalandars) May 1, 2025
“All the players are big international players who understand their games and are managing that space and making sure that strategies are in place, and the team’s really in a good space going into every game.”
Sitting in second place, Domingo’s Lahore Qalandars have won four out of eight games, and have had their most recent fixture declared a no-result due to inclement weather.
The 50-year-old reckons that their strength as a team has been their batting depth, with the likes of Fakhar Zaman leading from the front.
Domingo also emphasised that despite their bowling attacks’ slow start in the tournament, they have now found a working formula for the conditions in Pakistan.
“We are sitting in second position on the table at the moment. I think we’re batting really well at the moment,” the current Lions coach said.
“We’ve got a really good top and middle order in terms of our batting depth. Guys like Fakhar Zaman at the top, then ’ve got Sam Billings, Daryl Mitchell, Sikandar Raza has been in amazing form… Abdullah Shafique is a quality player.
“With the ball, we’ve adjusted the lengths we need to bowl, and we’ve been a lot better in these last three or four games. We were a little bit full to start with, but we managed to drag our lengths back, and guys like Shaheen have led that well.
“Haris Rauf’s finding some good form, and the spinners have done a really good job as well. So, we’re a well-balanced side.
“Starting to play good cricket now. Starting to find our best form and big games ahead. So, hopefully we can win one of these last two and cement our spot in the last four and get into the play-off section.”
Today, Domingo will lead his troops to a big derby against the Karachi Kings in Lahore (5pm SA time start), a fixture that the head coach expects to be a sell-out.
The ex-Warriors boss understands that his team do not need to do anything different in the encounter.
Domingo knows that if they win the fixture, they are in with a chance to finish the round-robin phase in the top two.
“I don’t think we need to do too much to what we’ve done in these last three or four games. We’ve played really well,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in the batting. We’ve got a big game against David Warner’s Karachi on Sunday. I think we’ve still got a chance of finishing in the top two if we win one of those two games.
“It’s a really important weekend coming for us. But much of the same, no need to change anything, the way we’ve played these last couple of games, because we’ve been really good.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the group at the moment.
“We’ve just got to take that forward into our game on Sunday, make sure that mentally we’re fresh, physically we’re ready and can bring a big performance in what’s going to be a really important game against Karachi, which is like a bit of a big derby here.
“Lahore versus Karachi is like the big game in this league. We’re expecting a massive crowd there on Sunday, and it should be a cracking game.”
