Looking at the options for India's batting and bowling coaches

Praveen Amre

Praveen Amre has revolutionised ‘personal coaching’ in India

One of the most successful, yet the most underrated coaches in the domestic circuit, Praveen Amre, has perhaps never been given the right kind of opportunities at the biggest stage. A top-order batsman during his playing days, he has been credited for the recent success of several Indian cricketers, such as Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa, who availed Amre’s services as a personal coach. The Mumbai-born former cricketer had coached the Mumbai Ranji Team and has led them to three Ranji Trophy titles. Amre had also coached the Indian Under 19 side that won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2012.

However, Amre’s greatest contribution to the way cricket coaching is seen and perceived in India has been the way he revolutionised personal coaching. Several specialised batting coaches have mushroomed up in the country following Amre’s successful campaigns with some of the top Indian cricketers. The list of such cricketers also includes names like Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik. The 47-year-old also owns a cricket academy in Mumbai, named as the Cricket Indian Academy where he nurtures young talents from across the state of Maharashtra as well as from the rest of the country and has associations with Cricket Australia with Brett Lee as the brand ambassador.

Notwithstanding his achievements, Amre has never been offered either a temporary or a permanent coaching responsibility with the Indian team. Amre himself was coached by one of the fatherly figures of the Indian domestic circuit, Ramakant Achrekar, who also coached the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, and his one-time India teammate Vinod Kambli. Hence, the passion for coaching was infused into the man at a very young age. If given a term with the Indian Cricket Team as the batting coach, Amre can prove out to be an extremely valuable asset.