Prasad and Robin sacked - how fair?

Venkatesh prasad sacked

The Indian selectors yesterday declared the ODI team for the upcoming Ind-Aus 7 match series. With it came the shocking news that the bowling coach as well as the fielding coach, namely Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh respectively, had been sacked. Reason – the Indian team’s pathetic bowling and fielding display in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy and Twenty20 WC tournaments.

Personally, I do not agree with giving Prasad the boot. The apparent paucity of fast-bowling reserves has to do with the recurring injuries to the fast bowlers too.

Zaheer Khan is currently out, which obviously takes away a lot of edge from the bowling attack. Munaf Patel is consistently injury-prone. Sreesanth has had attitude problems besides physical fitness and RP Singh has spent time out due to injury too. Harbhajan Singh has surely improved over the last 2 years. It is also very well known that the rehabilitation, the training patterns and fitness tests of injured players are not always communicated to the national coach.

What might also have worked against Prasad was the rapid decline of Ishant. Strangely enough, it was only last year that Prasad was being given credit for the team’s extraordinary show in Australia and in the home Tests against them, when our seamers would start getting vicious reverse-swing as early as the first hour with the new ball.

Among all this exercise, the BCCI ensured that it maintained its unprofessional ways. Both the coaches got the news from the media rather than from the concerned officials. Also, the selection/sacking report did not mention the reasons for their exit. What was let known to the media though was that the captain and head coach were not part of the process.

A coach gets sacked and the head coach is not consulted. Inexplicable stuff. They should have realised that it was under Robin and Prasad that we won the the first T20 championship without any “head” coach. Singh and Prasad do deserve a less disgraceful adieu.

To end it on an ironical note, all this news came on a day when Praveen Kumar thanked Prasad for helping him grow as a bowler at international level. Life does show strange ways!