Team India: Why not an Indian coach?

The present coach of Indian Cricket Team, Duncan Fletcher, will see his tenure come to an end in May 2013, thus seeing out the 2 year contract awarded to him by the BCCI. In the light of the dismal performances by the Indian team, it is unlikely that his contract will be renewed. In fact, the BCCI has already set out in pursuit of a new coach even before his contract ends. After John Wright took over the job in 2000, Team India has not had a full-time Indian coach for over a decade. A quick analysis of the foreign coaches show that, barring Greg Chappell and Duncan Fletcher, the other two have been successful.

Under John Wright started a revolution in Indian cricket with the assistance of captain Sourav Ganguly. India reached the 2003 World Cup finals in his tenure as coach of India and Gary Kirsten resigned after India got crowned as World Champions in 2011.

John Wright took over the reigns after the match fixing crisis in 1999 involving top players rocked the Indian team and Kirsten took over the job after India had one of its worst World cup campaigns in 2007 under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. Although India won the inaugral T20 World Cup under Lalchand Rajput, he was an interim coach.

Greg Chappell had a team that had the potential and capability to outdo any opposition in the world; but during his term as coach, India hardly won anything and it was hardly the golden age of Indian cricket. However, Chappell & co did give a few good and promising youngsters a chance to play for India.

Comparison of the performances of the different foreign coaches that India had during the past decade

The comparison between the four foreign coaches show that John Wright and Gary Kirsten delivered for Team India and produced the output, while Fletcher and Greg Chappell failed to do so.

And now, it’s been quite a time after that World Cup victory. Under Fletcher, India has had two series defeats at England and Australia. If that was not enough, India lost 2-1 against England at home. Obviously, not everything is under Fletcher’s control but fingers are raised by the critics towards the captain and the coach. Recently, few players were seen complaining to the BCCI that the coach was of little help to them. So, in all likelihood, Fletcher will be replaced when his contract gets over in May. Chances are that he might be replaced by another foreigner. But India is a well settled team and it needs man management and tips to handle pressure rather than batting advice; so the question that needs an answer is – Why not an Indian coach??

India needs someone who knows the players, the nation and the team as a whole. India needs someone who doesn’t need to start from the beginning and knows every aspect of Indian cricket. Indian cricket also needs someone who knows to handle a team of mega stars and the big egos that occupy the Indian dressing room. Recently, it has been evident that certain players have ego problems and find it difficult to adjust with other players.

A coach like Greg Chappell was a failure when it came to managing the big stars and in preventing the discord in the Indian dressing room. The players didn’t have the vision and attitude to succeed, and all they cared were their egoistic goals. And naturally, India bowed out of the 2007 WC quite easily. During those days, one of the junior players had criticised a senior player of batting too slow in order keep his wicket. All these incidents showed there was something not right in the Indian dressing room. Out of the four foreign coaches India has had, two have been successful and two have been failures; that’s 50 % success. But will the BCCI take a risk and hire another foreign coach, especially given the fact that India is No.1 in the ICC ODI World Rankings??

Only time will tell, but India surely is not lacking in domestic talent.

When we talk of domestic coaches, the two names that come to mind are Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh. They have been bowling and fielding coaches of the senior team respectively.With Robin Singh having experience of coaching the junior team pretty well, both of them could do well given a bigger role. Venkatesh Prasad, of late, is responsible for resurgence of the Uttar Pradesh team in the Ranji Trophy. Over the past three or four seasons, U.P have been putting up consistent performances and the credit goes to this former Indian bowler.

The next coach of Team India?

Then there is one of our most successful bowlers and an influential captain, Anil Kumble. Kumble has been the mentor for IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore and has done well. Also the fact that Kumble commands respect from the team could serve well given the role.

We’ve gone with two Australians when Australia were on top; but now the Aussies are not the same and their team is, in a way, going through a transition like the Indian team.

But in the end, the decision is for the BCCI to make.