Next Coach?

When BCCI selected coach for Indian team, Chapell scored over Jimmy Amarnath. Seems that Chapell impressed the selectors (Sunny, Ravi etc.) with his talk and presentation made with his laptop. Poor Jimmy was not tech savvy and did not bring in the modern day gadget and lost in the race. We seemed to be obsessed with "phoren" coaches and their smart talks and tech gadget. We ignored our own Jimmy who was the key member of the 1983 world cup winning team and also the man-of-match in semi final and final. Did we make mistake? Here is the article written by G R Vishwanath during the selection process

By G R Vishwanath
A lot of attention has centred over the last few days on who should succeed John Wright as the coach of the Indian cricket team. It's a high-profile job with attendant pressures and plenty of scrutiny, and I am of the firm opinion that it's best for Indian cricket if we go back to having an Indian in charge.

Let me make it perfectly clear that I have nothing against a foreigner coaching the Indian team. I believe within his limitations, Wright did a pretty good job with the Indians during his four-and-a-half years as the national coach. Having said that, we must also keep in mind the fact that even under a foreign coach, it wasn't as if we didn't have our fair share of ups and downs.
During Wright's tenure, we tasted success, and hearteningly overseas too, in Test cricket, but since the World Cup in South Africa two years back, we haven't exactly covered ourselves with glory in the one-day game. At best, therefore, I will term the experiment with a foreign coach as a mixed success, which is all the more reason why we must revert to an Indian as the Indian coach.

I'd like to point to the success Ajit Wadekar and then Aunshuman Gaekwad had when they were the 'cricket managers' of the Indian team in the 1990s.
It was during Ajit's tenure that, under Mohammad Azharuddin, India enjoyed an unprecedented run of success on home turf. The advantage an Indian coach will have over someone from overseas is that he is aware of the demands of cricket in India, he will have excellent working knowledge of the conditions and pitches here, and consequently, will be in a better position to contribute more to Indian cricket. Knowledge of Indian conditions will definitely a big plus, not merely for the coach but for the Indian team itself.
If people point to the success India had when John Wright was the coach, my point is that even under Ajit, we had lots of victories, so where was the need to replace him in the first place?

We have had a foreign coach for more than four years with, as I have said earlier, as many downs as ups, so why not give an Indian the opportunity to show what he can do with the national team?

Of course, I am not suggesting that he too be appointed coach for four or five years. In my opinion, two years is a fairly good period in which to get a decent idea of whether a person is competent enough to continue in the post or it is time for a change. His performance can be assessed after two years and the Board can then work out what course of action needs to be taken subsequently. 

I think our coaches are as well versed with modern techniques as are coaches from overseas. Jimmy (Mohinder Amarnath) has been involved in television work for quite some time now, he has followed the fortunes of the Indian team with as much interest as anyone else. Sandeep (Patil) has a good track record. He worked with the national team during the mid-1990s, then was in charge of the India 'A' teams and played a key role in Kenya making it to the semifinals of the last World Cup in South Africa. He has the credentials, and I would have thought he was the ideal candidate to replace Wright.

But I hear that Sandeep has withdrawn from the race due to prior commitments, so I would say go for Jimmy. He knows the team quite well, and certainly with assistance from the physiotherapist and the computer analyst, he will work a way out to take Indian cricket forwards.

Jimmy is a very senior cricketer who has the respect of the entire Indian team, including the senior members of the side. He is in constant touch with the game, he is in tune with the modern trends, and I have no doubt that he can certainly deliver the goods. He's definitely my choice for the next Indian coach.

(G R Vishwanath is a former Indian captain, an ace cricketer and one of the respected strategists in the game.)