Often we have the Coach debate. Duncan Fletcher’s contract is expiring and so India are looking for a coach.
Once again, just as we Pakistanis have they are having the debate of local or foreigner etc etc…
Full article is here…
But some interesting points
There have, as usual, been calls for an Indian coach. This reminds me of a training session Jonty Rhodes, then South Africa’s fielding coach, conducted for his players before a friendly match against Delhi years ago. He placed different coloured cones at various angles in different parts of the field, and the South African players went on to display how a professionally run international unit carries out a fielding drill.
While South Africa went about practicing in a meticulously planned manner, we, the Delhi players, did a few laps and some very basic fielding practice. One such drill was reminiscent of how cricket was played nearly a century ago. Our coach, a former India player, got us to stand in a semi-circle around him. One of us would throw a ball at him and he would deflect it with his hands back towards us, trying to change the direction of the ball regularly to catch us by surprise. It was Mickey Mouse stuff for first-class cricketers. The South African players couldn’t resist a chuckle looking at our archaic fielding drill.
The only criterion the Delhi association considered while assigning this former Indian player the role of coaching a first-class team was his experience in international cricket. To be fair, his resumé was inspiring, loaded with many cricketing achievements over a long career, but it wasn’t appropriate for this job, because he hadn’t upgraded his knowledge with the changing times
Another coach, also a former India player of repute, would typically respond to any cricket-related query with, “Jigar se khelo” (“Play with your gut”). Since he had been a very good cricketer in his heyday, we often asked him for tips, and invariably his advice was this statement.
Many former India players have tried their hand at coaching, considering it the easiest option after retirement. While playing cricket at the highest level for a reasonable amount of time does teach you to deal with many issues in the game, and involving a team’s needs, it doesn’t always teach you how to pass on that knowledge to others, especially the finer nuances of individual play.
The difference between learning and teaching is the difference between a player and a good coach. A player can point out a fault, but a good coach will come up with solutions to rectify that fault without tinkering too much with the existing strengths of the player. It helps if you have played cricket, for it allows you to understand better and quicker, but only having played the game is not a good enough qualification for a coach.
Indian coaches were chosen not for their coaching skills but for their past contributions as players. These former cricketers didn’t acknowledge the seriousness of their new assignment and didn’t pursue it with as much diligence. They failed to realise that to do justice to a new job, they had to start from scratch and educate themselves. Playing for the country gave them an advantage, but only just, for they still needed to learn how to pass on their knowledge efficiently.
The other problem most cricketers had with Indian coaches was their affiliations to their respective states and zones.