The Indian Cricket Coach Conundrum - Part II

Click here for Part I

Part II

The fitness of the player gets taken care of by the trainer and physio. Either the player is fit or he isn’t. But if a player hides an injury or declares himself fit well before he is done with the rehab, it not only adversely affects the team’s immediate interests, it affects the player in the long run! On those lines, you need to give credit to BCCI when they were so disappointed with Munaf, they sent him packing for a while.
In terms of the technique, Cricket is one such fabulous sport (similar to Soccer) where natural flair and the skill blessed upon you by the man upstairs, although it might be completely contrary to “textbook”, still finds a place. However, batsmen, bowlers - no matter what level they play at - pick up some bad habits when they have been around for a while. It needs an extra pair of eyes to point it out before it actually brings about a form slump. I think that’s the role of a coach. Understand the fundamentals, know your players and their skill sets, and have a keen eye for changes before they actually hurt the player’s confidence! Case in point: How closely was Irfan’s bowling monitored after the 03-04 season? His action ended up going awry, couldn’t generate the pace, couldn’t generate swing (because of wrong wrist positioning).. A keen-eyed bowling coach points out the flaw in technique well before you have reached a point where you have to reconstruct the whole bowling action.

There are two ways to coaching a team. One, with Authority (ruling with an iron fist) and the other, treat the players as adults who have made their bones in world cricket and provide them that space. If a coach is handed a team with relatively young, inexperienced players that is still learning to win, in spite of their cricketing potential, its easy for the coach to lay out ONE plan and have his charges follow it. However, that is not the case with the current Indian team make-up. So, Gary Kirsten has to be smart about the situation. Its quite normal for a group of people that have their established ways, when having to learn to do the things in a whole different way, they resist it. It becomes beneficial for the new coach to first gain the confidence of his charges by acknowledging the fact that, even without a coach, they have attained a certain level of success (which must mean they ARE doing something right) and suggest additions rather than wholesale changes overnight. If Gary Kirsten thinks he has this “model” that he is going to apply to the Indian team and hope for success, then that WILL NOT happen. Even business models need to be re-calibrated and adjusted quite a bit when applied to varying markets.
IMHO, Few things the new coach needs to do:
1. Gain the confidence of Coaching staff, Trainers, Kumble, Dhoni and Yuvraj by letting them know that there are not gonna be wholesale changes to the way things are run, only tweaks, here and there.
2. Play to the team’s strengths. We’re not gonna match the fitness levels of Aussies. Its alright. You can only push so far. Test matches are won by taking 20 wickets and having experienced batsmen who can absorb the pressure of a test match and still produce. I think when we have a healthy squad, we certainly have the ingredients in place to take on, Yes, even Australia.
3. Kirsten will have to work extensively to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, and lay out plans and strategies for every player in the opposition. At the same time, identify the areas our players will be attacked and provide the team, with the help of his staff, plans to counter them. For example: Let’s talk about Ricky Ponting. He is absolutely the very best in cricket these days in picking the length of the delivery and play shots off the front or the back foot. Absolutely marvelous to watch. So, your strategy should be to changing the lines and make Ponting focus and refocus in picking the point of delivery. So, you have a right-arm bowler and left arm bowler working in tandem, while the left-armer comes around the wicket as well from time to time to give him an extra thing to think about. Take away his one or two scoring areas (hello wagon-wheel!). By asking questions of him by adjusting the different lines and movement and coming up with other areas of scoring, you are making him think about more than a few things which increases the chances of a bowler getting him.

My money is on Gary taking the latter route, as he played against many of the players he is in charge of, the Big 5 (AK, SRT, RD, SG, VVS) as well as Prasad and Robin Singh. You have to give credit where it is due. This is actually an excellent hire by the BCCI for the following reasons:

1. Test team: The Indian Test team still relies on 4 or 5 of the Big 5 for sustained success in the next 2 years. Yes, there are capable replacements in the form of Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma and Badrinath (at least from the looks of it) waiting in the wings. So, Gary will have to take that in to consideration while he plans for the future. As long as the 5 keep producing, as they seem to be doing, there is no question of replacing them in the near future. Look, Mike Hussey played a lifetime of first-class cricket before he broke through to the test side. All the talk about Yuvraj being in top form in ODIs and hence warranting a spot in tests is slightly over the board. He’ll better for it when he gets his chance either due to injury or lack of form amongst the Big 4, and is given a longer run, when he does not have to worry about his spot if he does not produce right away. Kirsten has gotten two excellent, calm and thoughtful captains that have made it big through perseverance, although are not “textbook” talents or geniuses. They will be more amenable to “out-of-the-box” thinking that he might bring.

2. ODI/ T:20 teams: These are definitely young men’s game. Yeah, It was harsh that RD was given the boot before SG or SRT. But, such is life. I think SRT’s role outweighs RD’s in the ODIs (their fielding abilities being on par with each other’s, SRT provides you bowling options. SG - ditto). The middle order is in pretty safe hands with Uthappa, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Irfan. Gary can have the most impact with his methodologies in the shorter versions as he will have more willing listeners yet to cement their spots.

One thing to remember is: Even if the BCCI selectors decide to drop SRT and/ or SG to make way for permanent spot for Gambhir, Imagine the pressure that’ll be put on them by Captain Thackeray and the likes, and Colonel Chatterjee et al in the Parliament. Let’s say the BCCI decides to take the heat from the Netas and goes ahead with it anyway, Imagine the amount of effigy burning and dung-cake flinging at the younger players’ houses if Team India were to lose an ODI series or a tournament and all the 24-hours talking heads baying for blood. Its a thankless job, obviously. But I firmly believe the BCCI may be on to something good this time around.

The Indian Cricket Coach Conundrum - Part I

Gary Kirsten, the former South African batsman, is touted to be the next coach of Indian cricket team. There was a blog thread on Prem Panicker's site. I am assembling some of my responses as two posts that deal with the challenges facing Indian cricket and the expectations from the new coach.

-Subash

P.S. Sorry I had been away for so long. I promise, I'll try to post at least 1 every week. *pinky swear*

--
Regarding the timing of the appointment of the coach and Kirsten supposedly joining the team IN Australia:: If Kirsten had any wits about him, he will and should get in touch with Prasad, Robin Singh, Kumble and Dhoni right after the offical announcement of the appointment as to get things rolling instead of waiting till he joins the team. Come to think of it, he may not actually contribute to the team’s plans and strategies during the tour down under since he will not have had the team to get acclimatized to the team’s character and personalities. This provides him ideally the time to sit back and observe the way the team and its support staff operate without the need to stamp his way of thinking on the team’s preparations and plans. If the team’s original plans work out, then he can modify his ideas and conversely, if they hadn’t, he could provide the alternative possibilities. Its a win-win situation. Its all about the perspective!

“Maximizing the potential of each player” - What does it exactly mean? Let’s take the case of someone like, say, VVS. He has the potential to bat long, well, take the attack to the opposition and score big. He has the potential to take catches in the slip cordon. So, how does the coach help him maximize this known potential..? Its not as if VVS is disinclined towards scoring runs or taking catches, now is he? Obviously, one of the prime requirements beyond the skill sets (that he so obviously possesses) is his physical fitness, which get taken care of by the physio and the trainer. So, i personally think this maximizing potential is all a bunch of baloney! There is a fielding coach (Singh), there is a bowling coach (Prasad).. The need is a batting coach. I guess Kirsten may do that! Beyond it, his role is to come up with a game plan (and a back-up plan or three) in identifying and attacking the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
Allow me to borrow from baseball. The manager in baseball identifies match-ups with the aid of his bench coaches and goes with what the numbers say.. Eg: Batter X has 0.200 average against lefty sinker pitches, etc. Primarily, He is there to manage the egos in the team (especially if it is a veteran team), keeps the clubhouse in order and shields his players from the media scrutiny as much as possible. That’s about it. I think a cricket coach, especially to a veteran team like India’s, needs someone that can understand the sensibilities of the players, massages and manages their egos and make the players buy in to the concept of greater good of the team. Add to this, the support staff (coaches for batting, bowling, fielding, techies and trainers)!! Its elementary, my dear Watson!

Part II