KAPIL DEV AND SUNIL GAVASKAR FAVOUR INDIAN COACHES

Two Indian greats and former captains, Sunil Gavaskar, and, Kapil Dev, have condemned the appointment ofDuncan Fletcher as Coach of the Indian Cricket team.

Quite a few other Indians share their opinion, but Dev and Gavaskar, are the two most prominent players, who wanted an Indian Coach instead of a foreigner. The BCCI should have given priority to an experienced former player of India, who could have produced better results as compared to Fletcher.

"Someone like [Mohinder] Amarnath would have been a better choice for the simple reason that the core of the Indian team today is from the Hindi-speaking belt", Gavaskar told the NDTV news channel. "He would have got on brilliantly with this group as well as the seniors. It would have been a lot easier for Amarnath to understand and interact with the players.

He could have been the best choice since he was a fighter himself as a player and had an excellent record of making comebacks and he knows how to get the best out of the team".

Amarnath has played 69 Test matches and 85 One Day International (ODIs) for India. He was instrumental in winning the Prudential World Cup, 1983 held in England. He gave an all round performance in the final againstWest Indies on 25^th June, 1983, at Lords’ London.

He posted  26 runs in a low scoring match, took three crucial wickets and was declared ‘Player of the match’, as they brought back home their first World Cup.

Kapil Dev, the great former Indian Captain, who lifted the World Cup in 1983, agreed with Gavaskar and was optimistic that Indians are capable enough to coach the team with positive results.

He pleaded for Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad, who have been coaching for a couple of years, as fielding and bowling coaches. Both of them fulfilled their assignments successfully until 2009 and brought the team fitness level to a peak, excelling in their assigned fields.

Kapil Dev was the coach of the Indian National Cricket team from September, 1999 to 12^th Septebmer, 2000.

Kapil inquired about Fletcher from ‘The Hindustan Times newspaper’ reporter and was ignorant about the coach since he played against him in 1983 Prudential World Cup:

"That happened almost 30 years ago. I don't remember much of him as a player. I would like to see Prasad and Robin as coaches of the Indian team. Not because they are Indians but because they did a great job at the T20 World Cup in 2007”.

Indian cricket has yet to witness a local coach since John Wright took over from 2000 to 2005. He gave confidence to the Indian side and they made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup. Greg Chappell and Gary Kirsten followed and Fletcher is the latest addition in the list.

India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 under the dominant coaching of Kirsten.

Gavaskar and Kapil are of the view that an Indian coach could have served in a better way, as the communication gap would have been eliminated and he could have produced positive results for Indian Cricket.

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Sourav Ganguly tops BCB’s wish list for the next batting coach

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has identified Sourav Ganguly as their main choice to take up the position of batting coach for their national side. Speaking to the Indian Express in a recent interview, the BCB Chairman Mohammed Jalal Yunus expressed their desire to bring the former Indian player to coach their side.

“We want Sourav's assistance. He is hugely respected here and his skills and tactical nous will greatly help our batsmen,” he said.

The decision comes after Bangladeshi team’s failure to qualify for the knock-out stages of the 2011 ICC World Cup. Missing out due to a poorer net run rate after finishing level on points with fourth place England, the side’s inconsistent batting performances were often identified as the main weakness.

Although inexperienced as a coach in any form, Ganguly was the Indian national side’s captain for quite some time and his tactical astuteness and skills are something that the Bangladeshi team will wish to take advantage of.

The Bangladeshi batting line-up has shown its ability on a few occasions with opening batsman Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes impressing on the odd occasion, yet the fact that the rest of the side tend to collapse has been a major concern for the side.

No formal offer

Despite expressing an open interest in the former Indian player, the BCB are yet to approach the player with a formal offer and speculation is mounting whether any offer will be accepted by Ganguly.

The former captain snubbed an approach from the BCB last year, and it seems that a similar response is likely to follow.

Ganguly was put up for auction to the 10 teams that make up the IPL, yet he remained unsold. The exclusion was a factor that made him the BCB’s top target; however the fact that the Sri Lankan Cricket Board has recalled all its players who are playing in the IPL means that a window for Ganguly to return to the IPL has reopened.

The Sri Lankan players are to report back to their home nation on May 5, in order to prepare for their tour of England and this will mean that Ganguly may be able to join the Kochi Tuskers Kerala to replace Mahela Jayawardene in the side.

If this is to happen, then the slim chance of any offer from the BCB being accepted by Ganguly will further deteriorate, as it is likely the Indian player would be more willing to accept a consultancy role rather than a full time coaching job.

Meanwhile, another former Indian player is being lined up to take the post of the chief coach of Bangladesh, as Robin Singh seems set to replace Jamie Siddons.

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