ADAM GILCHRIST CITES DUNCAN FLETCHER’S VAST COACHING EXPERIENCE AS ADVANTAGE FOR INDIA

Former Australian wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist has said that newly-appointed, Duncan Fletcher’s huge coaching experience will work as an additional advantage for the Indian side when they compete England later this year.

Wishing the former Zimbabwean captain best of luck for his term as a coach with the World Champions, the former Aussie opener stated that Fletcher holds extraordinary coaching skills.

"He has obviously got great skills as coach and all the players from his previous teams seem to be supporting him and saying it's a pretty good appointment. So I wish him all the best," Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist, however, avoided to respond to the question that whether Fletcher will be able to replicate the success he accomplished as England team’s coach.

After Gary Kirsten's exit, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Fletcher as Indian national coach for the next two years.

The decision has started a controversial debate about the suitability of a foreign coach for India. The legends like Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar slammed BCCI for appointing a foreign coach while the cricket maestros such as Wasim Akramand Nasser Hussain have been appreciating the decision.

Although, Duncan has never played Test cricket, he is credited of lifting English team to their historic 2005 Ashes series triumph.

Fletcher, who will not be able to join the Men in Blue in their upcoming tour to Zimbabwe because of his personal commitments. However he will with the team when India locks it horns with England later this year.

Gilchrist, who is leading Kings XI Punjab in the ongoing Indian Premier League, uttered that Fletcher was the best choice for the post as he holds a lot of coaching experience under his belt.

When asked to comment on the appointment of a 62-year old coach, Gilchrist stated, "I won't pass comments on his age. It's more what skill he brings and the level of enthusiasm. He had all that in abundance when he was coaching other teams."

Kings XI Punjab’s skipper further described that Fletcher has huge expectations to meet as Gary Kirsten left the Indian side after taking it to the peak of International cricket.

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Pakistan's Wasim Akram backs Duncan Fletcher as the new Indian coach

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has come out in support of the newly appointed Indian coach Duncan Fletcher and said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had taken a good step by choosing the former Zimbabwean captain as the new coach of the Indian team.

The BCCI announced this week that Fletcher would be the one to replace Gary Kirsten, who decided to call it quits after the successful World Cup campaign.

Akram, who is widely regarded as the best left-arm fast bowler in the history of the game, said that Fletcher was the best choice after Kirsten primarily because of his experience of coaching at the highest level of the game.

He said that his former team-mate and new ball partner, Waqar Younis had played under the coaching of Fletcher in county cricket, and expressed that Younis used to applaud the coaching abilities of Fletcher.

He said, "After Gary Kirsten, Fletcher is the best man to be India’s mentor. Fletcher is very experienced and has vast knowledge. Waqar (Younis), who played in Glamorgan when Fletcher was coach, praised his coaching skills a lot."

The appointment of Fletcher has been widely criticised in India as former greats Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar wanted an Indian to take over the job. However, Akram believes that it is always good to have a foreign coach for sub-continental teams, as they do not involve themselves into the internal politics of the team which is usually the case with Indian and Pakistani teams.

India are scheduled to tour England later this year and Wasim believes that Fletcher’s experience of coaching the English team will be extremely useful for India. The former left-arm fast bowler thinks that it will be tough for India to beat England on their home soil but Fletcher’s services would be handy there.

Akram told reporters, "Fletcher has done plenty of coaching in England, and he knows their players very well. Beating England at their backyard will be tough but Fletcher’s presence in the Indian dressing room will be a huge advantage."

There is a lot of talk in the media about the world champions' new coach but only time will tell what Fletcher has to offer to Indian cricket.

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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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