This week saw the start of the eight edition of the Champions Trophy. A tournament which started as a knock out in Dhaka in 1998, it has had a storied past. The week has also seen rumblings about a controversy regarding Anil Kumble as coach of the Indian cricket team. The BCCI has taken in fresh applications for the coach and Kumble is part of the process and among the six people who have applied for the job.
There are topics which emerged like Kumble being a strict disciplinarian and fitness freak which didn't sit well with some of the players. Anand Vasu brushed aside the whole controversy as Chinese Whispers. We should probably not indulge in it then.
I will indulge any ways. When the rumours first emerged, it was said that the reason Kumble will be booted is that he had backed the players for the pay hike and the BCCI was not happy with it. Later, reports started emerging that players were not happy with him including Kohli.
However, no one has commented any thing officially. It would have helped if the process for the coach had happened after the Champions Trophy. It would have also helped if Kohli had made some sort of statement backing Kumble regardless of whether he is happy with him or not to shut down the whispers once and for all.
One aspect which troubles me is that BCCI kept Duncan Fletcher as coach till his tenure expired. They could have sacked him earlier but they chose not to do so. For months later, they had Shastri as a figurehead in the team, some one Kohli seemed quite happy with. Yet, they went for Kumble to the utter dejection of Shastri who had also applied for the job.
The coach is an important position. The successful runs of the team has coincided with great coaches - John Wright and Gary Kirsten. We cannot play musical chairs with this post. Depending upon the player and fan, one thinks the coach has more of a management role or more of a coaching role. This shouldn't be the case either.
In England, the roles are defined. Andrew Strauss is director of operations and there are coaches which work on their own roles. Andrew Strauss has remained the director of operations for a while now and it has lead to a functioning which has lead to some sort of system for the English team. Players are not picked and dropped for a game usually and it's mostly for a season or series before they are let go. There are so many aspects. Why do we not have such roles. We have appointed Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar as part of a committee but how often do they actually meet?
What I call for is some structure, more than any thing. Let's have basic qualifications and track record for coaching the Indian national team. We had a fiasco when Kapil Dev was coach, similarly with Greg Chappell (whose coaching experiences with smaller sides were quite ordinary). Let's bring in better coaches, better administration process. Let's give due respect to each position. Let's have players talk about issues with the media and not have them mumb about it to give rise to these Chinese Whispers. I am sure we can.
There are topics which emerged like Kumble being a strict disciplinarian and fitness freak which didn't sit well with some of the players. Anand Vasu brushed aside the whole controversy as Chinese Whispers. We should probably not indulge in it then.
I will indulge any ways. When the rumours first emerged, it was said that the reason Kumble will be booted is that he had backed the players for the pay hike and the BCCI was not happy with it. Later, reports started emerging that players were not happy with him including Kohli.
However, no one has commented any thing officially. It would have helped if the process for the coach had happened after the Champions Trophy. It would have also helped if Kohli had made some sort of statement backing Kumble regardless of whether he is happy with him or not to shut down the whispers once and for all.
One aspect which troubles me is that BCCI kept Duncan Fletcher as coach till his tenure expired. They could have sacked him earlier but they chose not to do so. For months later, they had Shastri as a figurehead in the team, some one Kohli seemed quite happy with. Yet, they went for Kumble to the utter dejection of Shastri who had also applied for the job.
The coach is an important position. The successful runs of the team has coincided with great coaches - John Wright and Gary Kirsten. We cannot play musical chairs with this post. Depending upon the player and fan, one thinks the coach has more of a management role or more of a coaching role. This shouldn't be the case either.
In England, the roles are defined. Andrew Strauss is director of operations and there are coaches which work on their own roles. Andrew Strauss has remained the director of operations for a while now and it has lead to a functioning which has lead to some sort of system for the English team. Players are not picked and dropped for a game usually and it's mostly for a season or series before they are let go. There are so many aspects. Why do we not have such roles. We have appointed Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar as part of a committee but how often do they actually meet?
What I call for is some structure, more than any thing. Let's have basic qualifications and track record for coaching the Indian national team. We had a fiasco when Kapil Dev was coach, similarly with Greg Chappell (whose coaching experiences with smaller sides were quite ordinary). Let's bring in better coaches, better administration process. Let's give due respect to each position. Let's have players talk about issues with the media and not have them mumb about it to give rise to these Chinese Whispers. I am sure we can.
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