Bangalore, September 30: The latest procrastination in the selection of a coach is a great blow to Indian cricket. In the wake of the allegations against Kapil Dev, his subsequent posturing and recent resignation as cricket coach of the Indian team, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been forced to hand the coach's job back to Anshuman Gaekwad, for the next couple of months at least.The Kapil Dev poser stared the Board in its face even five months ago. It certainly was not caught unawares. Then why did it delay the search for a new coach?Just imagine the plight of the decision-makers if India score a `historic win' over Bangladesh in Dhaka. What a `great' victory on foreign soil that would be (the first since 1993 in Sri Lanka)! Retaining the winning coach would be a demand again!THE ALTERNATIVE: The Indian team has just five or six world class players: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly, Javagal Srinath and, in the right conditions, Venkatesh Prasad. The rest are average first class cricketers making up the numbers. Any of the others can be replaced by top performers from the leading State teams (Karnataka, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu) and the difference will be marginal, if at all.The need, therefore, is to ensure that the average players rally around the stars and forge a fighting unit. An overseas coach, who besides being a good strategist, can get this done would be just the right shot in the arm. This is what Sri Lanka developed, often with spectacular results. They have just one match-winning bowler, in Muthiah Muralitharan, and a couple of top batsmen. But Dave Whatmore has worked wonders with them and each and every player knows his place in the big picture.If anything, Indian cricket which is not geared to match the bench strength and depth of either Australia or South Africa, must take a leaf out of Sri Lanka's book and improvise along the way. Can the BCCI deliver?
