Coaching Team India: the scoreboard

Gaekwad was the caring big brother, Wright, the indulgent uncle and Chappell, the eternal doomsdayer

On January 6, 2007, during the final Test in South Africa, Virender Sehwag was battling demons that would have made even Ravan look like an angel. Just a day after he had started middling the ball after going down the batting order, he got an opportunity to open again. With his pads on, an edgy Sehwag waited to take field. That8217;s when he heard a gruff voice saying: 8220;You8217;ve never scored in the second innings and this is your last chance.8221; It was coach Greg Chappell, the eternal doomsdayer. Soon Sehwag was back in the dressing room after hitting a solitary four, and since that day he never played a Test match. Ask a player who was in the same dressing room that day what should have been the ideal advice for Sehwag at that point. He attempts a guess as to how the other coaches he has played under, Anshuman Gaekwad and John Wright, would have handled it. 8220;Wright would have said 8216;you may not have done it before but you8217;ll do it today8217; while Anshu would sit with him, look into his eyes, and say 8216;you have to do it for me today8217;,8221; the player observes with a smile.

This isn8217;t about 8216;mending Sehwag8217;, it8217;s about the search for India8217;s new coach. As BCCI gets ready to run another Google search on possible men to whom the reins of Indian cricket could be hurriedly passed on, assessing the contribution of the earlier coaches wouldn8217;t be a bad idea.

The last decade has seen three coaches with longish tenures 8212; Kapil Dev8217;s short and insignificant 11-month stint apart 8212; and they compile a scalene triangle. Gaekwad was the big brother straight out a Rajshree Productions happy-home flick. Wright was the ever positive but sometimes overly indulgent uncle, who didn8217;t quite believe in putting his foot down. As for Chappell, he was the 8216;spare the rod and spoil the child8217; kind of teacher who largely depended on his over-zealous class monitor, Ian Frasier, to assess the players. If Chappell believed in saying it like it is, Wright and Gaekwad conveyed the same message in words the players would have preferred to hear.

Gaekwad was at the helm during those shady days of match fixing. He also had more stars in the team compared to Wright and Chappell. Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, and Nayan Mongia, besides today8217;s greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, were regulars in the late nineties. Still, dirty linen and ego hassles never quite made it even to the dressing room balcony. He has the best record as coach in the last decade and several stars played their best cricket under him. Before the famous Tendulkar desert storm innings at Sharjah, Gaekwad went to his room with a sentimental 8216;do it for me8217; plea. Kumble got the perfect 10 at Kotla and Dravid8217;s ODI potential was realised under Gaekwad.

Wright took Indian cricket to the next level. The wins abroad are well-documented but his strategic inputs were equally vital. The biggest and probably most effective batting promotion in the history of the game is credited to Wright, but that too has stayed within a close circle of friends. During that historic Kolkata Test in 2001 against Steve Waugh8217;s Invincibles, India had followed on but V.V.S. Laxman8217;s at No 6, with the top score of 59, had looked the most promising batsman. He was last batsman out, but when he reached the dressing room Wright asked him to keep his pads on and sent him at No 3 in the second innings. Books have been written on Laxman8217;s 281 and India8217;s watershed victory in that Test.

In comparison, when Chappell elevated Irfan Pathan up the order, it was seen as a much-published master stroke. When it failed, Chappell got brickbats. This only shows it pays to be understated when you are a foreign coach in the subcontinent! While Wright was mostly seen hanging out with the day8217;s failure after a game, Chappell as a rule stayed aloof from his players. Also, like Kapil Dev in the past, Chappell was too skilled to understand the less gifted. During the 2000 Australia tour, Kapil was disgusted with the length his pacers bowled. In the middle of a frustrating net session, a temperamental bowler threw the ball to Kapil and said, 8220;Okay, you bowl on the right length and show us.8221; Kapil bowled and was spot on and that was the reason for his anguish. 8220;If I can bowl right at this age, why can8217;t these youngsters?8221; he had asked. Chappell was similar. 8220;It8217;s no rocket science,8221; was one of his pet phrases. But for someone like out-of-form Sehwag it was.

Sehwag8217;s mindset in South Africa seems similar to that of present-day BCCI coach-scouts. It8217;s time someone told them in a gruff voice, 8220;You guys have failed the last time and this is your last chance.8221;