Slow Coach

BCCI secretary SK Nair told The Sunday Express that though a screening committee of former cricketers will be formed 8216;8216;possibly8217;8217; in a week8217;s time, the actual selection could take about a month.

8216;8216;The president has to decide on cricketers who will be part of the committee. Then there will be various stages of interviews before the final interview. And above all the working committee has to approve the final terms and conditions before the appointment,8217;8217; said Nair.

Highlighting the fact that India has three full months before the next assignment, Nair said he believed there was ample time. 8216;8216;Most probably the new coach8217;s stint will start with the Sri Lankan tour. And anyway our first match in Sri Lanka is only on August 1.8217;8217;

The dilly-dallying has already had the contenders showing signs of restlessness, with one of them, Dav Whatmore, even signing a new contract with Bangladesh 8212; though armed with a get-out clause.

An early decision will give the new coach time to settle down, travel the country and research its cricket. He could spend time at the National Cricket Academy NCA and with top domestic coaches, before the Indian team leaves for Colombo. Importantly, after a season of bitter disappointments marked by underperformance, the coach would have to analyse where the team went wrong and how to set it right. A couple of weeks at a coaching camp may not be time enough for that.

Last-minute appointments are nothing new to Indian cricket. John Wright had just a couple of days to settle in before the first Test against Zimbabwe in November 2000.

Others like Anshuman Gaekwad 1997-99 and Madan Lal 1996-97 had a week8217;s time before their own jobs began and that ate away precious time. In fact Gaekwad8217;s last stint as interim coach before Wright took over also took place in the matter of days.

Ask Madan Lal about his appointment and he only wishes the same fate does not fall on future coaches. 8216;8216;Indian cricket never allows you to settle down. They appointed me in September and in a few days we were playing a Challenger series and then a Test against Australia. And in those days you did not even have the kind of back-up staff they have now, so you were down to doing everything alone8217;8217;, Lal said.

The only 8216;8216;lucky8217;8217; coach in Indian cricket history with a proper settling in period was Sandeep Patil who spent first half of the 1995-96 season as a assistant cricket manager as coach was called then. But the flip side was his tenure was shortest of six months.

Nair said the new coach would 8216;8216;probably8217;8217; get a month8217;s time but Lal feels it should be at least two, especially if he is a foreigner.