Quietly but surely the desi-videshi issue is beginning to be raised in the search for the next Indian cricket coach. And so, the success of John Wright notwithstanding, a compromise formula is being discussed: foreign consultant, Indian coach. ‘‘Something like a Greg Chappell-Sandeep Patil twosome,’’ says a source close to the panel. The players are known to be keen on a foreign coach but the selection panel may have other ideas. At least one former captain on the six-man selection committee is fairly certain that having a foreign coach — despite the belief that he will be free of parochial pressures — is somehow insulting. The combo offer — ‘‘a recipe for confusion in the dressing room’’, in the words of one former team official — was tried in 2004 when Sunil Gavaskar became team consultant, while Wright was still the official coach. Senior players are said to prefer Moody. What goes in Moody’s favour is that he is the most recently-active of the four names in contention, an allrounder who understands the modern one-day game, appropriate for the 2007 World Cup. Greg Chappell, on the other hand, is seen as more ‘‘cricket guru cum part-time consultant’’ rather than full-time coach. There are some doubts in the panel about his business commitments (including in the telecom industry) in Australia allowing him to set aside ‘‘the required 220 odd days every year’’ with the Indian team. Both the Indian names have strong backing. Mohinder Amarnath is known to be close to Gavaskar, while Sandeep Patil played alongside Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri for Mumbai. THREE OTHER COMBINATIONS
