The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had initially decided that they would sit and decide on the new coach of the national team tomorrow. However, with the meeting getting postponed because of Sunil Gavaskar’s unavailability, discussions to be tabled on Saturday will remain confined to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the Board’s plans to restructure it. NCA’s new director (operations), Dav Whatmore, is expected to submit a list of proposals which will be scrutinised by the Board. Whatmore is expected to request the Board officials to be allowed to invite his own support staff from Australia to assist him during his tenure. Having worked at the Victoria State Academy for four years, he intends to hire a team of Aussies - who have worked with Whatmore in the past and are all products of Australia’s Centre of Excellence - to support him. Whatmore, says an NCA official, has already talked to Ravi Shastri in detail about the requirements at the academy, and has been given adequate freedom to go about his work. “The BCCI is expecting this academy to become a very strong facility for the sport and a successful base to train young players who will go on to represent the country. Therefore there are plans in place,” he says. Apart from coaching Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the past, Whatmore has also worked at the Victorian Institute of Sports in Australia for four years, an experience that he’s bound to make use of once his regular duty begins here. “NCA is a very good facility and Indian cricket can make very good use of it. A useful infrastructure is already in place and it’s just about making a few changes. We are hoping to improve this further,” said the Aussie about this all-important meeting. Meanwhile, the NCA coaches and trainers are equally inquisitive about what Whatmore intends to do. While the Aussie has already made it clear that home grown coaches will be a part of his redevelopment programme, there are those who believe that a lot of in-house shuffling may take place. Dr Kinjal Suratwala, a long-time coach at NCA supports this idea. “There is no point in being insular. Whatmore had plans in mind. When he had arrived and he had announced that homegrown coaches would be there too. And if he has some definite plans in developing this further then it’s a good thing to happen,” says Suratwala. Like Suratwala, there are others who strongly believe that the Aussie coaching manual should be thoroughly applied. Atul Gaikwad, another Level III coach, says it will help if “coaches are further led into revising the latest coaching techniques which are fast changing with growing times.” Unlike Suratwala and Gaikwad, there are those who strongly believe that the Aussie methods may really work here. MRF trainer Ramji Srinivasan has already talked about how the work regimen of Aussie cricketers is different to that of India and it may not be a good idea at all. This is an issue that will require NCA chairman Shastri to take a call. The NCA, meanwhile, is also planning to keep in place a research wing where there will be programmes held for the coaches across the country to get in line with the latest coaching manual and techniques in place. The research wing, it has been learnt, will also help analysts work on shortcomings of players and treated in the right manner possible.
