The quest to find India's new coach: Why India needs Sourav Ganguly now
Note from the writer- I shall abstain from talking about Ravi Shastri in this particular article; firstly, I have never had the privilege of seeing him play and have little idea about his approach and temperament which are the most indispensable components of a coach and secondly, he has already proved himself as the team director; so I can’t really comment much on how much more he can perform as a coach. Follow me on Twitter- Vidit Sahni
Fletcher: Not disappointing, simply not real bright
Duncan Fletcher’s tenure in the Indian cricket team bus was not a smooth journey at all, but we can’t say it was a disastrous one keeping in mind the infamous Chappel-Ganguly incident. The Indian cricket team suffered overseas in both ODI and Test cricket, during the disastrous tours of England and Australia in 2011, losing 8 Test matches in a row and not even winning a single game in the English tour, winning a T20 and a couple of ODIs in Australia.
India even lost a home series against England the following year, with the likes of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann tormenting the famed Indian batting line up who were traditionally believed to be the best players of spin bowling in the world.
Although India did win the Champions trophy in English conditions, which could be termed as the silver lining alongside the World Cup 2015 performance. Strikingly and noticeably, things started to look a little better the moment Ravi Shastri was appointed as the “team director” along with the naming of the 3 Indian assistant coaches.
India performed much better overseas, they fought harder compared to the 2011 tours (although they failed to register a single win in the Australian summer tour of 2015). The Men in Blue won the ODI series in England and first-timers (on English soil) like Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay shone brightly throughout the tour. Lastly, for the first time in many World Cups the team wasn’t a favorite , but still made it to the semis and won 7 out of their 8 games very comprehensively.
This all points in one clear direction – India desperately needs an Indian coach. A newly appointed aggressive captain in Virat Kohli is the beginning stride towards getting overseas victories, thus push India up the rankings from their current position in ICC Test rankings, 7th. But the side needs the right coach-captain combination as well.
Why an Indian coach is necessary
The top three people that must be on the BCCI’s list are Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri. Sanjay Bangar and Praveen Amre are the two other names who have been associated with the post. There’s a likelihood that the BCCI could select a foreign coach with the names of Jason Gillespie and Michael Hussey doing the rounds, but I strongly believe that an Indian coach would be much better instead. Here’s why:
1. Comfort level of players
The coach needs to bind the side together and no foreigner could support and compliment this young Indian side like someone like a Dravid or Ganguly. The players would be much more comfortable with a local coach (If we have learnt anything from Greg Chappell’s stint as India coach).
2. Absence of seniors
Yes, India's best period over the last couple of decades came under John Wright and Gary Kirsten but at that time the team had a fair share of senior players as well. Older players are responsible for holding the side together and giving hope and power in pressure situations. The grounds for appointing a local coach is simple: there are absolutely no seniors in the scheme of things barring MS Dhoni. The departure of the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman were quickly followed by the succeeding generation, that is the Sehwags and Yuvrajs.
There is very little experience, but very high potential in the current Indian squad. Keeping that in mind, only an Indian coach who has keenly followed the Indian domestic circuit can gauge an Indian youngster, compared to someone from a foreign land. We found out how the team’s fortunes changed when Shastri was appointed as the team manager.
3. Dravid and Ganguly: Effective in managing youngsters
We have also witnessed how effective Jammy and Dada have been in their respective roles. Dravid is a mentor/coach for the Rajasthan IPL team and is famed for his habit of promoting and mentoring young Indian players. Ganguly is joint secretary of The Cricket Association of Bengal that promotes and develops cricket by conducting various tournaments for the age group Under-13, Under-16, and Under-19 and Under-21 categories. Thus, both the Indian legends know their young players really well and possess experience in handling them.
4. Huge amount of respect towards them
Most of these young Indian players have probably grown up watching these two gentlemen and idolised them too. The entire cricketing circuit has enormous respect for them.
Why Ganguly?
1. Aggression: Much needed in foreign conditions
Well known for his aggressive and attacking brand of leadership, ‘Dada’ is the perfect mate for someone like Virat Kohli, who has exhibited a quite similar approach in his leadership accomplishments thus far. In his captaincy days, Ganguly had made a habit of winning abroad. He was never afraid of taking risks and most of the times they paid off. Attacking field setups, bold decisions and leading from the front are the qualities you need to win overseas, and he possesses them all.
He never refrained from taking an occasional go at the opposition players as well, much needed in conditions like Australia, as Australians are the victors in the art of sledging. Who could ever forget the Lord’s balcony scene when India lifted the NatWest cup in 2002, or when Dada lashed out at Russell Arnold for running on the pitch in a match against Sri Lanka.
He still possesses this kind of boldness and aggressiveness, one can easily notice from his stint as a commentator. He is the perfect example of controlled aggression, something he may want to pass onto Virat Kohli.
2. Experience of leading a young side
We all know who brought India out of the dark years of the fixing scandal. He gained back the lost trust of the fans in style. He has his critics, but no one can ignore his never-say-die attitude. He led an average, young and a rather inexperienced team to the World Cup final on South African soil in 2003. Great players like Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj and Harbhajan emerged under his leadership and served Indian cricket for over a decade (and maybe will do for more time, I hope).
3. Dada: A role model
India needs an icon in the dugout right now. Ganguly has always been a figure who has inspired – he has led from the battlefront, he set examples for his team to follow, be it with his batting, which was equally aggressive as his captaincy or even his fielding or bowling, although he wasn’t much skilled as a fielder or a bowler. Dada never gave less than a 100% on the field, he did every possible thing he could do; he never seemed to lose hope even in the most hopeless of situations.
4. Display of loads of faith towards his players
One of the other reasons I want Ganguly to coach the men in blue is his ability to have enormous faith in his players, he showed his master class when he backed Viru paaji to open the batting, which dropped quite a few jaws. He was quick to notice the batsman’s excellent hand-eye coordination. The rest is history; Virender Sehwag averages around 50 in Test cricket. This is the kind of faith and confidence a cricketer desires from his coach or captain.
5. Is a cricketing think tank
Going into technicalities, Ganguly has immense knowledge of the game as well. So many times he has pulled India out of lost situations and converted them into wins by his shrewd captaincy. His batting technique has been questioned quite a few times by his critics, including somebody like a Greg Chappell. But no one can presume to question his temperament, his approach and his passion for the game; he is possibly one of the most intelligent captains in the history of the game, if not the most successful.
Rahul Dravid
Moving on to Dravid, he is probably the most respected player in world cricket. Calm, resilient, dependable and meticulous would be the adjectives you would unanimously associate with “the Wall’. He has already established himself as a mentor/coach for the Rajasthan IPL team and has groomed players like Rahane, Sanju Samson and many more – like the greenhorn Deepak Hooda who is setting this IPL on fire.
Dravid’s temperament has always been that of an ideal coach’s.
In my humble opinion, with Virat as the future captain and lots of youngsters coming into the team, a coach like Ganguly is the demand of the hour.
This Indian side needs aggressiveness, that’s how you win matches away from home. And we all know Dada has the ability to help India regain the apex position once again with the right mix of players, this time, as a coach.