Sunil Gavaskar: Easier said than done

Sunil Gavaskar

In a recent column in a popular daily, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at coach Duncan Fletcher for team India’s abysmal overseas performances in recent times. He was scathing in his attack which also spoke of no improvement been shown by this young side. Unfortunately, that sounded more like Mr. Gavaskar having sour grapes rather than a constructive criticism.

It is there for the people to see that this young side, which had no overseas test match experience, played their hearts out on the tour of South Africa as well as New Zealand. Yes, there were bad games but everyone has a bad game someday. They are not invincible.

During the dark phase of the eight successive overseas test defeats, there were only two centurions in Rahul Dravid and a young Virat Kohli. However, in the four tests played in the southern hemisphere, we had Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan (which is nearly the entire Indian top order) all scoring tons while Murli Vijay came agonisingly close to doing the same. Doesn’t that indicate improvement?

What was more interesting to note was the comfort with which Mr. Gavaskar declared that Rahul Dravid should be given the next coaching job for team India considering the respect that he commands among the younger players. The disheartening part of that piece was his reluctance to put his own hand up to boost the sagging fortunes of this talented young side.

Indian cricket has produced many legends in almost every era. From Gavaskar to Kapil Dev, to Dilip Vengsarkar, even Sanjay Manjrekar to a certain extent. Kapil Dev burnt his fingers once as a coach, where he had less, or even non-talented players at his disposal. Dilip Vengsarkar along with Kiran More should be credited for unearthing talents like Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, and even Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, Mr. Gavaskar and Mr. Manjrekar chose the cosy confines of an air conditioned commentary box, and keep ranting regarding the dismal state of Indian cricket.

It is unfortunate that Gavaskar who has spent over four decades on the cricket field (two as a player and two as a commentator) wasting his experience behind the microphone rather than sharing it with the players who actually need it. The Indian batting would certainly ‘improve’ if they would have the services of Gavaskar as a batting consultant.

Being the senior legend that he is, he is sure to command more respect from the younger lot. Rahul Dravid as a coach surely is a bright prospect, albeit in the future since he has recently retired from the game and deserves to spend some years with his family after being on the road constantly for 16 long years.

Same goes for the bowling department. Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Manoj Prabhakar have certainly done well enough during their careers to help the young Indian bowlers grow in their strides. They would also help bridging the communication gap with the bowlers and could be a better choice than a foreigner in the form of Joe Dawes, who is not even a well known name in the international arena.

Gavaskar often talks about players to step out of their comfort zones. It would be ideal for Indian cricket if he steps out of his own comfort zone and tries to take the burden of carrying one billion hopes during every single game. Like it is said – ‘it is easier said than done!’