Of presidents and coaches

UMPIRE'S POST

One nation, two impending appointments: which one is getting more attention?

Understandably, the run-up to the presidential election is decidedly low-key in comparison to the general elections that decide the prime minister.

After all, in our form of parliamentary democracy, the president's role is limited. Inexplicably, it has yet to dawn upon the ruling elite of Indian cricket that the role of the coach is even more so.

We took our time to buy the idea of a trained and professional coach. Till the appointment of John Wright in 2000, we made do with former players turned guiding hands: Ajit Wadekar, Madan Lal, Bishen Singh Bedi, Anshuman Gaekwad, Kapil Dev, etc. For the most part, we did not even call them coach, just manager.

Of late however we have appointed a fielding coach and a bowling coach and are close to appointing a batting consultant in Gundappa Viswanath. And seven men are interviewing candidates for the coach's position.

It will be insane to suggest that coaches are totally inconsequential.

They play a vital role at the junior level (as Ramakant "sir" did with Sachin Tendulkar or Desh Prem Azad with Kapil) and in the age teams (Under-19 and so on). They can also contribute heavily to fledgling teams, as seen in the way Gary Sobers moulded Sri Lanka in the early years.

But at the international level, with the captain playing the Prime Minister on the field, you need a non-interventionist statesman full of soft skills: man management, handling the media, psychoanalysis, etc. More so because there are already specialists fine-tuning the finished products, which is what players ought to be.

John Wright's way to India was paved by feedback from Dravid, who played under his tutelage at Kent. But Wright, in his autobiography, said he wanted to be remembered by Ganguly, his captain, as the coach who let him have his way. During the Wright era, other than the old pros, the players to shine were the now-ignored genius V V S Lakshman and Ganguly's boys.

Chappell ostensibly came heavily recommended by Ganguly. When India last toured Australia, Chappell gave a few tips to Ganguly before the first test and the Indian captain of the day came up with that series-turning 144 at Brisbane.

Curiously, the tips seemed to have lost effect immediately afterwards, for Ganguly quickly lapsed into another batting trough. Chappell was one of the best fielders of his time, yet fielding has remained India's Achilles heel.

And he could do nothing to stop the door from revolving, so much so that new talent barely had enough time to be mentored by him.