KINGSTON, 24 May — When Saurav Ganguly won the toss finally in the deciding last Test, he would have heaved a big sigh of relief, for it gave him a chance to put the opposition in on a pitch which had a bit of grass and had a reputation of assisting the quicker bowlers at least on the first day of the game.
Unfortunately for him, his luck with that toss was the only thing that worked, for his bowlers, perhaps in their keenness, bowled so wide off the mark in the first hour of play that the West Indian openers were able to get their eye in without having to play at too many deliveries.
In the next hour, having got a measure of the pitch and its bounce, the openers Gayle and Hinds, both local Jamaican boys, began to play freely and smashed 16 boundaries in the 88 runs they put on before lunch.
The initiative which Ganguly hoped would have been his teams, was taken away mainly because of the waywardness of the bowlers. The Indian team has John Wright as the coach and how much help he was to the bowlers is not clear, but remember Wright was a fine opening batsman during his time but hardly bowled a ball in international cricket.
This does bring to the fore the question whether India needs specialist coaches, those who would assist batsmen and those who would help bowlers. The talk that filters down from the dressing room does indicate that a bowling coach would be a good idea, for it is the bowling side which is inexperienced barring Srinath and Kumble of course, and could do with some guidance when they are not getting things right.
India now carries apart from the manager who is invariably a board member, a coach, a physiotherapist, a physical trainer and a computer analyst. While the efficacy of the coach, physio and trainer cannot be doubted, the last named is still a bit of a yes-no situation since the players only want to see the analysis of when they have done well rather than when they have done badly as it demoralizes them to see the latter. The analyst gets to wear the India logo too, which is galling, because it is the one logo every aspiring cricketer hopes to get by dint of performance on the field. He gets it for being able to feed data in the computer.
Well done BCCI! Surely the suppliers of the uniforms can be told to make separate sets for the physio, trainer, manager and computer analyst, which are identical to the ones worn by the players with the sponsors logo et al, but without the India cricket logo.
But to come back to the subject of having a specialist bowling coach, it would mean one more to the squad, but with the World Cup due early next year, it is an experiment worth trying.
But then the important thing is to ensure that the bowling coaches job is not given for reward for some vote-catching but only with the interests of Indian cricket in view. There are several candidates that come to mind straightway, who with their cricketing experience and ability to communicate, will be a help to the bowlers.
There is Abid Ali who has done some wonderful things with Andhra cricket and got the team to qualify for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy and who has coaching experience as well. There’s Erapalli Prasanna and Balwinder Sandhu, both of whom have had coaching stints at the National Cricket Academy and so would be familiar with modern techniques as well as the younger lot of Indian bowlers.
They would also be able to tell some of the recent bowlers that just because a batsman plays in an ungainly manner does not mean that he should be called names and made rude gestures to. It only shows the bowlers inadequacies, not the batsmans, that the bowler has to say things to him.
That it happened towards the fag end of the series is a blessing of sorts, for atleast the series was played in good spirits for 24 out of the 25 days it was scheduled for.
India-West Indies series have always been known for the great spirit in which they have been played over the years, with no disrespect ever being shown to players of either side. Its always been tough and hard and there’s been the odd word said, but it has never been abusive.
That’s why it saddened to see not only the words uttered but also the lewd gesture that followed at the end of the over by the Indian bowler. Naturally when the Indians came in to bat, there was some verbal retaliation by the younger West Indian bowlers and which one feels accounted for Saurav Ganguly, while the verbals from the Indian bowler got no such reward.
The match referee and the umpires may not have seen the gesture, coming as it did between overs, but it would be tremendous if the Indian Cricket Management were to take action on their own, for make no mistake, such behavior is unacceptable. It would also tell the cricketing world that India does not only complain when it feels its players have been erroneously fined, but also takes action when the match referees and umpires have not seen the incident.
There is a precedent too for the tour management to take action even when the match referee has not taken any. Ray Illingworth, the England coach fined the then England captain Michael Atherton for the dirt in the pocket incident even though Peter Burge, the match referee, only reprimanded him and took no other action.
The game is far too big for such boorish behavior to be condoned, and thanks to the TV coverage, the kids follow the examples of their heroes and that’s why it is important that they are impeccably behaved.
The Indian team have in Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman to name just three, players who are great role models for the youngsters for the way they carry themselves on and off the field. The pressure on these three is far greater and they have kept their heads on their shoulders and feet on the ground in spite of the huge success they have achieved.
That’s why it was sad to see a player much younger than them in years and deeds do what he did. He is still young and that’s why it is important for the management to step in and tell him in no uncertain terms to behave, for what he did does no good for the image of Indian cricket. (Professional Management Group)
