Ganguly, Dravid or Shastri? In search of a good India cricket coach

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya says no offer was made to Sourav Ganguly to become coach of the Indian team. The former captain denies vehemently that any such conversation even took place. So what was the brouhaha yesterday all about?

Of course Ganguly as coach whets not only the imagination but also the appetite of those in the business of peddling news. He’s been an outstanding player, but also colourful, with a mind of his own. A story or two – or more – a day would be a cinch.

But Dalmiya is also president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Ganguly its joint secretary and surely they have business to conduct jointly. It could well be that the media misread a routine meeting between the two as the harbinger of another dramatic twist in Indian cricket.

Yet, can there be smoke without fire?

My own reading is that the matter of the next coach – Duncan Fletcher’s term finished on March 31 – may well have featured in a perfunctory sort of way between Dalmiya and Ganguly and some wisps of that conversation drifted out into the nostrils of the waiting media.

On the face of it, it does seem unlikely that Ganguly – or Rahul Dravid, who was also touted as a contender - would accept the coach’s position even if offered. Also, let’s not overlook Ravi Shastri, who was team director for the past six months and by all accounts found favour with players and the BCCI.

All three have several things going for them right now which might be difficult to chuck up. Ganguly is immersed not only in lucrative deals as a mediaperson himself, but has only recently been elected as joint secretary in CAB.

Becoming coach would mean foregoing coveted space in the media as well as the BCCI’s power matrix. That does seem like too much to give so soon after he has made these forays, even if the BCCI will surely make the deal very sweet for him financially.

Dravid, on the other hand, wants to spend more time in raising his young family as his wife has now resumed her medical career. He has been selective about his media assignments for precisely this reason. As mentor of Rajasthan Royals, he has to spend at most three months with the team, but the Indian coach will have to commit full time.

Shastri has made a flourishing career for himself as a mediaperson too, and while he has been the "go-to" person for the BCCI, this has almost always been in a crisis which allowed him the facility to juggle his portfolios without seriously affecting his main calling.

But I’ll wait and see how this story develops. Considering that the Indian cricket administration is on a perpetual rollercoaster ride, nothing can be ruled out. Who knows, the coaching assignment perhaps excites Ganguly, Dravid, Shastri – or some other who falls into the same category – more than anything else?

The more interesting aspect, however, has not so much to do with these stalwarts but the fact that there seems to be a change in philosophy taking place where the coach of the national team is concerned.

In the past 15 years – barring some stop-gap arrangement – this position has been largely occupied by foreigners: not so much because of a sense of conviction in the BCCI that a foreigner could do a better job, but because senior players in the team were not in favour of an Indian becoming a coach.

The star players were of the belief that the politics of Indian cricket would spill over into the dressing room while a foreigner gave them a comfort zone. But as the results show, this has not necessarily worked to the advantage of Indian cricket.

An Indian coach, it is now being increasingly argued, would be better equipped to manage players because of the similarity in ethos, lifestyle and temperament. Such arguments are, of course, open to challenge, but equally to keep Indian coaches out of bounds was shallow.

My view is that while the efficacy rather than nationality should be the main criteria for appointing a coach (also familiarity with the modern game, which means a younger man), all things being equal, an Indian does hold the edge.