Maintaining a balance between the cricket and the cricketers

Roy Marshall, the West Indies cricketer who made his name playing for Hampshire, famously said that cricket produced two kinds of madmen. The fast bowler, who thinks nothing of expending his energy so recklessly, and the opening batter who takes on such bowlers, ignoring the dangers.

But there is a third category of madman. This is the former player who coaches the Indian team. He voluntarily enters a dressing room and board offices full of egos, while the outside world waits poised to troll him on social media. If the players and officials don’t get to you, the fans will.

Gautam Gambhir, belongs to two of the three categories above.

It has been fascinating watching and reading the build-up Gambhir has been getting. It began in the media with the Board of Control for Cricket in India allegedly saying that Gambhir was on top of its wish list as head coach (no official was quoted, however). Soon former players were speaking as if Gambhir had already been appointed. After having tweeted “choose the coach wisely…” former skipper Sourav Ganguly followed up with “If he has applied, Gambhir will be a good coach,” which sounds like damning with faint praise. Ganguly seems to be interested in the job.

Finally, the man himself. “There is no bigger honour than coaching your national team,” Gambhir is quoted as saying, “You are representing 140 crore Indians and those across the globe as well.” That’s putting it in the right areas, as bowlers often say.

Secrecy

The last date for applications was May 27, and the BCCI which should have announced the names of the contenders soon after, has kept silent, leading to unnecessary speculation. We don’t know if Gambhir has applied, if Ganguly or anybody else has. The BCCI hates to take fans into confidence, it likes to function like a secret society.

It has said that the coach will handle all three formats, but perhaps the time is right for splitting the job. T20 is a highly specialised format, with tactics and techniques changing rapidly, and it makes sense to appoint someone who is closer to the format, having played it more recently and perhaps coached an IPL team.

Gambhir, a fine Test opener is also an experienced T20 player and coach, having mentored KKR to the IPL title last month.

Coaching is a thankless job. When a team does well, the credit goes to the players. When it does badly, the coach is hauled up. And he will only make it worse if he says, “The boys didn’t follow instructions. I can’t bat or bowl for them.”

Iron hand and velvet glove

The Indian job is particularly fraught. Great players like Greg Chappell and Anil Kumble have stumbled on the internal politics of the team. Maintaining a balance between the cricket and the cricketers requires both the iron hand and the velvet glove.

It is churlish to see Gambhir’s projected elevation as yet another BJP brick in the wall (of Indian cricket). Unlike some of the administrators whose qualification is that they belong to the party, Gambhir, a former Member of Parliament, qualifies purely on the basis of his cricket record.

He averaged nearly 50 in his first class career, made over 4000 Test runs, once making centuries in five successive Tests (only Don Bradman did this in six), played key roles in two World Cup triumphs and twice led KKR to IPL victories. With Virender Sehwag he formed one of the world’s best opening partnerships, and although a candidate for captaincy, led only in a handful of white-ball matches.

On his debut, he was surrounded by the good and great of Indian cricket in the Sachin Tendulkar era. In his final Test, he alone remained from that unit as the Kohli-Pujara-Rahane-Ashwin-Jadeja-Shami group now took over. Gambhir was an important link between two generations.

He has been in trouble for his quick temper and eagerness to call a spade by its name. His relationship with Virat Kohli has had a few ups and many downs, but Kohli is no longer the captain who decided Kumble’s fate.

Gambhir has never been shy of speaking his mind, and if he is the future, we are in for interesting times.