Coaches of Indian cricket teams
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Coaches and captains
1990-2007: a troubled history
Jun 22 2017: The Times of India
India have had a troubled history with coaches from Bishen Singh Bedi to Sandeep Patil to Madan Lal to Greg Chappell. The instances when captains and coaches have had issues getting along:
Bishan Singh Bedi: 1990
He was the managercoach of the Indian team in New Zealand in 1990 and also took the team to England. After India's 18-run loss to Australia in a Tri-series match at Christchurch, which the team lost from a winning position while chasing 187, he thundered, “The entire team should be dumped into the Pacific“. That comment burned all the bridges with the players and he was replaced by Ashok Mankad.
Abbas Ali Baig: 1991
After a shambolic tour of Australia in 1991 92 where India lost four of the five Tests and failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup, there were bound to be scapegoats. Abbas Ali Baig, the manager, was the fall guy for the disaster. There were unconfirmed reports of how skipper Mohd Azharuddin was not happy with the lack of technical inputs given for his sudden slump. Sanjay Manjrekar, one of the key players at No. 3 also endured a lean patch and could not arrest the slide. Baig was replaced by Ajit Wadekar.
Sandeep Patil: 1996
He was the assistant manager to Ajit Wadekar right through the 1996 World Cup campaign. He was coach of the team in England when the infamous Navjot Sidhu and Mohd Azharuddfin rift happened which prompted Sidhu to abandon the tour and come back to India. Things though really deteriorated under Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy during a quadrangular series in Sri Lanka featuring India, Australia and Zimbabwe. At the SSC, India were playing Australia in a 45-overs-a-side game due to rain, the Aussies were behind the over-rate and on a tricky pitch, India, who were nine down, needed to bat the overs out to ensure Australia get less overs to bat.
However, Anil Kumble slogged one in the air off Mark Waugh and was caught by Steve Waugh. The dismissal censed Patil and he ashed out at Kumble. It did not go down well with Tendulkar and the other seniors and after India lost to Pakistan in the Sahara cup in Toronto, Patil was sacked.
Madan Lal: 1996-97
He struck a winning partnership with captain Tendulkar winning the one-off Test against Australia and the Tri-series that followed where South Africa were the third side. Trouble though began in the second Test of the threematch series against South Africa at the Eden Gardens.Azharuddin was struck on the elbow by a bouncer off Brian McMillan at the fag end of Day Two and retired hurt. It angered Madan Lal and he alleged that Azhar was shying away from batting against the quicks. On Day 3, he walked in and scored 109 off just 77 balls and even gestured to the dressing room. India toured South Africa soon and were bull dozed 2-0 in the Tests. In the West Indies, the team lost Tests and ODIs from winning positions. After losses in the Asia Cup and the Lanka ODI series, the team trounced Pakistan 4-1 in Toronto to win the Sahara Cup. That though didn't stop the players from telling the BCCI that they had had enough of Dil Se Khelo and Jaan Laga Ke Khelo instead of technical inputs .
Kapil Dev 1999-2000
Teaming up with Sachin Tendulkar in his second stint as captain didn't turn out to be a joyous experience. India started well beating New Zealand in the Tests and ODIs at home, but were trounced 3-0 by the Aussies in Tests Down Under and they even lost seven of the eight games in the Tri-series. A 2-0 loss in Tests to South Africa at home followed prompting Tendulkar to relinquish captaincy for good. After beating South Africa 3-2 in ODIs under new skipper Sourav Ganguly, the match-fixing episode surfaced and Kapil Dev stepped down after being named by Manoj Prabhakar in a sting operation. Reports say the players were not very happy with Kapil's style of coaching .
Greg Chappell: 2005-2007
The hard-nosed Aussie took charge of India with a lot of fanfare and expectations after John Wright on the recommendation of Sourav Ganguly. Chappell was uncompromising on fitness and work ethic and on the tour to Zimbabwe, he suggested to Ganguly that he give up captaincy and focus on his batting as he had not scored a Test hundred for two years and he should bench himself for the Bulawayo Test. It angered Ganguly and he threatened to quit the tour.Chappell then sent an e-mail to the BCCI saying Ganguly is unfit to lead the team and suffers imaginary injuries. It triggered a major row and the southpaw lost his captaincy to Dravid. During his reign, Chappell was firm on creating a fitness culture and he wanted to push seniors out of their comfort zones.
He also fell out with players like Yuvraj, Laxman, Harbhajan and Tendulkar.India's disastrous WC 2007 campaign and a public fall out with Tendulkar over his batting position, saw him quit.
Anil Kumble: A tumultuous innings
`Kumble-Kohli relationship was not sustainable', June 21, 2017: The Times of India
Jun 21 2017
Coach Resigns Over `Untenable Partnership' With Captain
Many wellwishers of Indian cricket would have been tempted to give a piece of their mind to the team after its 180-run loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final. Coach Anil Kumble did so, but in the process, his already-fractured relationship with the squad reached a point of no return. The players, some of whom were already very distraught after the defeat, complained about Kumble's “overbearing attitude“ all over aga in to captain Virat Kohli. On Monday night, Kumble and Kohli met BCCI secretary Amitabh Chowdhury , CEO Rahul Johri and general manager (cricket operations) MV Sridhar, leading to Kumble not boarding the team bus to the airport along with the cricketers hours later.
Indian cricket's long-drawn domestic squ abble finally ended with Kumble quitting, hours after the team left for the West Indies. He later tweeted, “Though BCCI attempted to resolve misunderstandings between the cap tain and me, it was apparent that the parternship was untenable, and I therefore believe it is best for me to move on.“ At mid-afternoon London time, the BCCI tweeted, posting a link to its website, “Mr Anil Kumble has withdrawn his services as post of the head coach. While the Cricket Advisory Committee had endorsed an extension to his tenure, Mr Kumble has decided not to continue as the coach.“
Following India's 180-run defeat on Sunday , Kumble is understood to have had one-on-ones with some players regarding their performance in the game, leading to some frayed nerves in the dressing room. Kumble was upset by the team's poor bowling in that match and is said to have mentioned to the bowling lineup that they compared poorly with some past legends of Indian cricket.
Communication between Kumble and captain Kohli had already broken down weeks before, and the two maintained a discreet distance during their month-long stay here in England for the Champions Trophy .
The cricket advisory committee (CAC) -consisting of three legends in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman which is tasked with choosing the next coach, will discuss the next course of action via a conference call (Laxman is back in India while Tendulkar and Ganguly are still in London).
The resignation means the efforts of the CAC to broker a truce between captain and coach failed completely .With Kohli unwilling to take a back ward step and seemingly uninterested in any compromise solution, Kumble, it seems, was left with no choice but to put in his papers.
A top Board official told TOI: “The differences between them are not resolvable. It's not about Kumble going to the West Indies. It's about the fact that in the long run it's not sustainable. Both have their views in terms of roles and responsibilities and they were not always on a common page. After recent interactions, Kumble has realised that this issue won't be sorted out. Obviously , we aren't going to get rid of the captain. So, it's he who has to step down. There's just no other option.“
Kumble, it is learnt, was miffed that the board did not publicly announce that it was amenable to giving him an extension for the West Indies tour, and did not back him more after details of captain Kohli's reservations about his “intimidating“ work style became public. The board advertised for the head coach's job instead of giving him an extension.
Kumble, whose one-year contract ended with the Champions Trophy , is also the chairman of the ICC cricket committee, which will meet in London on Thursday . Kumble was extremely successful as coach and his resignation implies the balance of power in Indian cricket now shifts completely towards captain Kohli, which is making some administrators uncomfortable.
“We wish to place on record our sincere appreciation of the immense contribution by Anil Kumble to the team, which enabled India to attain the No. 1 Test position. Indian cricket needs his continued contribution in various capacities,“ BCCI's acting secretary Amitabh Chowdhary said in a statement.
Did the board try to tell both the parties to adjust and move on? “The CAC and the board have spoken to both the individuals multiple times during the Champions Trophy . It's a marriage which broke down completely ,“ the official explained.
The tension between Kumble and Kohli kept simmering throughout India's Champions Trophy campaign in England. “If you notice, Kumble didn't address a single press conference during the tournament, and chose to keep a low profile. Virat, on the other hand, didn't take his name even once while talking to the media, even as he thanked Bangar and even throw-down specialist Raghavendra for his batting success,“ said a source.
Anil Kumble: the inside story
When Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli arrived together for their first joint press-conference as head coach and captain on a typical monsoon afternoon at the M Chinnaswamy stadium it appeared like a union bound by mutual respect and common cause, that of Indian cricket. The body language was in sync a year ago.
It was well known at the time that Kohli had backed the former team director Ravi Shastri for the top job before Kumble walked away with a one-year contract. Still Kohli, gutsy and gifted, came up with a sound answer when asked about his connect with the Bengalurean on July 4 last year.
“For me, it doesn't matter where the coach is from. What matters is how he treats the players, how he makes them feel comfortable and how much he can provide to the players,“ the captain had said. “These are the three factors that you look for if you are assigning a head coach. That's what I believe. And Anil bhai obviously has all three in abundance. He understands all the players. He is involved with the players in some way or the other and that is his biggest quality .“
That part of the journey where Kumble went from `Anil sir' to `Anil bhai' is well documented. What caused the captain to change his view on the coach so suddenly? Interestingly , Kohli didn't so much as even mention Kumble's name when crediting the team's success in the just-concluded Champions Trophy or while commenting on the team's home run prior to their depature to England.
Enough has been said about what went wrong between the two by sources and unnamed BCCI officials, who claimed many players were unhappy with Kumble's `schoolmasterly' ap proach to the team. What exactly does `schoolmasterly' mean in this context? Is questioning and correcting wrong or out of bounce? The men in question, however, are yet to comment on the breakdown of one of Indian sport's most successful coach-captain combination.
Let it be said here that talk of unrest in the Indian dressing room is a recent development. The players often spoke of Kumble being a disciplinary during his tenure as coach, but equally that he encouraged players to make their own decisions. He was the go-to man in the team for anything from a morale-boosting talk to a technical doubt.
As an all-powerful captain Kohli may well have reasons for insisting on a change. But selective leaks via certain sections of the BCCI about `cracks in the relationship' and the captain's own body language in Kumble's presence during the Champions Trophy and un convincing replies to the speculations on the rift, does little to enhance his stature. Worse, a sole power centre could also hurt the team.
In his exit, after his one-year contract expired after the Champions Trophy ended, Kumble responded with grace. Also, his performance spoke for him. Panned by critics for lack of coaching experience, he produced results with the team winning 22 of the 35 matches they played across the three formats under his stewardship. This included 12 off the 17 Test matches, catapulting India to the top Even as mud piled on his attitude, coaching techniques and rapport with players, Kumble, the country's highest wicket-taker, maintained a stoic silence, putting out no more than a dignified statement. He made it amply clear that while he loved what he did, but he wasn't going to be in a place where the captain didn't want him.
Resignation, 2017
K ShriniwasRao, June 24, 2017: The Times of India
BCCI Officials Say It's Unfair To Blame Virat; Board Seeks Fresh Applications For Coach's Role
The Indian cricket board sent out a new media release on Friday evening, extending the deadline for applications for the position of Team India coach, effectively to replace Anil Kumble. The former India leg-spinner, who had a very successful year with the Indian team, quit this week after a much talked about rift between him and skipper Virat Kohli. The date for submission of applications has been extended to July 9. The board believes that not many individuals applied for the position the previous time because Kumble was given a direct entry and they would have felt that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) would have retained Kumble given his performance. “Now that he's not in the race, we expect more individuals to send in their CVs,“ a board official told TOI.
Even as officials in the board were busy drafting the new statement to be sent out, sources in the know of the Kumble-Kohli fracas admitted that “the entire matter was not handled well at all“.
Little could've gone wrong on the evening of May 25, when the BCCI sent out a statement inviting applications for the position of coach, giving the incumbent a direct entry to the interview process, and stating off the record that the step was necessary despite Kumble doing a “fabulous“ job because the contract said so.
However, a board official revealed on Friday that on the day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on May 21, when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) met Kumble in Hyderabad to hear out his proposal on player salaries and other mechanisms he wanted to be put in place, “everyone involved had a fair idea of the growing discord between him and Virat“.
In hindsight, said the official, Kumble's reputation dawned upon them. “His approach overbearing and haughty was the same when he was talking with the CoA,“ he said. The fact that BCCI chose to hand over the mess to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), asking Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to first speak with Kumble and Kohli and then sort out the applications and the interview process, turned out to be a blunder of epic proportions.
Speaking with TOI on Friday , an individual in the know of every meeting held between the CAC and Kumble and the CAC and Kohli, said: “It's sad that Virat and members of the team are being made to look like they're undisciplined brats who didn't want a coach who is now being made to look like he was perfect. That's a very wrong perception. It's understandable if BCCI is being seen in poor light given the way this entire matter was handled.“
For the record, 10 years ago, Tendulkar and Ganguly too were at the forefront of a campaign when they did not want Greg Chappell to continue with the Indian team.
Sources close to the Team India camp have the same complaint, first highlighted by Virat in his meetings with the CAC. “He (Anil) wants to be the alpha-male in the dressing room. He wants a say in the playing XI the reason why he wanted the coach to be a selector too. It doesn't work like that. It's always the captain's team whether it was Sourav or Rahul or MS. And now, it's Virat's,“ added the source.
For the record, Kohli sat through a four-hour meeting with the CAC during the Champions Trophy , at a time when he as captain should've been concentrating on the tournament. In those four hours, he spelt out his fears to the CAC, citing why the team didn't need Kumble, his rigidity in certain matters, the overbearing nature and most importantly the way he addressed the players.
Salaries of coaches and skippers
Jumbo document: - Coach should earn 60% of skipper's fees, June 24, 2017: The Times of India
Remunerations dominated former India coach Anil Kumble's 19-page proposal on restructuring of contracts to the BCCI in which he had demanded that the “chief coach should earn 60 percent of the captains' estimated earnings“.
The document also supported national coaches “earning from IPL“ to “augment their income“ without specifying whether it amounts to `Conflict of Interest'.
He had also suggested that 20 percent of the players' Central Contracts should be variable pay based on their “fitness standards“.
Kumble submitted a presentation on Committee Of Administrators' (COA) behest during the final of the IPL on May 21.
Titled `Restructuring of Remuneration And Contracts of Personnel Of The Indian Cricket Team', Kumble, on Page 12 of the document, proposed a hike for the support staff.
Under Point No 10 `The Suggested Change: Enablers', the former skipper had given a fourcolumn tabulation chart.
`Enablers' is a terminology Kumble used for the team's support staff. While suggesting a hike of Rs 7.5 crore from the `current' Rs 6.5 crore, Kumble in the `Remarks' column wrote: “At 60 percent of Captains' estimated earnings'. Eligible for 30 percent of his salary as variable bonus on team performance“.
Kumble's proposal is an indicator that whenever Virat Kohli would have earned more from the BCCI, his own earnings would have gone up proportionately .
The chart also suggested that Sanjay Bangar's salary be hiked from current Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.25 crore while R Sridhar should get Rs 1.75 crore instead of the current Rs 1 crore with “retrospective effect“ from June 1, 2016.
However, something that has caught the attention of BCCI mandarins is his suggestion of national coaches “earning from IPL“.
Former COA member Ramachandra Guha, in his parting shot, had written national coaches “moonlighting“ for IPL teams as a clear case of Conflict of Interest.Many had perceived it as Guha's veiled dig at Rahul Dravid, is India A and U-19 as well Delhi Daredevils franchise.
