Just give the India coach’s job to Ravi Shastri. The rest can go home

Is Ravi Shastri the most qualified candidate for the India coaching job? The answer to that is probably ‘no’. But is he the one the team wants right now? if you were to believe the reports and the sources, the answer to that is probably ‘yes’.

So why not just give him the job and ask the others to go home? It really isn’t that difficult a decision.

Is he so much worse than the others that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) really feels the need to force their choice on the team and risk another Anil Kumble-like situation or can they play it cool and give Kohli a coach that he has enjoyed working with in the past?

A lot is being made of how Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble parted ways. Granted, it wasn’t ideal. You don’t treat a legend in that manner but then again, it is what we have seen Indian captains do all the time. If the captain doesn’t like you, then you will most likely have to go.

And if the captain does like you (and as long as he keeps performing and getting the right results) he will get what he wants from the selectors and the BCCI even if it means calling a pot-bellied RP Singh back into the Indian team. Player power is real, deal with it. Cricket is not football. Players matter, managers/coaches not as much.

So when Virat Kohli went up to the BCCI and said he had issues with Kumble, did he do anything wrong? Who else was he supposed to go to? Should he have gone to the media instead?

In essence, he went to the guys who had appointed him captain in the first place. He told them there was an issue, poured his heart out to them and then, saw someone in the BCCI leak it to the media. Rest assured, he will probably not speak to them in the same vein again. Still, he did what he was supposed to do.

Or was he, even for a moment, supposed to continue working with a coach that he had no confidence in?

Anil Kumble’s resignation statement, which he posted on his Twitter and Facebook page, earned him great support.

“I was informed for the first time yesterday that the captain had reservations with my ‘style’ and about my continuing as the Head Coach,” he said in his statement.

In the next paragraph, he spoke about honesty being one of the key traits he brought to the table. But can it really be possible that he had no clue before that?

Either which way, given what has happened, it probably was a good thing – parting ways was a logical and sound decision by both. According to some reports, the seeds of discord were sown six months back and the fact that India kept winning can perhaps come down to the fact that they were playing at home where the players need little coaching.

The future

But given that India have tours of South Africa (in Nov-Dec 2017), England (mid-2018) and Australia (end-2018) coming up, it only makes sense to put a man the team trusts and wants in charge. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri got along famously during his previous stint with the team and the decision to give the job to Kumble had also attracted a fair deal of criticism.

Whether he has the right credentials for the job might be up for debate but what isn’t is that his ‘style’ of coaching is certainly different from Kumble. Where Kumble was the disciplinarian, Shastri is more likely to put his arm around the player and given them a pep talk. Not that he can’t be stern but he seems to pick his moments better.

And perhaps the clash of coaching cultures lead to the face-off between Kumble and Kohli in the first place. Under Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher, the team became used to a different style – one that placed the impetus on the player. If the player felt he needed help, he could go upto them and they would throw as many balls as you’d like for practice. Kumble, on the other hand, wanted to push the players (which isn’t a bad thing) but you need them to believe in the process too.

In an interview, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was once asked how much of a difference did the coach make to his captaincy style. His answer was revealing in more than one way.

“I don’t think that a captain and a coach have any real influence on each other’s style or thinking. But I do feel that the coach and the captain should always be on the same page. And by that I don’t mean there is no difference in opinion – they will have different views on strategies or individual players. But they must sort it out in private, sit and discuss. At times the captain might not be convinced about something and he will have to trust the coach’s experience. In the same way, the coach has to trust the captain’s gut feel about certain things he is not sure about. At the end of the day, the team shouldn’t know there are differences between the coach and the captain. There is only one plan that must come out of that room.”

And this is something that Kohli and Shastri were able to do very well – they always seemed to be on the same page. They both have a win at all costs attitude and neither likes to take a backward step.

Results matter, winning matters

There is also the case of Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and even Mahendra Singh Dhoni getting who they wanted as coach so why shouldn’t Kohli? At the end of the day, does it really matter if Kohli has veto power over the coach if he still continues to give India the right kind of results?

If and when, Shastri does throw his hat into the ring (he has indicated that he will), the CAC must give the job to him. The next year and a half will see India embark on some of the toughest “away” tours and it will be a time to separate the chaff from the wheat.

Shastri’s positivity could be a good influence on these tours but will he be able to help Kohli and Co get the wins that India so desperately seeks? Is the technical knowledge there?

At the end of Australia tour in Dharamsala in March, Kohli said: “It’s a classic case of understanding that this is not the end of anything. No need to get over-excited with whatever we have done. We are very happy with number one ranking in the world but our main challenge begins now. If we can conquer the overseas season, that’s when you will see a broader smile on my face when I sit down for the press conference.”

Few knew that by June, the Indian team would be without a coach, fewer still know what the future holds but by appointing Shastri, the CAC might just clear things a little. Who knows, it might even make Kohli smile a little.

The real task in sports has always been to bring together groups of people to accomplish something and the harsh truth is that Kumble – legend or otherwise – failed in that respect. Shastri, in his stint, seemed to be more capable of that task and that is why he must get the nod ahead of others.