UPCA likely to ‘rely’ on home-grown coach
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) seems to have ‘decided’ to rely on a home-grown chief coach for its senior team as, unlike in the past, domestic cricketers would hardly get enough game time in the upcoming season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
BCCI is considering to hold only the Syed Mushatq Ali Twenty20 Trophy (from November 19) and the 87th season of the Ranji Trophy (December 13-March 10). In such a scenario, having an ‘expensive’ candidate, as well as outsider, as the team’s chief coach is unlikely to be UPCA’s idea.
Last season, former India allrounder Sunil Joshi was the chief coach of the UP senior side. But UP failed to enter the knockouts of all three major events -- Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Twenty20 Trophy. Joshi is now the national senior selection committee chief.
“Yes, we are looking for a new coach for our senior side, but still not sure about the possible candidates,” UPCA secretary Yudhveer Singh said on Sunday.
“Certainly, we will give first preference to our homegrown coach if he is capable enough to motivate the side for new success,” he added.
A decision about the coach is likely to be taken at the UPCA’s annual general meeting, expected to be held in the second week of September.
“We should rely on our own people. Even in the past, our homegrown coaches like Gyanendra
Pandey, have done well for the side,” a UPCA insider said on condition of anonymity.
“We can rely on our present batting coach and former UP batsman Parvinder Singh, who has been a key factor behind the success of our batsmen in the last two seasons. This (only two events this time) would allow UPCA to test the real skills of Parvinder. If he does well, he should be promoted as the chief coach the next season,” he added.
In the past, UPCA tried outsiders like Venkatsundaram, Yashpal Sharma, Venkatesh Prasad, Manoj Prabhakar, Karnataka’s Sujit Somsundar and Mansoor Ali Khan to coach the senior side. Barring Venkatsundaram, none of the others could produce the desired results.
Among the home-grown coaches Ashok Bambi, Sarvesh Malhotra, Rajendra Singh Hans, Gyanendra Pandey, Rizwan Shamshad, Mritunjay Tripathi and Pandey garnered good success. Under Hans’s tutelage, Mohd Kaif-led UP won the maiden Ranji Trophy in 2005-06, whereas the team finished runners-up in the Ranji Trophy twice, besides making it to semi-finals twice during a five-year period from 2007-11 under Pandey’s tenure.
Pandey, who is now in the apex committee of the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand after finishing his tenure as the junior national selector recently, holds a high opinion about taking the UP coaching job again.
“We need to have such a coach, who knows everything about the present set of cricketers. Besides discipline, personal interaction with every individual has been the success mantra of UP cricket even in the past. Relying on homegrown coaches would be the perfect idea in this curtailed domestic season,” a former coach said.