Important to create an Indian way

Want the team to embrace good things about our culture, respect seniors and disagree in a civilised manner

Anil Kumble battled great odds to achieve greatness as a player and has his task cut out as India coach. In this interview to HT, Kumble explains what he brings to the table, the concept of ‘Indianness’. It will encourage the players to treat the team as an extended family and respect seniors while not shying away from making their

point. Excerpts:

What made you take up coaching?

I have always loved challenges, but it is also an opportunity. I took a conscious decision to take a break from IPL this year, as for the last eight years all that my kids have known in their summer breaks is the IPL. This year we went on a holiday to Europe and I was wondering what my future plan should be. Then this opportunity came up, and my wife said yes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone ahead.

What is required to be a coach?

A coach needs to manage the players, manage their egos and motivate them, especially when they are down. And he must always work in the background.

Is it more of a dirty job?

You can say that, but it takes time to understand the players, and for them to understand you. But I believe that a coach needs to communicate. Like when you pick a playing eleven, the other five or six players need support, need to be told why they are not playing. You also need to prepare the team for every eventuality.

From your playing experience, can you tell us how a coach comes up with solutions?

I have always admired John Wright. He was very organised, with planning nets or coming up with ideas as you need to come up with ideas and implement them to make it interesting for the team. For instance, we started sub-groups where the players were responsible for taking decisions, whether it was a batting group, bowling group or fielding group. This is what I am trying to do. My role is what I can do off the field, but once players go on the field it is they who take decisions. The captain will take decisions, but it is the ten others who he will be leading.

You also planned sub-groups?

Yes, but it is something that should be owned by the team. It should not be as if these are my decisions, and that is what I have been doing (in the Bengaluru camp). I’m trying to create that environment where whatever decisions are taken the players feel they are their decisions. I only enable, assist. I try and help them in making the right choice, but not force decisions on them.

Could you give an example of how this works?

It is too early, all I can say now is the kind of approach I have taken. Whether the players have accepted it or not, I will know as we go along. But this group is very open to ideas. I must confess, given how the current generation is perceived, I thought they would be…

Brash and arrogant?

Yes, I thought getting them into a room for an hour or so and discussing certain issues would not be easy and after ten minutes they won’t be listening. But I was surprised. Not only were they receptive and embraced new ideas, we spent more time than stipulated. We had split them into three groups and to see their response was satisfying for a coach; to feel that these boys would go to any length to fulfill the assigned tasks.

What kind of team do you want to develop?

It is important we create an Indian way. We want to put across certain messages which they embrace. Take all the best practices in Indian culture, mesh them in a way that all of us own what we want to be seen as, known as; how do we want to play the game, how do we want to practice, how do we want to be seen as an Indian team.

How different will this team be from Wright’s?

John had made an impression with the effort he brought to the team, organising the team itself. Earlier, it was all ad hoc. I am someone who likes to plan. I need to plan for a week. And that is exactly what I would do with this team as well. You can also structure what you need to do in terms of planning meetings. Those are very important for team environment. The last thing you want is an unhappy person in the team because it is not good to force something upon someone. That is what we want to achieve as a team.

To be known as the Indian team, could you elaborate?

We’re trying to put together something which will be the Indian way. I don’t want to force something upon them like a schoolmaster. Whether it is discipline or whatever. You want the team to embrace what they want to do. I did mention how many times do they want to train, or when not to train, what are the things they will commit to, as an individual and as a team, irrespective of results how do you want to approach your own game and how do you want an Indian team to be looked at? Results will be the next step.

Could you elaborate on the Indianness? Like not sledging?

I don’t mean to say sledging is not Indian culture or is someone else’s culture. What I meant was you would want to bring a feeling of Indianness, as is an extended family, respect for one another. And the best practices in the Indian family would be, generally, follow whatever elders say, but here we want to be a bit more open and express our views, even if they differ from that of the seniors. It is having family values, and say, if a senior has taken a decision, I will follow it. However, you should also have the freedom to disagree but in a more civilised way. In the end, it is all about inclusiveness. It is important that you include everyone in the decision-making. Only then you can bring in ownership.