Fletcher’s contract is likely to be renewed for another year
Tony Dungy, the first African American coach to win American Football’s Super Bowl, walked away from the sport when he was just 53. Not long after, he said: “The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.” Right now, Duncan Fletcher and Joe Dawes could be forgiven for thinking on similar lines.
In most respects, 2013 was a halcyon year for Indian cricket, with a 4-0 trouncing of Australia and the Champions Trophy success right at the top of the list of achievements. MS Dhoni, who captained the team, got the hosannas, while the backroom staff had to be content with the faint praise that is their lot.
Now, with 2014 having started so horribly, the heat is very much on the men in the background. With the World Cup less than a year away, there’s next to no chance of Dhoni losing his job, unless the selectors have a collective brain-fade of epic proportions. There is, however, much talk of changes in the coaching set-up, with Dawes, who looks after the bowlers, possibly being replaced by an Indian assistant coach.
Fletcher’s contract is likely to be renewed for another year. A new incumbent would have no time to implement his coaching philosophy before the World Cup, and would also be wary of taking on the task given India’s abysmal performances on recent tours of South Africa and New Zealand. Whether Fletcher was or is the right man for the job has been debated since 2011, but as things stand, he will complete a four-year term.
It’s also hard to assess how much blame you can apportion to the coaching staff. The players get all the credit when things go well. The coaches get most of the scrutiny when things go wrong. That scenario is unlikely to change, and it makes any objective assessment next to impossible.
Dawes was a pace bowler in his day, and India’s awful deathovers bowling has seen his role come under the microscope. But how much can Dawes or any other coach do? They can pass on a strategy or even technical tips, but it’s up to the bowler to implement those on the field. If attempted yorkers come out as waist-high full tosses, what does it say about the player concerned?
The key issue to be debated is whether the players even buy into the coaching staff’s philosophy. Back when Eric Simons was bowling coach, player after player would arrive at press conferences and speak in glowing terms of the influence Zaheer Khan had on the pace bowling group. I can hardly recall anyone talking about Simons or his role. He may as well have been the invisible man.
Whenever India do tinker with the leadership group, and Virat Kohli takes over as captain in at least one format, they would also do well to invest in a coaching staff that a young side will be able to relate to. There is no one correct approach. Andy Flower’s disciplinarian ways worked wonderfully for England for more than three years. Thereafter, they became an indicator of everything that was wrong with the set-up.
Mickey Arthur went to Australia with the reputation that had been built during a five-year stint in charge of South Africa. He left the Australian job derided as a lightweight schoolmaster incapable of handling complex dressing-room dynamics. Darren Lehmann’s relatively relaxed approach has done wonders for Australia so far, but the minute results dip, you can rest assured that he’ll be accused of not caring enough.
My personal preference would be for a young coach with limitless ambition, someone that Kohli and other youngsters could also look up to because of what they had achieved in the game. Jason Gillespie, one of the cornerstones of a legendary Australian side, has won many fans for his work with Yorkshire. He has both playing pedigree and age on his side. If he’s keen to jump into the frying pan that is Indian cricket, we shouldn’t stop him.
Dileep Premachandran is editor-in-chief of Wisden India