As the most talked-about phenomenon in the Indian cricketing circuit – since the conclusion of Virat Kohli and his team's dramatic ascendance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 – came to its conclusion, India embraced a home-grown and nurtured head coach for their cricket team for the first time in 16 years. Anil Kumble, the country’s most successful bowler in Test and ODI cricket, stepped up to the challenge, like he has always loved to, and was appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team for a period of 1 year.
This appointment also saw – for the first time in history – a transparent process being adopted for the aforementioned selection as a separate notification for the job was released and the interested people were invited to apply, subject to certain terms and conditions. Of the 57 applicants who had thrown their hats in, 21 were given the go ahead by the BCCI to appear for the interviews, to be conducted by the board’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that comprised of names like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman.
However, teams these days go for special expertise for every department as far as a cricket team and cricketing matters are concerned, and it has almost become a fashion (or a fad, depending upon the way you perceive it) to hire separate coaches for separate tasks. The previous camp of officials who worked with the Indian players comprised of the Team Director Ravi Shastri, the batting coach Sanjay Bangar, the bowling coach Bharat Arun and the fielding coach R Sridhar.
Needless to say that this time around too the board would, sooner or later, appoint separate coaches for batting and bowling as was evident from the introductory speech that Anurag Thakur, the president of the BCCI gave while announcing the name of the new coach. “After discussions, we have taken a final call that for one year Anil Kumble will be the head coach. Bowling and batting coaches will be decided later."
Several names spring to the mind when one thinks of the prospective candidates for the aforementioned roles. India have had a rich cricketing history and one doesn’t have to look too far in order to spot the probable contestants for the roles. In this piece, we take a look at a few such candidates and explore their expertise in order to make a case for them as the future batting/bowling coach of the Indian team.
Zaheer Khan
In a country traditionally known for its batting heavyweights, the bowlers have been doing a pretty good job over the past two years or so, which in itself is a sign of changing dynamics as far as the Indian bowling is concerned. Impressive performances in global ICC tournaments, such as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the ICC World T20 2016 as well as the Asia Cup T20 2016 have propelled the Indian bowling attack to a level of competitiveness and repute. In such a scenario, the second-highest wicket taker for India amongst fast bowlers in Tests, Zaheer Khan, who recently retired from all formats of competitive cricket qualifies as a major contender for the post of the bowling coach.
With 311 wickets from 92 Tests – out of which, 207 were taken outside India – Zaheer has been one of the best exponents of the new ball as well as the old ball amongst the modern-day cricketers. The 37-year-old’s long-standing association with the Indian team as well as his acquaintance with most of the cricketers who feature regularly in the Test and ODI squads would go a long way towards forming strong relationships both on and off the field, and given the influx of young fast bowlers that India have had over the past two years – with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, and Shardul Thakur knocking on the doors of the team – he can also train them the right away and prepare them for the challenges that international cricket poses.
Zaheer’s cricketing acumen can also be estimated by the way he led the Delhi Daredevils during the recently-concluded season of the Indian Premier League. A team that majorly consisted youngsters was led innovatively and to a certain extent of success, as the players like Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, and Rishabh Pant prospered under Zaheer’s leadership. Although the Daredevils couldn’t make it to the playoffs, their IPL campaign was nothing short of inspiring, wherein they posed a big challenge to all other teams who were considered to be better than them at least on the basis of experience.
Venkatesh Prasad
Another former fast bowler who has been working behind the scenes of the Indian cricketing mechanism and has served the senior side as well, as a bowling coach in the past, has been Venkatesh Prasad. The 46-year-old served as the bowling coach of the Indian Cricket Team for a period of two years, between 2007 and 2009, and thereafter worked tirelessly in the domestic circuit, first as the coach of the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Team and then with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Prasad is the incumbent chairman of the junior selection committee of the BCCI.
Given these credentials, that also make it clear that the man has a decent know-how about the upcoming young cricketers as he is supposed to have watched them at the domestic level, the Karnataka-born cricketer also has a solid claim to make for the role of the bowling coach. The cricketer-turned-coach had also applied for the position of the head coach, after the job was advertised by the BCCI, but wasn't chosen as the right candidate by the Cricket Advisory Committee, that gave the preference to his one-time teammate, Anil Kumble.
Sanjay Bangar
After his successful stint as the interim head coach for India’s tour of Zimbabwe that ended with India wrapping up the 50-over and the 20-over competition, Sanjay Bangar, the former India all-rounder who recently finished his term as the batting coach of the senior team following the ICC World T20 2016, has every right to re-apply for the post. Bangar’s recently-ended term and his association with the current crop of Indian batsmen makes him one of the best contenders for the post of the batting coach and following his successful stint with the team in Zimbabwe, he might as well be given a second term.
During his two-year tenure as the batting coach, from August 2014 to March 2016, Bangar oversaw the Indian team as it registered series victories over South Africa and Sri Lanka in Tests, and against Sri Lanka and the West Indies in ODIs. India also won the Asia Cup T20 and reached the semi-finals of both, the 50-over World Cup in 2015 as well as the World T20 in 2016 during Bangar’s tenure. Apart from the Indian side, Bangar has also coached the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League to some success, as, during the 7th season, in 2014, the Kings XI reached the final of the tournament.
Bharat Arun
The former bowling coach of the team, Bharat Arun, whose contract expired after World T20 this year worked extensively with the Indian bowlers during his two-year stint. Several young bowlers made their debuts under Arun’s guidance and other established bowlers rose to new heights. Jasprit Bumrah, India’s newly-discovered death-overs specialist, made his debut against Australia in January this year and has only grown from strength to strength, whereas names like Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, and Ishant Sharma have prospered over the past two years.
Mohit and Shami were excellent for India during the ICC Cricket World Cup, 2015, while Ishant showed his mettle during the away tour of Sri Lanka in July 2015 that saw India register a Test series victory over the Lankans. The Indian bowling during the ICC World T20 2016 was also praiseworthy and played a pivotal role in the campaign. Ravi Ashwin had a phenomenal 2015 in Tests and the likes of Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja carved out a niche for themselves. Hence, Arun’s efforts that he put behind the Indian cricketers have borne several results and in all likelihood, it will not be surprising if he is given a second term as the bowling coach of the side.
Praveen Amre
One of the most successful, yet the most underrated coaches in the domestic circuit, Praveen Amre, has perhaps never been given the right kind of opportunities at the biggest stage. A top-order batsman during his playing days, he has been credited for the recent success of several Indian cricketers, such as Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa, who availed Amre’s services as a personal coach. The Mumbai-born former cricketer had coached the Mumbai Ranji Team and has led them to three Ranji Trophy titles. Amre had also coached the Indian Under 19 side that won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2012.
However, Amre’s greatest contribution to the way cricket coaching is seen and perceived in India has been the way he revolutionised personal coaching. Several specialised batting coaches have mushroomed up in the country following Amre’s successful campaigns with some of the top Indian cricketers. The list of such cricketers also includes names like Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik. The 47-year-old also owns a cricket academy in Mumbai, named as the Cricket Indian Academy where he nurtures young talents from across the state of Maharashtra as well as from the rest of the country and has associations with Cricket Australia with Brett Lee as the brand ambassador.
Notwithstanding his achievements, Amre has never been offered either a temporary or a permanent coaching responsibility with the Indian team. Amre himself was coached by one of the fatherly figures of the Indian domestic circuit, Ramakant Achrekar, who also coached the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, and his one-time India teammate Vinod Kambli. Hence, the passion for coaching was infused into the man at a very young age. If given a term with the Indian Cricket Team as the batting coach, Amre can prove out to be an extremely valuable asset.
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