Indian coaches better equipped to handle Indian players: Aunshuman Gaekwad

Former India batsman Aunshuman Gaekwad might have walked away from the game back in 1987 but he is still trying to contribute as much as possible to Indian cricket. After two stints as the Indian cricket team coach, Aunshuman Gaekwad enjoyed a long association with the Gujarat Ranji Trophy team.

That tenure was followed by a spell with the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which was tasked with picking coaches for the Indian cricket team.

Aunshuman Gaekwad’s first stint as coach lasted a couple of years between 1997 and 1999 before he was replaced by former teammate Kapil Dev. But after Kapil Dev’s time was marred with failure and controversies, Aunshuman Gaekwad was back in charge for a couple of months before India appointed their first foreign coach in John Wright.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda’s Indranil Basu, Aunshuman Gaekwad revealed that an Indian coach is always ideal for the Indian team considering the vast majority of languages, religions and tastes in this country.

“I am not saying foreign coaches are bad. The success rate of Indian and foreign coaches is almost the same,” Aunshuman Gaekwad said in an exclusive interview to Sportskeeda.

“The question is who would understand the Indian boys better. Foreign coaches have a communication problem. India has multi-languages, culture and lifestyles – all these things have to be provided for. On the same breakfast table, one cricketer will ask for dosa, one parantha and one poha. You need to accommodate all of that,” Aunshuman Gaekwad, who turned out in 40 Tests and 15 ODIs for India, said.

Aunshuman Gaekwad was twice a part of the Cricket Advisory Committee

The former Baroda batsman was installed on the CAC twice by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to pick the national coaches for the Indian women’s team and then the Indian men’s team.

“The age restriction imposed by BCCI of 60 years by coaches is not fair. It’s like any player playing for India, you should be able to perform your duties. Don’t become a liability as a player or coach. The most important thing is to keep in touch with the game, know opposition players, conditions and knowing Indian players well. That’s the advantage that Ravi Shastri had as coach because he was travelling all over the world doing his television duties,” the 67-year-old said.

In fact, Aunshuman Gaekwad’s credentials as a coach are so strong that current Prime Minister and then Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) president Narendra Modi himself insisted that the former India cricketer should guide the Gujarat team.

“I took up the job as Gujarat coach immediately after I left Indian team in 2001. I helped Gujarat cricket for about 4 years and then walked away. But then Modi and Amit Shah called me again. I was doing lot of television stuff, they called me for breakfast and asked me to take over again for another 2 years till 2011," he elaborated.

"Gujarat team till then took things for granted and I wanted to change that and show them the winning ways. We reached the top four in Ranji Trophy. The first thing I did was making them tough,” Aunshuman Gaekwad, the son of former India captain DK Gaekwad, said.