Related Links

June 03, 2007

Former India Captain and Coach Ajit Wadekar feels that the Indian team doesn't require any Coach at all to change its fortunes. According to Mr.Wadekar who was in Hyderabad on some personal work spoke that a capable manager is what is required at the highest level. The 66-year-old reminded everybody the fact that the 1983 World Cup winning team never had a Coach during that tournament. Wadekar was of the impression that there are many qualified former Indian Test Cricketers like Gundappa Viswanath, Ravi Shastri who are highly respected can coach the Indian team rather than a foreigner who doesn't really understand the vast Indian culture.

Wadekar feels that there is absolutely no need of any foreign coach and that the players are unnecessarily under a false impression that only a foreigner can do the job. They might be under thinking that the victories achieved by teams like Sri Lanka, England are mainly because of a foreign coach's magic. For India, it is entirely different, each player comes from a different corner of the country with different culture, habits and attitudes. It is not easy at all for a foreigner to come and understand this straightaway. But for former Indian cricketers, they will be well aware of all this is what Ajit Wadekar had said.

On a question related to whether Greg Chappell was a success or an utter failure, Wadekar replied that the answer lied in the fact that India has dipped down in the world ratings. It was perhaps because he wanted to bring in things which have worked with the Aussies in making them number 1. It doesn't happen overnight in India in bringing a system that suits Australians. Wadekar also stated that "When you have players like Rahul, Sachin, Sourav, Kumble, Laxman in the team, then how can the ratings come down, they should only go up. So there is something wrong with the coach in failing to bring the best in his players is what the former Indian Captain had told.

The question of whether the Zee Indian Cricket League was necessary or not was also raised for which Wadekar told that there was nothing wrong in it. According to him, when the Kerry Packer Series began to unfold, everybody laughed it off like a joke but today one day internationals are being played, cricket is played under artificial lights and that players are clad in colour clothing. Similarly, Wadekar doesn't find any wrong in the Indian Cricket League taking shape. What he felt was that it shouldn't oppose the Board but should complement it. According to him, new emerging talents can come out to help Indian Cricket by this revolution. He had also cited the example of Kapil Dev in this. Although, Kapil is the National Cricket Academy Chairman, he is still helping his bit in the upcoming of the Indian Cricket league without opposing the BCCI.

In another question which was about the tightly packed cricketing schedule, Wadekar told that as such the Indian players are not that fit and without much rest it will only become worse. With too many matches around, there will be too little time for a cricketer to think about his game and also to analyze his faults. He was of the opinion that matches in small cricketing nations should be avoided and instead more matches need to be scheduled against quality teams like Australia, South Africa.

 

Top of the Page