The hunt for a cricket coach

Much Ado About Nothing?

By Murli

Money can't buy everything. For instance, a coach for our much fancied cricket team! The world's richest cricket body learnt this lesson the hard way last week. When they zeroed in on Graham Ford, they thought they had hit a four, but the mild-mannered South African clean bowled them lock, stock and barrel.

The BCCI will not accept it, but L'affaire Ford is a slap on its face and the Indian cricket team, and the shameful episode hides more than it reveals. Understanding why it happened will help us understand the ills that are plaguing the country's number one sport and money-spinner and how to get the game back on its feet.

Why Ford refused the BCCI's offer may well be a million-dollar question, literally. Didn't the BCCI make an offer he could not refuse, did they dumb down the package, as the candidate in question was not high-profile like his predecessor? Money, or the lack of it, seems to be the suspect reason no. 1 for Ford's abrupt decision to cry off the offer.

Here is suspect reason no. 2: Did the BCCI presume too much, too early? Did they think that given the pomp, publicity, fame and of course the big bucks that go with the job of coaching the Men in Blue, Ford would be more than eager to sign on the dotted line? Ford's current contract with the English county, Kent, his wife's illness (cancer), was known to the BCCI bosses, and yet after "interviewing" Ford, the BCCI jumped the gun and announced that Ford would power the blue brigade in future. In hindsight, one gets the feeling that somehow it was the BCCI who betrayed needless anxiety over the task of choosing a coach, and wanted to get done with it.

Suspect reason no. 3: Ford emplanes from Mumbai to London, signals he's ready for the top job of coaching Team India, but stops short of making the formal announcement. Suddenly, he develops cold feet. Backtracks, and abruptly changes his mind. The official explanation is his contractual agreement with Kent, who don't want to let go of him. But was he not aware of it before taking the flight to Mumbai? And what was the purpose served by his Power Point presentation to the BCCI? Surely, he did not come to India to see the Taj Mahal? Perhaps, the change of mind angle is not illogical. You are talking about the world's toughest job, not coaching an English county team.

Ford not only succeeded in applying the brakes on the BCCI, but also had the perverse pleasure of watching it take a ludicrous about-turn. The sharpest brains trust of Indian cricket, comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Venkatraghavan among others, literally dug out 72-year-old Chandu Borde and anointed him interim manager for the Ireland and Scotland tours. In a different context, at a different time, former Prime Minister Vajpayee did something similar. Around five years ago when the BJP was in power in UP and embroiled in all kinds of factionalism, Vajpayee, in a desperate bid, chose a forgotten 86-year-old as CM, dearly hoping that he would help resurrect the party's image. That was not to be. Will Borde too suffer the same fate?

Somehow, the entire scheme of selecting the coach stinks from the very beginning. In the first place, could the ridiculously cash-rich BCCI really not think beyond the Whatmores, Fords and Embureys? The first would have made a formidable, but not an outstanding choice, the second had built his reputation on being a "perfect backroom boy" while the third, made you ask: Emburey who?

Could the legendary Gavaskar not think beyond Emburey? Why couldn't he take up the job himself? After all, his credentials are perfect, he enjoys a great deal of goodwill in the cricket fraternity, and commands a lot of respect among the team players.