Looking for Mr Tough Guy

Coaching the Indian cricket team is the toughest job in the world, said Greg Chappell, one of the shrewdest brains in the game. And the Indian cricket Board is scouting for Mr Tough Guy, just before the team embarks on Mission Impossible, on a tour Down Under. The timing couldn't have been worse, or more similar to our batsmen in England!

The new coach will have no time to take guard, break bread and jam with the boys, assess their pluses and minuses, get a first hand feel of their egos and after all this, plot, of all the absurd things, the conquest of the Invincibles down under. Especially, when Team India is its bumbling, stuttering and faltering self. Business as usual, in other words.

One thing you can be sure of. Mr Tough Guy will have so much on his plate that he won't have time to send any pesky emails, throw some meaty crumbs to an ever hungry media or bully the team's over-rated seniors or the X-rated juniors.

A lot of people are asking: Will a coach help? Answer: Will he, indeed? In Greg Chappell's Regime of Great Expectations, India soundly got thrashed and then thrown out of the world cup. Our Fab Four - or Five?, it doesn't matter anyway - were an embarrassment most of the time, and whatever difference they made, was off the pitch!

The only time our Fab Four looked the part and played to their potential, was when they were led by an aggressive and abrasive captain, and a mild-mannered and cultured coach. Saurav Ganguly and John Wright complemented each other perfectly, and the result was, Team India played like lions, and were hailed as the second best team in the world, and the only team which looked like defeating the mighty Australians.
Perhaps, there's a lesson in this we haven't learnt yet. What Indian cricket needs, is not a know-all coach or a selfless soul per se, but someone who blends nicely and complements the captain.