A very long weekend for the cricket board starts on Friday. The bigwigs of cricket admin will have not only Team India’s World Cup debacle to talk about, but also the new initiative announced by a latter-day Kerry Packer in the head of the Zee media house who was twice spurned by BCCI when bidding for telecast rights.

Team India’s disappointing performance in the Caribbean may have in some way contributed to this development. But the larger issues remain within BCCI and what it can do to turn the fortunes of the national team around. By far the biggest issue is team and team management changes.

The primary question to be addressed is — Do we need a foreign coach?On this, opinion is certain to be divided. The xenophobic voices will be shriller, especially because of the circumstances in which Team India find themselves. Saner voices may aver that very few of our former cricketers are up to date with what technology has done to streamline technical analysis.

What brings this issue of foreign coach to the fore is the performance of Team India in the Chappell-Dravid regime. The South Australian’s failure may have actually lain in his broad vision for Indian cricket rather than a narrow focus on the field of Team India and their performances.

Much like Carlos Alberto Perreira who took an ageing Brazilian team to the soccer World Cup in Germany last year, Chappell-Dravid took their Dad’s Army to the Caribbean, with predictable results. It is a shame that some cricketers with humongous figures from Bermuda showed greater alacrity than some of our cricketers.

Even so, it is possible to see the issue without letting anger caused by disappointment cloud the thinking. The fact the coach is a foreigner is not the real cause of the failure.India had improved under Bob Simpson, a consultant coach, in the mid ‘90s and flourished under John Wright.

What made the Wright appointment seem so right was the fact that the affable New Zealander considered himself a team manager more than an Indian cricket consultant.

He kept off selection politics, a weakness that seemed to consume his successor. Wright had the knack of working with whatever team he was given. Chappell had too many fixations over players he wanted in the team and many of his choices were not at all first rate material.

It is apparent that Greg Chappell, who did not do much for South Australia as coach in the Sheffield Shield (now the Pura Cup), was the root cause of the failure. His fellow Australians, Tom Moody and Dav Whatmore, have contributed immensely to the two Asian teams that are still in the running at the World Cup, with one of them, Sri Lanka, very much in the reckoning for a place in the semi-finals.

The coach and skipper have been brave in owning up the responsibility for the flop show. Their performances will still be under the scanner when the BCCI and handpicked former captains meet at the end of the week.

In such a setting, with so many clashing opinions likely to be aired, it can’t be an easy task to arrive at a decision. A debate is not going to help arrive at the final decision though a consensus may help guide selectors.

The idea of an Indian being appointed as coach again will be aired at the meeting and a few former captains may even throw their hat in the ring. The real fault with that has been the approach of the coaches who see the appointment as an extension of the selection committee rather than as a task independent of selection matters.

Which Indian captain, or for that matter coach, not been guilty of promoting their favourites? A revolutionary approach is being planned. While sweeping changes may take time to implement.

An interim coach (Chandrakant Pandit the most likely candidate) and a four-man selection committee comprising great players like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar is likely to be appointed to do away with the ills of regional selectors plumping for their zones.

That itself would be a start. If eminent people pick the team, there will be far less reason for the coach and captain having to fret over who will be in Team India.

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