Mr. Balwinder Singh Sandhu has made a thought provoking remark. When coaching a junior or a domestic team a foreign coach will certainly get an opportunity and time to grow with the juniors. It can be a learning period for the coach, players, management and others to grow as a family, understanding the nuances and details of cultures and preferences from both sides.
Any sensible coach taking an assignment overseas has to have tons and tons of humility and a mind to learn. Reckless behaviour and impatience can hurt the feelings and sentiments of people in the host country where he is only a guest and a sort of "unofficial goodwill ambassador" from his country.
India certainly has passionate former players who possess the necessary competence to coach Team India. They have played for our country at the highest levels and also won laurels.
RE:This is worth considering
by Gopala Ganesh on May 18, 2007 06:27 AM Permalink
This probably has the best chance of improving the Indian team's performance. All major advertisers on TV should pick the best rated 11 players in the world, based on the most recent 2 years' performance, regardless of nationality. Glchrist, Gibbs, Jayawerdene etc replacing Sachin, Saurav, Virender, Mahendra etc, the hard pinch of crores of rupees in endorsement income vanishing, the humiliation of being sidelined for endorsing products in ones own country could all very well combine and act as a powerful motivator of the effort to get into say, the world-wide "top 11" list. Indians see lots of stars on TV in the mega serials with their voices dubbed. They are large-hearted too and I am sure they will enthusiastically accept the most meritorious cricketers as spokespersons for various products.
I fail to understand why the focus is on winning world cup. It should be on playing better cricket and playing to win.Let us focus on this and the results will follow. It does not matter whether it is world cup or a series, when our team plays hard, results are bound to be there
RE:Focus should be on playing better cricket
by heaven on May 15, 2007 12:05 PM Permalink
...because, if you have a set goal (with a date) you will strive to achieve it....if one generally says 'better cricket, playing to win'....then its the same old story again....all the XI will just float around and some matches will turn our ok and most will be a wash-out!
Why we benchmark the WC is just so that 4yrs are just right to bring the team to the desired expectations. That dont mean, all the other matches dont matter! They do, and hence these games (Test, ODIs' and 20-20s') will be the yard stick to review performance, check for improvements, strengthen the body and the mind, and prepare for the launch for the WC title. Lets also be fair, it is the most sought after one-day title.."World Champions of Cricket:...so lets get the focus right and go out and achieve!
