Anil Kumble a great cricketer but wrong choice for India to pick as coach

Ravi Shastri or Tom Moody will be better choice because of their experience, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Anil Kumble was a great cricketer, but he has no experience as coach, writes our columnist. Mal Fairclough / AFP

There is this famous tale about a former India coach and it allegedly took place on a fractious tour of South Africa.

Without taking names, this said coach was hailed as a brave cricketer in his heyday, a cricketer of modest talents but an in-your-face type, aggressive and punching well above his weight. Needless to add, he expected the same from the cricketers when he took over as boss.

So, there he was, manning an Indian practice session like, well, a man, full of bluster and bravado. A young Indian pacer, making his debut on that tour, was trying his best to grab the coach’s eye. He bowled his heart out in the nets and then went up to the coach to ask what he thought.

“Sir, any tips,” he asked.

“Abe tips kya hai, oye jaan laga ke daal de [what tips, just bowl your heart out],” the coach replied in Hindi.

Of course, that was not the sort of reply this bowler was expecting. Still, he came back the next day, still brimming with enthusiasm and bowled his heart out again. And again, after the end of the session, he was back with the coach.

“Sir, any tips,” he asked again. And he got the same reply back. “Abe tips kya hai, oye jaan laga ke daal de [what tips, just bowl your heart out].”

Now, this bowler had the reputation of having a short fuse, but somehow he managed to keep his irritation in check that evening. Not the next day though, when he got the same reply from the coach for a third day in succession. He exploded and the two, allegedly, came to blows and had to be separated by teammates.

Moral of the story? A successful, braveheart cricketer is not always guaranteed to be a good coach. And a great presentation at the job interview is no guarantee either.

Remember Greg Chappell? India appointed him as coach on the basis of a fabulous presentation. Indian cricket bosses were awestruck, and they came out of the presentation gleaming, like they had found their guide to Atlantis, or just discovered a turn-by-turn navigation system to some promised land.

And why should we talk about these bitter tales from the not-so-rosy past of Indian cricket? Because India is on the verge of appointing a new coach and, if you believe the media back home, Anil Kumble is the frontrunner, picked by a three-member panel consisting of his former peers, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

According to the media reports, Kumble “gave the longest presentation” and had the most convincing replies to the main question: “How will they help the team win abroad?”

Now, nobody is passing any judgement on Kumble’s coaching abilities or his plans for Indian cricket. Without a doubt, he was a great player, one of the best the country has produced, but does he have a coaching resume? No. What are his coaching credentials? None.

So, we are taking a blind leap of faith here and, pray, why? Why not Ravi Shastri, who has done a great job with the team over the past 22 months and has bonded really well with the Test captain Virat Kohli? Why break that partnership?

And if the biggest question is, how the incoming coach can help India win abroad, then why not Tom Moody. Being from “abroad”, he would understand the requisites of winning overseas a lot better. And then, he probably understands Indian cricket as well as any Indian, given his success with the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in the Indian Premier League.

So, is Kumble really the best choice we have? Only time will tell, but if I would not bet on it.

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