1 week Ago By Gomesh S
Every time a new coach takes charge of a cricket team, their tenure, more often than not, and legacy get defined by what the team achieves at the big stage. More so in Indian cricket. This has been the case for the past 20 years.
However, it cannot be achieved through just one person -- the coach. As the sport evolves so do the coaching manuals. With time, the coaching is not restricted to just one man.
In modern day cricket, like in movies, success of the team revolves around the support cast too. A team of specialists who supplement the coach. A team that knows and understands the players and helps them on and off the field.
Whether it was John Wright or Greg Chappell or Gary Kirsten or Duncan Fletcher or Ravi Shastri or Rahul Dravid, they had their own staff to rely on. India's newest head coach Gautam Gambhir too sings from the same hymn book. Fielding coach T Dilip is the only one to be retained.
The new coach has put faith in a set of former players and coaches with whom he has worked with. Two assistant coaches in Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate were with him in Kolkata Knight Riders and bowling coach Morne Morkel was with him during his stint with Lucknow Super Giants. The four will form the core coaching team of Gambhir.
Among them, Nayar is perhaps more familiar with a lot of players having come through the same domestic system. The former Mumbai captain, in the last six-seven years, has worked individually with several Indian stars. He has also played a crucial role for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
His is the name almost every Indian player, including Varun Chakravarthy, mentioned and credited with after winning the Indian Premier League title at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, this year. From meeting the players in Mumbai during preparatory camps to working with them throughout the calendar year, Nayar is a hands-on coach. His personal touch during training defines him.
He finds time to get to know the player and understand them better, not just on skill, but also works with them on 'personal and mental' levels. "His biggest strength is to connect with all the players," says Varun. "He has his own camp where we all our players go and bat bowl train, go to gym together.
When it comes to IPL, he takes care of the nets, how the nets are run. After practice, we all go to his room, spend some time chilling and see movies together. He's technically and tactically very sound and he knows what he's doing because he's played so much cricket.
He drills the technique very hard into every person's muscle memory far before the tournament starts. So it gets easier for all the players during the time of the tournament. For me personally, he's helped me mentally because there were times when I really felt that I have hit a roadblock or a dead end or something like that.
But he always tells me to have the dog fight with him as in to get into the fight. When I do that, the muscle memory kicks in and I start enjoying the game again. He's helped me a lot tactically as in how to bowl to what batter how and which ball to use when all those things, he's helped me a lot.
"After two or three sessions, you will come to see that he is pure in his heart because he doesn't take anything in return. He stands with us for 5-6 hours on the ground, he runs, does everything. Through that process, cricketers start trusting him and they want to go back to him.
He wants the player to do well and this is reflected in his conversations with you because he's not going to fake it. If he thinks that you are doing something wrong, he's going to blast you in front of everyone. But similarly, if he likes you, he's going to make sure that he tells it," the KKR spinner adds.
In a team that is going through a transition, where several youngsters are being rotated in and out of the XI every series, especially in limited overs, Nayar's role becomes all the more crucial in ensuring that the newcomers feel they belong at the highest level. "He has moved into the Indian team at the right time because the transition is happening and GG is also there. They both have a great rapport and definitely Abhishek Na's role in man managing the players and influencing them with positive thoughts and he creates an amazing dressing room vibe and you need such people in the dressing room.
Obviously, technically, he's very sound and I'm sure that the batters under him right now in the Indian team are going to shine better and they are going to become more successful," says Varun. If Nayar's will be key in working with the youngsters, Morkel, meanwhile, has the challenge of laying the groundwork for the next-gen pacers. The South African, who was an active cricketer until recently — his last T20 match was in 2021 — has worked with Gambhir at Lucknow Super Giants and has experience with multiple international teams in the last 18 months.
From Avesh Khan to Mohsin Khan to Shivam Mavi, Morkel has already earned the trust of young Indian pacers in the IPL. Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes believes that Morkel's ability to build rapport with the players will be crucial. "I have watched and learned from him these past two IPL seasons in the LSG setup, as he is able to quickly establish a rapport with the pace bowlers in our squad, by investing time with his bowling squad, in bowling meetings, as well as on a personal basis.
He works closely with the stats analyst, and each bowler, to ensure that each player is comfortable with their unique game plan. He is there to add inputs for the bowlers, and not to dictate to them what they should be doing, and this is a characteristic trait that empowers the players," Rhodes, who worked with Morkel at LSG, tells this daily. "He is very consistent with his emotions around each and every performance, and strongly believes in trusting the process and will back the bowlers, if they have been able to execute as per plan, even if they have not been able to achieve the desired outcome.
He has a great sense of humour and often drives the team building element in the squad. He is a humble and approachable coach, despite his personal success on the field during his playing career," the South African adds. While Morkel will be joining the team next week, Ten Doeschate, the first overseas coach India has had in almost a decade, travelled to Sri Lanka with Gambhir and Nayar.
Gambhir's KKR teammate and a trusted lieutenant, the former Dutch cricketer has impressed wherever he went as a player as well as while working with players. Ten Doeschate is known for and has the experience of making the most of what a player has and bringing the best out of them. Tim de Leede, his former teammate, paints a picture: "That's strange to say, he was just an average player but he worked so hard on his game that he became a batting all-rounder.
He got to such heights. Hopefully he knows his secrets and he can bring it for the players. He will work on mindset more than technique which is what you have to do with good players.
Usually, it is the mindset that stands out for the greats from other players. So if he can get that message through a few players, he would do a fantastic job." While Gambhir's tenure is confirmed till the next ODI World Cup in 2027, the home season begins in two weeks for India.
They play five Tests (two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand) and three T20Is, after which India will travel to Australia for five Tests. Having won the last two Border Gavaskar Trophies Down Under, there will be an expectation to repeat it, but it will not be easy. Luckily for Gambhir and his coaching staff, they will have the next two and half months to settle in their roles and get to know the players.
Come December, they will have to be at their best and get the most out of players. For that tour might just set the direction in which Gambhir and his staff's tenure moves forward..
