‘Indians cannot coach Team India’

NEW DELHI: Former cricket board president Raj Singh Dungarpur says no Indian is fit to coach the national team.

Dungarpur says, the World Cup flop show notwithstanding, either incumbent Greg Chappell should be retained or his predecessor John Wright should be brought back.

“I do not think that in India, with due respects to all great players, there is any single person to serve as the coach,” Dungarpur said in an exclusive interview. “Chappell has not done anything wrong. He speaks from a high position since he was one of the best players in the history of the game. There is nothing wrong in having a foreign coach and Greg will be my first choice if he is available,” he said.

Dungarpur said that should the former Australian captain decline to renew his contract with the Indian team, he would prefer Wright, although the New Zealander lacked Chappell’s stature, as the coach. “John (Wright) is the best suited to our system. He is very methodical and clean, and not affected by anybody. But he has not got that sort of a high position like Greg. If he (Chappell) tells somebody, even Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid would agree with him,” he said.

When it was pointed out that Chappell’s tenure has not yielded better results than Wright, Dungarpur agreed, but said “we mostly played against softer teams under John.” “But still I do not want to take the credit away from him. I think Greg did his best. If he took three steps forward, the standard of Indian cricket and the approach of players took four steps backward. After all, it requires two to play a tango,” he said.

On selection issues, Dungarpur said the zonal system was the way to do it but stressed on the need for a ‘Cricket Committee’. He also suggested that the Board must actively involve the former players and make them accountable. “I strongly advocate setting up of a Cricket Committee. Give the committee its due importance, and everyone in it should be made accountable,” he said. “Somebody who had been a captain or a good player, make use of him. Let them talk cricket to the board president and suggest that we should act this way and not that way,” he said.

Dungarpur also felt that the importance of team manager’s role on tours has not been realised. “What is required is a strong willed manager. But you keep on changing managers like a pack of cards on a rummy table. If not permanent, give him couple of tours at least and then assess,” he said. “A manager  represents the Indian Board, particularly the Board President.”