Is Indian coaching system conducive for nurturing maverick talents like Dhoni and Sehwag?

To drive an over-pitched delivery through covers and mid-off, several aspects of a batsman's movements have to come together. With his knee bent, his front foot should move ahead and come in line with the pitch of the ball. His shoulder should be guiding his upper-body weight forward. His head should lean downwards and must be steady at all times. His elbow needs to guide his front arm into the drive. Picture this in your head and you’ll see that classic Sachin Tendulkar stroke, straight out of a coaching manual.

However, during the master blaster's time, he wasn’t the only Indian batsman captivating the cricketing world’s imagination. There was another batsman, going by the name of Virender Sehwag, who was sending the same over-pitched deliveries to the boundary, but in a very different style. Sehwag didn’t need to get his foot close to the ball, lean forward, or use his front elbow to drive through the shot. He could do it all by simply having a steady base at the crease itself and swinging his bat through the line of the ball.

Not just the Delhi dasher, if one looks beyond India, there have been several cricketers over the years who have wowed audiences with their peculiar, yet extremely effective playing style. Be it Lasith Malinga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kevin Pietersen, Muttiah Muralitharan, Paul Adams, Steve Waugh or Sanath Jayasuriya, to name a few, they have all achieved huge success at the highest level of the game, and for a long period at that.

Why is it then that these great names of modern day cricket are so few and far between? One has to really flex their brain to come up with names to add to this list of “unorthodox” cricketers. If these cricketers are just as effective at doing what needs to be done, and probably more attractive to look at for a layman, then why don’t we get to see more of them? Why are international teams flooded with so-called “textbook” cricketers? What is this textbook after all? And who wrote it?

Strong basics 

Let’s assume the letter ‘A’ denotes that delightful off-drive we spoke about earlier. Now, if one takes a group of twenty people and tells them to write the letter ‘A’ on a piece of paper, they surely won’t write it in the exact same way. They will all have their distinct styles, based on each of their individual muscle movement. Similarly, each batsman will have his own way of hitting a cover drive. As long as he is sending that outside off-stump, over-pitched delivery to the boundary, it really shouldn’t matter how pretty the stroke looks.

Jasprit Bumrah

In such a situation, the real question which arises is that is there simply a lack of these God-gifted talents, or is there a flawed system in place that leads to their absence on the biggest stage.

The role of a coach at the junior level, thus, becomes extremely critical. They say it is imperative for a youngster to have strong basics to last longer at the higher levels. That when the going gets tough, these same basics are what give you shelter. But how does a coach deal with a 12-year-old Jasprit Bumrah, whose action is anything but what the textbook will tell you. How does a coach scale the balance between strengthening the all-important basics of a player, and also preserving his natural abilities, however unusual they may be.

“That is where the coach's level of judgement comes into play,” says former Saurashtra batsman and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Level 3 coach Dinesh Nanavati.

Dinesh Nanavati

You need to teach the basic techniques as everyone needs to at least be aware of them, whether he is a batsmen, bowler, wicket-keeper or outfielder. That knowledge will hold them in good stead in the long run. Technique does not guarantee success but technique guarantees that you succeed at the higher levels for a longer time.”

Adding value

But again, what about someone like Bumrah? What do “basics” mean to him? A coach needs to know when to coach and when not to. He needs to know if necessitating any changes will make the cricketer a better one than what he was.

“When Bumrah first came to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for trials, we felt that he should continue with the same action,” says former Indian cricketer and bowling coach Bharat Arun.

Bharat Arun,

Though Bumrah put a lot of strain on certain aspects of his body, we understood that and worked to make his entire body a lot stronger to take the impact of his bowling. Apart from that, we didn’t try to bring about any changes in him. Uniqueness, if it's really good, is something you need to maintain. But if you are unique for the sake of being unique and if it's not effective, then I guess it's of no use.”

“The idea of coaching is to add value. You’ve got to see if you can make the person more efficient. It all comes down to how one executes a skill. If your skill is going to be effective then you don’t need to make any adjustments or changes.”

Up-and-coming middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer and veteran Abhishek Nayar from Mumbai are two good examples of players defying conventional cricket. Twenty-one-year-old Iyer made a name for himself after smashing a phenomenal 1,321 runs in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season. He backed that up by grabbing the Emerging Player of the Year award in the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) season after amassing 439 runs. The right-hander’s game is modelled greatly on Sehwag’s, which is to have minimal footwork but use hand-eye coordination to hit the ball, often over the in-field.

Nayar, too, is famous for having one of the strangest stances you’ll get to see on a cricket pitch, but the southpaw has been a major asset to the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions’ middle-order for several years now.

Pravin Amre, former Indian cricketer.

Every player has his own style, it's very critical to acknowledge that. My guru, Ramakant Achrekar sir, was the best in seeing a player's natural talent,”

As a coach Amre, himself, has seen tremendous success. He was coach of the India Under-19 team when it won the World Cup in 2012, apart from guiding Mumbai to multiple Ranji Trophy titles in the recent past. Amre is also, perhaps, the only coach in India to undertake one-to-one assignments with cricketers at the top level, with Suresh Raina and Robin Uthappa numbering as his clients.

“As coaches, we have to be able to spot the talent and skill in a player. Each player has his own identity. That's what I learnt from Achrekar sir and try to implement myself. One has to be practical as a coach. In Mumbai, we allow players to keep their natural game. We simply make corrections, no changes. This way their natural ability is preserved,” says Amre.

The despair

These words by Amre, though, are in stark contrast to what Akshay Rao (name changed on request), a promising young talent, on the threshold of playing Ranji Trophy for Mumbai, has to say about the state of coaching within the cricketing circles of the domestic giants.

Mumbai Cricket Association's state-of-the-art academy in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is an institution that every player who represents Mumbai has to pass through. Irrespective of his age-group, a Mumbai cricketer goes through rigorous training at BKC once he gets to the probables and beyond of the state side.

Attention to detail is given to every aspect of a player's game, with a view to iron out any flaws. The role of such a facility, then, gains paramount importance. The health of Mumbai's cricket depends greatly on the set-up and culture at BKC. And Rao has a poignant point to make here.

Sachin Tendulkar (right) offers batting tips to Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer (left) as coach Chandrakant Pandit watches at the MCA facility in Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai (File Photo/PTI)

“BKC lays a lot of stress on technique. It often borders on cloning,” says Rao. “The idea is to teach the same thing to every player. It's an age-old practice, I guess.”

This theory of one glove fits all isn't restricted to either batsmen or bowlers.

“I've represented Mumbai for several years now and I haven't seen any other state’s coaches give so much emphasis to streamlining techniques of players. Out here, the coaching is robotic. Their answer to every problem is the textbook manual,” adds the youngster.

What happens then if a player isn't comfortable with the changes being forced into his game? “There is no point in arguing. The coaches there want everyone to listen to them and play according to what they say. One can't really argue. It's highly possible for them to go against a player. So nobody even thinks about arguing. Most players believe in doing what the coach is saying in front of them and later playing according to their natural skill set.”

Risk of rejection

Another factor that could go against unorthodox cricketers, especially the younger ones, is the mindset of selectors. In a cricket-mad country like India, a player has to go through various stages of selection to even make it to his state side. And at each of these stages, the risk of facing rejection is greater for someone with a "different"  game, compared to the rest.

“I completely agree with this point, as I've seen it happen myself. Selectors don't accept the ones with unconventional techniques. The focus is more on how a player holds the bat and not on the runs he makes,” says AN Sharma, the man who coached Sehwag as he was climbing through the ranks.

Each year, youngsters come in massive numbers for trials all over the country, and a selector is merely given a day-or-two to skim through the candidates. In such a situation, the odds of players with "proper" techniques having the upper hand are that much higher.

AN Sharma,

“Players have to be given more time. It's a tricky situation since there's always a shortage of time to conduct selections because of the sheer number of players who turn up. But the authorities must find a solution, as this way I'm convinced we're missing out on a lot of talent.”

Fathers-cum-coaches

Fathers-cum-coaches of two of the brightest young talents Mumbai has produced over the past few years offer interesting views on this. Eighteen-year-old Armaan Jaffer, a member of the current Mumbai Ranji Trophy side, has a game very similar to that of his uncle Wasim Jaffer. Elegance and a sound technique are hallmarks of his batting. Understandably, his father Kalim is not a big fan of innovation taking over youngsters' techniques.

“It's possible to make runs even with the same technique for each format, provided you pick the ball early and be ready to hit the shots, have greater intensity in limited-overs games, and are able to adjust according to each situation.

“In cricket, if you have a sound base and defence then you can hit every shot. Because every shot is an extension of defence,” says Kalim. “No one is different from childhood, they are all the same. When two five-year-old kids come to me, I teach them the same thing. One will show immediate results while the other might show those same results after a year. That's because the first one has a greater natural grasping ability,” he adds. This approach would most-likely have spelt doom for a young Bumrah.

Armaan Jaffer (L) and Sarfaraz Khan - (File Photo)

Sarfaraz Khan, the nineteen-year-old batsman who earned a name for himself with his audacious hitting in the IPL, is the embodiment of innovation in cricket. Out of the box shots are always on the cards when the youngster is at the crease. Thus, his father Naushad's views don't come as a surprise.

“In Under-14 cricket, the sweep shot is frowned upon because it's a high-risk shot. Even so, if a kid comes to me for coaching and possesses a naturally good sweep shot, I encourage him to go with it,” he says.

“I do that with Sarfaraz as well. Scoring shots should always be harnessed. Each person has a different strong zone and as a coach it's my responsibility to polish those zones,” adds Naushad. “Innovation is important to confuse bowlers and disturb their rhythm.”