Sydney: It seems to be the season of exits. A week after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to hang up his boots in Tests, in all probability the Sydney Test is coach Duncan Fletcher’s swansong with Team India. Why? His contract with the men in blue ends with the ICC World Cup 2015. The BCCI said that Fletcher will remain the boss till the mega event.
Even if the contract had not ended, it was unlikely the Zimbabwean would have hung on to this bunch. In his autobiography titled “Behind the Shades” he had written: “I coach cricket teams to win,” and only twice out of 23 times he has been successful when touring overseas.
However, it is impossible to judge his potential being mere spectators. Only the team and captain Dhoni would be able to assess their gains out of Fletcher.
The 66-year-old have seen it all during his stint with India, which includes a direct blow to his reputation with the sudden arrival of Ravi Shastri as Team Director.
His greatest achievement still lies with England in 2005 when his boys won the Ashes after 18 years overcoming Australia 2-1. But with India, he could not turn the table furnished by John Wright and Gary Kirsten (the South African under whose reign Dhoni and company lifted the World Cup in 2011).
