Chennai: With the Board of Control for Cricket in India set to zero in on the coach of Team India in a week’s time, former India skipper and coach Kapil Dev feels that a team with “rockstars does not need a coach” but it requires an efficient person to “manage” them.“I would not like to see so many former cricketers get involved with one team. Yes you need a good captain and you need one former cricketer, who is not a coach but manages the team. I think when you have such a high-profile team, where cricketers are superstars and rockstars, it’s very important to manage them,” Kapil was quoted as saying in CNN IBN.
With Duncan Fletcher’s tenure coming to an end after the World Cup and Ravi Shastri being the team director, high profile names such as Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are doing the rounds for the plum job. However, Kapil is of the view that not too many big names should be associated closely with the team. And he insisted on the need of manager than a coach. He added: “ I think in this era, you don’t need a coach. You need a colleague who can help you out if you are down and out.”
The 1983 World Cup-winning captain was the coach of the team in 1999. India had not lost a home Test series since 1987 and when the South Africans toured India in 2000, that streak was ended as India lost 0-2. Does he consider donning the role again? “Not at all. I have done my bit. I think when you have stopped playing for more than 20 years, it’s very, very late. I’m not even remotely involved in any sense. So no, I wouldn’t like to do that job but thank you for asking,” he said.
The 56-year-old all-rounder felt that the game has changed a lot. “I think somebody who stopped playing 5-7 years ago should come back (to coach the team). They can see the change taking place. When somebody who has stopped playing 20-30 years back he comes back, I think it will very difficult for him to adjust,” he added.
