India's coach: Analyzing the contenders

After the BCCI announced the four candidates who would be interviewed in the next two weeks, there is obviously a lot of speculation over who will be the chosen one.

BBC Sport compares the relative merits and demerits of the contenders and fails to take a final decision!

My personal opinion is that none of these four should be named coach. I was hoping that Dav Whatmore, who ended up extending his Bangladesh contract, would be made the coach. I firmly think that the experience he has of coaching sub-continental sides would be his best trump card. I know that coaching Sri Lanka from being the no-hopers of world cricket to the World Cup in 1996 is totally different from handling India's players, who have certainly achieved a few things. It would also be very different from coaching today's no-hopers, Bangladesh (joint holders along with Zimbabwe).

But in a sense, coaching the Sri Lankan side would be similar to coaching this Indian side. Both obviously had a lot of talent. de Silva, Ranatunga, Jayasuriya, Murali, Mahanama, Kaluwitharana were highly talented cricketers who lacked the teamwork, planning, discipline and focus necessary to become world beaters. The Indian team is also very similar - lots of highly talented players, but more or less unable to execute plans consistently well or respond to opposition plans properly. Ranatunga's and Ganguly's captaincy styles are quite similar to each other, close enough for Ranatunga to repeatedly empathize with him. Whatmore formed a nice working relationship with Ranatunga. I'm fairly sure that he'd form a good combination with Ganguly as well, who is far less of a rascal than Ranatunga was.

But Whatmore has signed up for Bangladesh. If I could influence the committee's decision, I'd make them appoint one of Sandeep Patil or Mohinder Amarnath as coach. However the appointment would be subject to a review in July. This means the selected one will have to work during the off-season with the players and effectively, depending on their feedback, he will be continued or dispensed with.

But why July? Because Bangladesh's tour of England ends in June. Whatmore apparently has a "get out" clause in his contract, possibly depending on his side's performance or if the BCCI indicates that it is still keen to rope him in. It is more or less certain that Bangladesh will not exactly cover themselves with glory in the series. So that could result in Whatmore invoking the clause and quitting as coach. Then the BCCI appoints him as India's coach. Simple, isn't it?

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