Coaching carousel cause for concern

While women’s players have always gotten extended runs, coaches have been tossed about carelessly

Though it all might seem to be going swimmingly well for women’s cricket at the moment, the Board of Control for Cricket in India will want to step in and take stock of the less than desirable coaching structure in the Indian team.

After all, the richest cricket board, having already dived headlong in that direction what with the Women’s Premier League and such, will want to ensure the success of their latest investment.

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While women’s players have always gotten extended runs, and a fair bit of authority when it comes to dictating terms to the management, coaches have been tossed about carelessly.

In little over a decade, the women’s team has seen six full-time coaches, and their latest loss in the semifinal of the Women’s T20 World Cup was overseen by batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who had been brought on board just a couple of months before mega event.

Anju Jain, Purnima Rau, Tushar Arothe, Ramesh Powar, WV Raman and the Powar have had stints of different tenures and some of them were removed unceremoniously.

In fact, under Raman, India enjoyed one of their most successful runs, and yet the Advisory Committee, apparently at the behest of some senior players, replaced the former Indian cricketer with Powar. Interestingly, Powar himself had been removed earlier for having had an untenable equation with then-skipper Mithali Raj.

“This cannot go on for too long,” former India skipper Diana Edulji tells DH. “Players cannot be dictating terms when it comes to coaches and support staff, but this happens in men’s cricket too. That said, the BCCI has to step in at some point and ensure that they find a good coach and give him or her an extended run. That will bring about security in the side.

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“Also, picking former players who know men’s cricket, under the assumption that they can run women’s cricket the same way, does not work,” she added.

When asked if the coaching carousel played a part in India being knocked out in the semifinals, Edulji - who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee which ran the BCCI for 33 months - answered with an affirmative but insisted that fitness was the main reason for it. “Coaching is a big concern, yes, but some of these girls are just not fit enough to be playing cricket,” she lashed. “I genuinely think we need to start looking at players from the Under-19 team now and overhaul the senior team rather than waiting for them to get ‘experience’.”

“I don’t know what the fitness criterion is right now, but let’s just say most of them will not pass a Yo-Yo Test. If the men’s team has strict guidelines so should the women’s team, and those who fail the test should be held accountable. Of course, the metrics will be different for women, but there has to be something in place for them. They are also making the big bucks now aren’t they?!”

Edulji opined that getting a full-time trainer, a physiotherapist, a video analyst, and all the other trade essentials utilised by the men’s team, should be given to the women too.

“The BCCI is heavily investing in women’s cricket so they may as well go the distance,” she said. “But when they are investing this heavily, they should hold the team accountable for every failure. They cannot fall prey to the demands of these players again, not anymore. Those days should come to an end and players should know that they are not bigger than the game, not even bigger than the team.”