Well, people might agree or disagree, but Duncan Fletcher doesn't seem to be the right man to coach Team India. The biggest challenge Fletcher faces is taking forward the legacy that India'a World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten left behind.
His record was phenomenal. He not only helped India lift the World Cup but also won five out of the nine ODI tournaments India contested under him. Then in Tests, of the eight series he coached India in, the team won three, drew four and lost just one.
Comparing him to Fletcher, the Zimbabwean has already faltered at his first real challenge against former wards England, after winning against the lowly Caribbeans.
First Test series that India played under him was against West Indies, where the team just about managed to beat a struggling West Indies 1-0. But what that tour will be remembered for is India's surrender in the third Test, where the team needed just 86 runs to win off the last 15 overs with seven wickets in hand. But MS Dhoni chose to shake hands for a draw. Maybe that reflected the defensive mindset of the new India coach.
Kirsten's replacement was hired to maintain the winning momentum. But Fletcher seems to have brought a defensiveness to a team that was fast becoming know for its aggressiveness under MS Dhoni.
Under Kirsten, not once we saw India losing without a fight. You never saw players keeping with hands in the pocket and lost on the field with no idea of what's going around.
India needed a coach who could groom young players and take it from where Kirsten left, but considering how things have started for Fletcher, it doesn't look too promising, though it may be too early to call.
Maybe the new coach will have to take a stand with the BCCI, whose callous scheduling is hurting India as much as Fletcher's defensive tactics. Players, at times, need the coach to take their case forward and tell the board what's the best way forward - especially schedule wise.
Fletcher came into BCCI's frame as a planner who outwits and outplans oppositions but it seems exactly the opposite has transpired against England, where India stares at the possibility of a 4-0 whitewash. There just seems to be no gameplan against the English batsmen and that's where Fletcher has been a big disappointment. He should have been familiar with his former wards' strengths and weaknesses but that didn't happen.
Hope things change in the future series, and the tour of Australia later this year will surely help us better gauge how long can a 'defensive' Fletcher stay in the Indian dressing room.
Source: http://cricketnext.in.com/
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