Why BCCI's dramatic head coach selection process is nothing but a farce

India prides itself on how they honour and respect the teachers in their society, and the Dronacharya Award exemplifies that. However, since it was first awarded to PT Usha's coach OM Nambiar in 1985, only four cricket coaches have won this award. The last of which was back in 2004, when Sunita Sharma, India's first woman cricket coach, won it for her tireless contributions.

The biggest, and perhaps the toughest, responsibility a senior team coach usually has is that of man management, and the Greg Chappell fiasco has shown exactly how ugly things can get if it is done wrong.

What followed Chappell's appointment had been labeled as the 'darkest phase' by veteran pacer Zaheer Khan. Chappell's dominant personality clashed with that of Sourav Ganguly, and that ensued one of the most publicized infighting in the Indian cricket team's history. The outcome of this fight did not matter in the end, as it was the Indian team which suffered the most. It led to a disastrous campaign in the 2007 World Cup, after reaching the final just four years before that.

After Chappell's departure, a host of players came out and criticized the Australian for imposing his ideals on others. Sachin Tendulkar called him a 'ringmaster' in his autobiography, Zaheer said Chappell was 'control freak', while Laxman said that he took Indian cricket 'backwards'.

The Indian cricket team's dressing room has often been a collection of a lot of big egos, and it has been the coach who has had to act as the melting pot. However, the current Indian team does not have too many big egos, like it did back during the time of Chappell. It is still a very young team, and apart from Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, there will not be too many big personalities in the dressing room for the coach to handle.

That brings us to the point: does India really need a head coach?

India have won with a coach and without a coach. Like they won the inaugural World T20 without a head coach in the team. Lalchand Rajput was the team manager back then. More recently, they won an away Test series in Sri Lanka after a gap of 22 years, and defeated South Africa at home—they were without a head coach on both these occasions with Ravi Shastri acting as the Team Director.

The senior team's head coach role in the Indian team is almost similar to the role the Indian President has in Indian politics: Big status, but almost irrelevant. In fact, separate batting and bowling coaches to guide the youngsters in the team makes more sense.

The consensus in the dressing room is that they want Ravi Shastri back with the team. The players were comfortable with him, and he acted more as a motivator than anything else, and that is what the team needs the most. If Shastri is selected as the head coach, which he is reportedly favourite to be, he will not all of a sudden make Suresh Raina a better player of short deliveries, or Shikhar Dhawan to improve his footwork. However, he can help them clear their mind and motivate them when they are down. At the highest level, success and failure depend more on mental toughness than physical ability.

But, Shastri was already doing these things as the Team Director, and his reappointment, with a different tag, will only highlight the farce of this elaborate selection process by the BCCI.

Also read: Who will win the race for the India coach’s post?

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