April 12, 1999
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PAVILION END Computer as Coach Human factor in the middle matters a lot
This seems to be the age of the laptop coach, a movement apparently pioneered by South African coach Bob Woolmer who never seems to be without his computer. But cricket's a funny game. For all that data in the laptop and the analysis on video and despite the study of weak points and strengths, players flourish. There have been more double centuries in the recent past than I can remember, not to mention bowlers being on the verge of hat-tricks (or in Wasim Akram's case actually taking two hat-tricks in two Tests). It doesn't mean the laptop is useless. It's just a reminder that despite the charts and printouts, the human factor and what happens in the middle can never truly be gauged. Theory has its limitations. For a coach it's a nightmare. For all your homework and team meetings, sometimes the conditions don't work to your advantage. You rely, for instance, on your most experienced players and suddenly it doesn't work. Still we soldier on. In the Indian team we try to cover all bases. Team meetings are held in my room prior to each match where we discuss the previous match and what needs to be done for the next one. I keep a collection of video cassettes which players may borrow or sit down with me to watch and analyse their performances. During the match too the team and I are constantly forced to be inventive. Sitting in the pavilion I have to note how the wicket is behaving, how the score is moving, and react appropriately. Sending messages is important. In Pune I thought Ajit Agarkar was bowling too short, and when he came to field at the boundary I sent Gyanendra Pandey to tell him to pitch it up. In much the same way I felt Nikhil Chopra's front foot was going too far across and he wasn't transferring his weight which affects control in line and length, so I had to send a message to him too. Of course, everyone has his own way of getting a message across. When Pakistan was in India for the Test series, Javed Miandad would just whistle at Akram and tell him to change field positions. It was hilarious. Young players are a huge responsibility. It's not merely a question of helping them adjust to the international level but to assist them in quickly fitting into the team. Some, of course, learn faster than others. Before he went in to bat in Pune all I told Amay Khurasia was, "You don't have too much time and you have to get into it as soon as possible. Believe in yourself." And look at the wonderful innings he played. Rooming plays a big factor with the team. If possible you want a junior to room with a senior, or at least put people with similar food and sleeping habits together. Often it works perfectly. Ajay Jadeja, for instance, generally rooms with Chopra, Sachin Tendulkar (who now gets a single room obviously) has roomed with Agarkar. In many cases the senior player's experience rubs off. The coach's job in cricket also seems to be getting enormous attention. Of course, the pressure is unending and as David Lloyd, the English coach, told me, "You're lucky, you're still young." It's not yet like in England where soccer coaches get hired and fired daily depending on their team's performance, but more and more cricket coaches are being held responsible for how their team does. I think that's fair. But if you want to hang the coach if he fails, you have to give him the right environment to function in. I'm sure coaches find it difficult to cope with administrative responsibilities, handling the media, the team's attendance at social functions, dealing with a million queries and finding time for cricket as well. The problem is coaches are being made to deal with areas they don't necessarily understand. The South Africans are the most professional. They have a manager, a coach, a dietician, a physiotherapist, a media manager ... basically one person to handle a specific area. India needs to think about this. In Pune I was sitting with a travel-agency representative and working out the time for our kit bags to reach the airport -- all this while the match was on. In the same way it is difficult for a coach to watch the match, figure out run rates and send in messages, and keep feeding data into the computer at the same time. I'm not complaining for it's easily the best job in cricket. But if we can help the team then change is useful. (Anshuman Gaekwad, coach of the Indian
cricket team, will be writing a weekly column |
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