The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : `Appoint permanent junior coaches'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

`Appoint permanent junior coaches'

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should appoint a permanent coach for the India Under-19 and India `A' teams, said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, treasurer of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) at a seminar organised by the Mumbai Marathi Krida Patrkar Sangh on Sunday.

Before the Working Committee of the BCCI ratified the appointment of Greg Chappell in Thiruvanathapuram, Prof. Shetty told the members that the time has come for the BCCI to appoint a coach for the second string teams and offer him a two-year contract so that he develops a rapport with the players and can coach the National team. "The BCCI spends crores of rupees. So I think there's no harm in appointing a coach for the junior teams.''

Prof. Shetty lauded the contribution of John Wright. "He used to plan, work on strategy and motivation and spend hours at team meetings. This probably was not happening before. Team meetings used to last one hour. There were Indian coaches who said they played with `Dil' and for `Desh' with pride. This used to irritate some of the players. Aren't Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and those representing India not playing with pride for the country? They are all dedicated and devoted cricketers. '' Prof. Shetty refuted claims that the BCCI is planning to appoint specialist coaches for bowling and fielding.

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