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Secretary downplays his statement

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KCA secretary, T.C. Mathew, on Friday sought to downplay his own statement that Gary Kirsten’s performance as the coach of the Indian cricket team was “far from satisfactory.”

Answering questions by the media in this regard at a KCA press conference here, the KCA secretary who had made the controversial remark in an interview telecasted by the popular Malayalam TV channel, Jai Hind, on Thursday, said that he was only airing his personal views on the subject. “Officially, I have given my report as administrative manager of the Indian team in the recent tour to Sri Lanka and I cannot make my observations public as per the BCCI rules.”

In the interview conducted in the context of the recent controversy over Kirsten’s remark that Dhoni was fit enough to take the captaincy of the Indian Test team, Mr. Mathew when asked how the South African fared as the team coach said that he had found the performance of Kirsten ever since he took over the job as far from satisfactory.

He said that there was a general feeling among various members of the BCCI that foreign coaches had poor communicative skills and thus were unable to coach the Indian team properly.

“There are reports in several quarters that Kirsten will continue to be the coach of our team till the next World Cup, which I cannot comment upon.”

Mr. Mathew also had a word of praise for Kirsten when he said: “As an individual he is very good. He doesn’t interfere with the players too much when compared to Greg Chappell.”

The KCA secretary also made adverse remarks about the mental trainer of the team, Paddy Upton. “In his case, I think we got him like free for something we bought. Here again, the problem is that he cannot converse freely with the players like Praveen Kumar. I think what we need under the circumstances is a local coach.”

He said it was the huge remuneration offered by the BCCI and the media attention that attracted foreigners to take up the job of Indian team coach.

“It is a happy hunting ground for all of them.”

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