Advance Planning for Ranji Trophy

Coach moves over
Sanath Kumar, no known name to India’s millions but a bulwark of the cricket coaching fraternity in Bengaluru will coach Baroda’s Ranji Trophy team in the coming season. Of course nobody frets when a master coach at this level or any other leaves his native land if only for a two-year term. It’s a professional world.

Some of the oldies are of course a little amused with this massive change in domestic cricket culture in India. Two decades ago, moves like this would have been frowned upon.

Stellar Coaches
Karnataka’s first iconic coach in recent times was K Raghunath who ensured his boys returned to winning ways after 13 long years and ushered in the golden age for Karnataka cricket. First Roger Binny successfully broke the drought in the championship of ’95-’96 when Karnataka beat the team they most love to in the finals, Tamil Nadu.

‘Raghu’ took over the following year, not successful for the side but during the next two years wrested superb championship wins, that is, ’97-’98 and ’98-’99. No doubt the boys deserved the kudos too, no less Vijay Bharadwaj who spun his side to victory in a game lost beyond all doubt!
Terminology

Raghu and Binny were styled ‘managers’ of course because the term coach had not become fashionable for cricket teams. To clarify, they were not administrative mangers. Of course in England the football team’s coach is still called the manager, a quintessential British quirk.

“From another state? That’s a joke, right?”
There was some ‘gossip’ during those mid nineties that managers aka coaches would be recruited from outside the state very soon. “How is that possible,” people used to ask. It seemed inappropriate that a coach would coach a side whose culture he didn’t share. After all domestic cricket represented ethnicity Vs ethnicity. But that omen was true and is visible today.

How times have changed. For the better or course. Sanath now goes on to coach a side that beat his native Karnataka in the last Ranji Trophy championship, but of course, it was a pitch that was highly unstable and if anybody, offered a chance for the lesser side, Baroda.

Early planning
Of note is that the appointment of Sanath to Baroda has come a good four months before the Ranji Trophy starts. Again a good change and showing how professional we’ve become in India. This gives the coach time to plan, understand the boys in his new team, talk to the concerned cricket Association about their aspirations and give it their best combined effort.

Sanath’s home side
In the year gone by, some journalists had slammed the Karnataka State Cricket Association for not appointing a captain well in advance, rather only about 15 days before the tournament. “Time is needed even for the captain to build himself into his role, even if he be a veteran” was the refrain. Of course, default captain Rahul Dravid would not be playing in all matches of the domestic championship because of international cricket commitments. Whether or not this had a bad effect, the Karnataka side was stopped in the semi finals.

Is Baroda’s advance planning a cue then that everbody’s getting professional and want “a plan” and that too well in advance? Good direction there.

Love of the game
Sanath is not just another busybody in coaching. The ex Karnataka Ranji Trophy fast bowler has been involved with coaching programs even in the early ‘90s when “none existed,” not monetarily at least. Anyway, steering away from metaphors, it’s noteworthy that Sanath coached when he had nothing to gain. A true blue cricket devotee and a fine coach today.

Early Domestic Migrants
Coaches emigrating for a season to another state is not a new event. Paras Mhambrey after coaching his native Mumbai was hired by Maharashtra in the early 2000 decade. Karnataka stumper Sadanand Vishwanath although an umpire at the domestic level was always an “early bird.” He ensured he coached for Vidarbha in the early 2000 decade but of course was content umpiring in his state of Karnataka.

Here comes the era of advance planning. The good part is, it involves India’s domestic cricket.