India’s tour to Lanka; what ‘consultancy’ means to the team
- The debate over head coach selection for India lasted for more than a month.
- Now, the confusion over the job descriptions of Dravid and Zaheer has given place for another debate.
- As a consultants to cricket team, the role of consultants – Dravid and Zaheer will be different.
FollowAhead of India’s tour to Sri Lanka, Indian team have went through major changes. Ravi Shastri is named as Indian head coach for the team after resignation of Anil Kumble. As a support system to Shastri, Dravid and Zaheer has been given a consultancy role for batting and bowling coach respectively.
The debate over head coach selection lasted for more than a month. Now that the head coach role has been given to Shastri, the confusion over the job descriptions of Dravid and Zaheer has given place for another debate.
But the role of consultancy has to be defined practically for cricket. The meaning of consultancy in cricket does not mean a team should consult the batting coach or bowling coach in case of emergency.
Instead it means that consultants should always give inputs for the team. They are the responsible individuals who should draw a blueprint for the game along with coach’s agreement.
But the issue of consultancy post given to Dravid and Zaheer has created a discussion within the team.
Dravid as batting consultant:
According to the report of CricTracker, Rahul Dravid won’t be going to Sri Lanka. Dravid who is more passionate for moulding young talents will be travelling to South Africa along with India A team for the series against South Africa.
The seniors team which will travel to Sri Lanka won’t be having Dravid. But Dravid will be available for planning the strategy for whole Sri Lanka series.
“He (Dravid) will not be in Sri Lanka and will be with the ‘A’ team in South Africa. Also, don’t expect him to be with the Indian team for the whole length of their foreign tours. For example, if India is touring South Africa for say a month and a half, he might be there for just a span of two-three weeks. He will join them on and off as per requirement of the troops.” said the official to CricTracker.
Zaheer as bowling consultant:
Zaheer Khan on the other side who is appointed as consultant bowling coach will also get completely different role than what is expected.
A report of PTI stated Shastri’s approach to Zaheer Khan as bowling coach. Shastri is not happy with having Zaheer as a consultant. Along with Zaheer, Shastri is making efforts to get Bharath Arun as a full time bowling coach for India.
So, if Arun is named as full time bowling coach, Zak will be given a role higher than Arun. Zak will be master and Arun might have to make sure that things are executed.
