BCCI plans to extend Kirsten stay

[DesiChap]

Calcutta: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bigwigs look set to discuss Gary Kirsten’s derogatory comments about the country, made 11 years ago, when they meet here on Saturday. The South African has already been offered the Team India coach’s job, but nothing stops the BCCI from having a rethink. “I’m not aware of the terms and conditions offered to Kirsten… However, it’s possible that somebody is going to raise the issue of his comments… A discussion is likely,†is what former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra said on Thursday evening. He’s arriving on Friday, the opening day of Test No.2 against Pakistan. Kirsten had been critical of everything Indian in his tour diary for SA Cricket Action after the 1996-97 trip. It was first reported by The Telegraph on January 4, 1997, and published again on Wednesday. Since then, of course, other publications and a host of TV channels have been focusing on Kirsten’s comments. Obviously, nobody in the BCCI bothered to run a check before inviting Kirsten for a hush-hush interview late on Monday or else the Sharad Pawars wouldn’t have courted him. Among other things, in the tour diary headlined ‘Two Water Buffalo Steaks Please’, Kirsten had been quoted as saying: (a) “Sixty-two days in a country where westernised living conditions are regarded a luxury is no task for the faint-hearted†and (

“To spread cricket to all corners of India, we played in what could politely be described as one-horse towns, places with more cows on the street than cars.†There were other rather disgusting comments too. Footnote: Kirsten’s tour diary, by the way, was one of the topics for discussion during Wednesday’s dinner hosted by former India opener Arun Lal. Anil Kumble and Co. were the guests of honour. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071130/asp/sports/story_8610750.asp

[Dravid]

kristen's a chicken ****..read Cricket India: Kirsten refuses to go full-time until March Thursday November 29, 2007 By Oliver Petersen SINGAPORE (espnstar.com) - India’s coach-in-waiting, Gary Kirsten has sensationally revealed that he won’t be taking the India post fulltime until after India’s tour of Australia. In an exclusive interview with SportsCenter India, the former South Africa batsman said: “The plan is to get involved with the team during the Australian series, though not on a full time basis because the notice has been very short and I have some long-standing commitments that I need to honour through to December and January. It’s with a view to starting full-time on March 1, if I sign the contract.” The nature of those prior commitments was, however, not disclosed. The 40-year-old former left-handed opener was given only a week to consider the contract offer, (reportedly a basic salary in the region of $300,000 annually), and is currently in South Africa organising the logistics of the move with his family. Kirsten is set to join Team India on December 3, just two weeks before India leave for Australia to play four Tests and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka. India have been without a coach since Greg Chappell resigned after their first-round World Cup exit in March. They were unsuccessful in their attempt to appoint Graham Ford in June after the South African turned down the job despite being the leading candidate. Kirsten said it was a “great honour” to be offered the job, adding that he “appreciated the confidence [in him] to be able to add value to Indian cricket.” He enjoyed a distinguished playing career, scoring 7,289 runs in 101 Tests, and competing in 185 one-day internationals, before retiring in 2004. He held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis, and still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a one-day international; 188 not-out made against UAE during the 1996 World Cup. That knock was the fourth highest innings of all time in One-Day International cricket. However, his coaching experience is relatively limited. He was the High Performance Manager with Cricket South Africa (CSA) for two years until January 2006, where his role was to work with young cricketing talent. Since then he set up his own academy in Cape Town, and did a coaching clinic with Zimbabwe in June. He was also a Warriors batting consultant over the last two seasons. It’s rare to hear a national team head coach bluntly refer to his role as predominantly a man-management one, as opposed to a coaching one. Kirsten spoke of the position as “largely a man management role to create as much harmony as possible within the team environment”. He said: “Players at this level don’t need a whole lot of technical input, they know how to hit a cricket ball.” Kirsten gives the impression of a meticulous planner who will concentrate on mental preparation perhaps more than anything else. “I’ve asked the board for a schedule of tours for the next six months, literally to the day, if possible.” Kirsten also indicated that he prides himself on creating strong individual relationships with each of the players in order to get the most out of them: “It’s my responsibility to get the best out of each player, to optimise the performance of each individual regardless of whether he is a junior player or a senior player. I need to know what state they’re in to be able to perform under the severest of pressures. I’ll make players aware of what they need to do to perform on any given day” So, what of the old guard? Star players such as Rahul Dravid, 34, Sourav Ganguly, 35, Sachin Tendulkar, 34, Anil Kumble, 37, and VVS Laxman, 33, are all the wrong side of 30 but Kirsten believes their time is not yet up. “They have plenty to offer and are world class players. It’s important that players coming towards the end of their careers have a set of goals, even if it’s for a year, or two years. Great players will always perform well because they have a deep pride in their own performance.” Facing arguably the greatest sports team of the last decade, India are not expected to win the series in the Aussies’ own back yard, but the manner of losing – should they lose – will still be important. Saving face is not the aim, but might become the necessity. This is why Kirsten’s decision not to take on the role full-time until after the tour is a masterstroke in planning. Should India lose, then an immediate angle may be spun, where the Indian Cricket board states: “now is the proper start to Gary Kirsten’s full-time era”, instantly removing Kirsten from the likely blame of the harsh critics that lie amongst the Indian cricket faithful. Had Kirsten taken a fulltime position now, then he would most likely have been in a no-win situation with the tour Down Under immediately on the cards, and an impending defeat expected. As it is, the situation is rosy for the shrewd Kirsten. You might even say it’s a win-win for him and India because he can use the tour to build on any positives from it, while hiding behind any tour shortcomings adopting an “I am not yet in a full-time position” stance. His tenure is threatening to start well, as he begins his individual relationship building with the current India test captain, “I have met with Anil [Kumble] already and we had a fantastic conversation.” said Kirsten, hoping to be as astute a head coach as he was gritty a batsman.

[fineleg]

More BCCI tamasha Yaaaay!!!

[DesiChap]

Surprise surprise BCCI screwed up again

[zubinpepsi]

:haha: serves these BCCI morons right...

[praveenj]

Surprise surprise BCCI screwed up again

well, no surprise at all......

[fineleg]

well' date=' no surprise at all......[/quote'] thats what DC meant

[beetle]

According to one channel ...nothing his confirmed yet.....

[bharat297]

I dont see the big deal in what Kirsten said ... can anyone honestly tell me that in the mid 90s , that some parts of India were not as bad as Kirsten says (even now there are some parts of India which arent great) Dont get me wrong I love India but there are some parts of it which are pretty bad. So its not suprising that a foreigner wouldnt like every part of it.

[Online]

Kirsten eating bhaav Gary Kirsten has delayed accepting the position of India's coach after hearing about alleged "unhappiness" among some senior players about him being offered the job. Kirsten had originally set Monday as the date for signing the contract but reports emanating from India over the weekend have caused him to rethink. "I have heard the rumours about some senior players expressing their concern about my possible appointment and I would prefer to have clarity on that before I commit myself to the job," Kirsten said. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/323590.html

[apocalypse]

http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=76200

[beetle]

Good...may be they will keep the same combo or choose a better one from the ones that actually had shown eagerness to coach India. I wonder why gavaskar is allowed to take out names from his hat everytime and it isseriously considered. I sometimes wonderabout gavaskar.....

[apocalypse]

I sometimes wonder do we need a foreign coach :shot:

[Bumper]

Our stalwarts picked Kirsten as coach, based on his 30 min presentation, ahead of more qualified candidates such as Tim Nielsen & Dave Whatmore ? The guy apparently worked much harder to become Zimbabwe's coach, but failed & here we are, the richest board in the world, offering the most coveted job in cricket, on a platter to someone who is half committed to do the job.

[jacky007]

'I need more clarity before I commit' - Kirsten Gary Kirsten has delayed accepting the position of India's coach after hearing about alleged "unhappiness" among some senior players about him being offered the job. Kirsten had originally set Monday as the date for signing the contract but reports emanating from India over the weekend have caused him to rethink. "I have heard the rumours about some senior players expressing their concern about my possible appointment and I would prefer to have clarity on that before I commit myself to the job," Kirsten said. "I'm not sure whether the players do have concerns or not. I only met Anil Kumble on my recent trip to Delhi and he was very supportive. If there are concerns then I would like to find out whether they are about me as an individual or the process by which I was interviewed and then offered the job." Indian newspapers quoted anonymous senior players as saying that the current management structure was working well and that Kirsten's appointment was unnecessary. "There is absolutely no need for a coach at this moment," an unnamed player was quoted as saying in the Mumbai Mirror. While Kirsten accepted that the reports may be exaggerated or even fabricated, he said he was keen to speak to more players to make sure he understood their feelings. "I'm not going to rush because it's a very important position in world cricket and the decision needs to be made carefully and in conjunction with all the right people, but mostly the players. You can't coach any team if you don't have the players 'buy in'," Kirsten said. "I've written to the board to explain my feelings." "You can't afford to start a job like this on the back foot. Everybody needs to understand each other and share the same goals and aspirations, otherwise you'll spend half your time trying to make sure you're all on the same wavelength instead of concentrating on playing the best cricket," Kirsten said. Kirsten had been interviewed by the BCCI selection committee on November 26 and was given a week to make his decision. He later said that though he had a week to give an answer, the decision was "pretty much a reality". Neil Manthorp is a South African broadcaster and journalist, and head of the MWP Sport agency © Cricinfo

[sm332]

Gary Kirsten has delayed accepting the position of India's coach after hearing about alleged "unhappiness" among some senior players about him being offered the job. Kirsten had originally set Monday as the date for signing the contract but reports emanating from India over the weekend have caused him to rethink. "I have heard the rumours about some senior players expressing their concern about my possible appointment and I would prefer to have clarity on that before I commit myself to the job," Kirsten said. "I'm not sure whether the players do have concerns or not. I only met Anil Kumble on my recent trip to Delhi and he was very supportive. If there are concerns then I would like to find out whether they are about me as an individual or the process by which I was interviewed and then offered the job." Indian newspapers quoted anonymous senior players as saying that the current management structure was working well and that Kirsten's appointment was unnecessary. "There is absolutely no need for a coach at this moment," an unnamed player was quoted as saying in the Mumbai Mirror. While Kirsten accepted that the reports may be exaggerated or even fabricated, he said he was keen to speak to more players to make sure he understood their feelings. "I'm not going to rush because it's a very important position in world cricket and the decision needs to be made carefully and in conjunction with all the right people, but mostly the players. You can't coach any team if you don't have the players 'buy in'," Kirsten said. "I've written to the board to explain my feelings." "You can't afford to start a job like this on the back foot. Everybody needs to understand each other and share the same goals and aspirations, otherwise you'll spend half your time trying to make sure you're all on the same wavelength instead of concentrating on playing the best cricket," Kirsten said. Kirsten had been interviewed by the BCCI selection committee on November 26 and was given a week to make his decision. He later said that though he had a week to give an answer, the decision was "pretty much a reality". Neil Manthorp is a South African broadcaster and journalist, and head of the MWP Sport agency © Cricinfo

this is a fairly reasonable stance ... why would you want to start in a role where you are palpably unwanted?

[beetle]

Kirsten Accepts Will be given 2 yr contract. Will go to australia as consultant. Starts from 2nd march 2008

[Dirty_South]

:angry_smile: .... no other better Gorah?

[kumble_rocks]

Jeez .. Should we consider ourselves blessed now !

[BERGKAMP]

MEH :dontknow: