Offered Ravi Shastri Indian team's batting coach post: Ganguly

[express bowling]

Excerpts from a CRICBUZZ article

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/81127/offered-ravi-shastri-indian-teams-batting-coach-post-ganguly

Sourav Ganguly, the Cricket Advisory Committee member, who played a part in picking the head coach of the Indian cricket team, confirmed that Ravi Shastri was offered the role of India's batting coach.

"Yes, we offered Ravi the Indian team's batting coach post," Ganguly was quoted as saying by Mid-Day on Friday (July 8).

The pair was subsequently involved in a battle of words after a fuming Shastri was openly critical of a 'disrespectful' Ganguly, who missed his interview after opting to attend a meeting concerning the Cricket Association of Bengal over the former India team director's presentation.

Ganguly retorted saying saying that Shastri should have been present in person and not have been holidaying in Bangkok when the interview was taking place, also adding that he had intimated his fellow committee members and candidates of his absence well in advance.

After clarifying offering Shastri the role, the former India captain also confirmed that the CAC, that comprised of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, will have no bearing on Kumble's decision of choosing India's assistant coaches, with speculation rife about Zaheer Khan being the likely candidate to fill in that slot.

Edited July 9, 2016 by express bowling

[express bowling]

Ganguly has clarified that the 3-man-committee will have no role in choosing assistant coaches from now on.  It will be Kumble's decision.

Edited July 9, 2016 by express bowling

[tweaker]

Kumble should appoint Zaheer Khan as bowling coach.

[express bowling]

29 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

Indian team ko apne baap ka maal samajh rakha hai kya? 

 

"isko batting coach bana do"

 

Never liked Gangu as a player and I think he'd give me more reasons to despise him as an administrator. 

One of the reasons for considering Shastri as a batting coach could be because of the positive feedback from Indian batsmen about Shastri helping them with their batting. Kohli, especially, has been thankful to Shastri for for helping him.  Shastri told him to stand outside the crease while batting to counter swing ( his biggest problem in recent times ).

 

Shastri had started as a bowler in his early days, batting at no. 8 to no. 11, and became an opener after a few years. He successfully tackled the West Indian quicks in their heydays  in test matches in the West Indies . Batsmen who learn the hard way  often become good coaches because they have had to use techniques to overcome weaknesses.

 

Shastri's approach to the interview has been too casual though ( with him holidaying during such an important job interview )  and that is bound to work against him.

Edited July 9, 2016 by express bowling

[express bowling]

12 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

While all that you say might be true about Shastri's qualification (batting outside the crease is a terrible example of coaching nous though), it wasn't the point of my post. I am simply questioning Ganguly's authority to hand out important posts on his whim and preferences. 

Ganguly said that   " We offered ..." .   I doubt Ganguly,  or  for that matter any other interview panelist , offered Shastri  the post of  the batting coach off-hand  or unilaterally.   It must have had the endorsement of the BCCI . 

 

p.s - Standing outside the crease is a very good technique used by many top international batsmen against swing bowlers.  Even fast bowlers on slower pitches.

Edited July 9, 2016 by express bowling

[New guy]

1 hour ago, sarchasm said:

Indian team ko apne baap ka maal samajh rakha hai kya? 

 

"isko batting coach bana do"

 

Never liked Gangu as a player and I think he'd give me more reasons to despise him as an administrator. 

Clearly the committee was given the power to make these choices by the BCCI. Just like they were asked to leave the selection of assistant coaches to Kumble

[jusarrived]

Ganguly is a snake . I cant stand Ravi , but its clear Ganguly had an agenda here ( nothing new ) and made Ravi look like and idiot cos of is grudge against him .  

[express bowling]

5 hours ago, sarchasm said:

From what I understand, once the head coach is appointed, it is he who has discretion to select his team of assistant coaches. So I am not sure how Ganguly could offer the post even before Kumble's name was finalized. Besides, the remit of the committee was to select a head coach alone, so once again, Ganguly seems to be imposing his own whims and preference behind the facade of 'we' the committee members. 

 

Re standing outside the crease, it is something so basic, so elemetary, that it belies belief that Virat did not know about it before he met Shastri, the technician. 

How could Ganguly offer Shastri the post of the batting coach even before Kumble's name was finalized  ?   He was not even present at the time of the interview using Skype.  It seems like Ganguly is just telling the press that an offer for being  the batting coach was made to Shastri either by the committee or by the BCCI .  It could well be after Kumble was appointed as the head coach, we don't know the exact time.

 

It looks like .....the batting coach's job was offered to Shastri more as a consolation prize by the BCCI  as well as the committee, given the fact that Shastri has the requisite credentials to be a batting coach.

 

p.s - Kohli perhaps knows more about batting techniques than any batting coach that may be appointed, but there are many many alternative options to choose from  while making subtle changes to one's batting stance and technique with an intention to overcome a specific problem.  An experienced person is required to discuss the available options, use as an effective sounding  board, observe during implementation etc.

Edited July 9, 2016 by express bowling

[express bowling]

8 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

Exactly, the committee led by Ganguly thought appointment to coaching positions within the Team India set up is nothing more than a prize distribution ceremony, where they can reward their cronies. I will disagree on Shastri's credentials as a batting coach. 

 

About Kohli and technique, I'd say that you are right about the coach being more like a sounding board. The batting coach also has the role of an appraiser where he sees if any flaws/bad habits have crept into your game. However, for our present purposes, the cookie cutter advice about standing outside the crease does not really buttress the credentials of Shastri as some kind of intuitive batting technician cum coach.

The BCCI was surely involved in the decision to offer Shastri the job of the batting coach.

[TheWall]

Dada should have offered shastri the cheerleader position in bikini.....he would have accepted it....

[gakgupta]

One of the reasons for considering Shastri as a batting coach could be because of the positive feedback from Indian batsmen about Shastri helping them with their batting. Kohli, especially, has been thankful to Shastri for for helping him.  Shastri told him to stand outside the crease while batting to counter swing ( his biggest problem in recent times ).

 

Shastri had started as a bowler in his early days, batting at no. 8 to no. 11, and became an opener after a few years. He successfully tackled the West Indian quicks in their heydays  in test matches in the West Indies . Batsmen who learn the hard way  often become good coaches because they have had to use techniques to overcome weaknesses.

 

Shastri's approach to the interview has been too casual though ( with him holidaying during such an important job interview )  and that is bound to work against him.

Dude...

It's not just about standing outside the crease......his whole stance has changed....

Legs are much more closer and tilted a little bit as well......I don't know if shastri has anything to do with it or not but it's working well for kohli....

But y not shastri couldn't fix the problem of Rohit......may be he has too many issues as a test batsmen

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

[gakgupta]

Ganguly is a snake . I cant stand Ravi , but its clear Ganguly had an agenda here ( nothing new ) and made Ravi look like and idiot cos of is grudge against him .  

Yeah...as if gangulys owned BCCI....grow up dude

If it was completely gangulys decision, he wouldn't even have considered ravi at all...

I am sure, it is the recommendation of kohli

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

[New guy]

22 hours ago, jusarrived said:

Ganguly is a snake . I cant stand Ravi , but its clear Ganguly had an agenda here ( nothing new ) and made Ravi look like and idiot cos of is grudge against him .  

Yes, he is not from Karnataka

[express bowling]

12 hours ago, gakgupta said:

Dude...

It's not just about standing outside the crease......his whole stance has changed....

Legs are much more closer and tilted a little bit as well......I don't know if shastri has anything to do with it or not but it's working well for kohli....

But y not shastri couldn't fix the problem of Rohit......may be he has too many issues as a test batsmen

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

After his failure in the last England tour, Kohli started standing outside the crease and widened his stance.  In the beginning of 2016, he narrowed his stance from that wider position and not narrowed it actually.

 

Here is an excerpt of an ESPNCricinfo article on this

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2015-16/content/story/964499.html

 

On the eve of the Sydney ODI, Kohli explained the process behind the changes, crediting team director Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar. "He [Shastri] was the one who told me to stand outside the crease and widen my stance after the England tour, and it worked wonders for me in Australia," Kohli said. "Then, going back to a narrower stance, again he brought it up, with Sanjay Bangar, who's the batting coach, to help me move better. We felt areas of my game are being blocked, and I can really open up. I was not able to play square of the wicket. So these things are important to get to you. But it's more important to work on those things as well."

[Lannister]

On 7/9/2016 at 9:26 PM, UnknownGenius said:

To clear all this up and move forward with Indian cricket both Ganguly and Shasti should resign from being considered for all future decisions pertaining to Indian cricket

 

They can go back to being Bengal chief or whatever Gang is and commentator respectively

+1. These ex-cricketers, especially the ones from sub-continent, shouldn't be included in any of the management roles. There will always be some kind of bias, misuse of power and the lack of professionalism. I would rather have a crook like Srini, who's a proven businessman, than a politician or an ex-cricketer.  

[jusarrived]

20 hours ago, New guy said:

Yes, he is not from Karnataka

seriously , what ?