Slow coach!!!

So, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has finally woken up and decided to advertise for the post of national coach. But what comes as a mild surprise is why did the Board have to put out a press release to the media they were doing this?

Have they, after the ICL onslaught, decided to go in for a change of image and now comes across as “media friendly” all of a sudden? I don’t know what the logic behind the advertisement is, but advertisement, as described in management books in my college days went like this. The objective of advertising is: To attract attention, to arouse interest and to instill desire.

We used to laugh when we heard these lines from our lecturer as it was more than funny. Pray, after more than two decades, when I see a body as big and bombastic as the BCCI placing an advertisement for the coach’s job is a bit hard to digest.
We all know, after the Graham Ford fiasco, the BCCI has struggled to answer questions on the coach. We have heard skipper Rahul Dravid tell us how well Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh have worked with the team. So are Venky and Robin now going to formally apply for the job?

I have a nagging suspicion, the BCCI, well-known for plugs and leaks, will selectively tell journos who all have applied in the coming days. Why am I so cynical about every action which the BCCI takes? It’s like this, when an inert body like the BCCI suddenly tries to get proactive, doubts will arise.

Teams from the sub-continent woke up soon after the World Cup and began their hunt for a coach. And that is why Pakistan could get someone as well qualified as Geoff Lawson to help them out well in time. In India, we believe in doing things at the last minute.

So if the BCCI is releasing advertisements, I bet it is going to take a few months to scan the applications, shortlist them, and then call the coaches for interviews. We would have finished with the England tour by then and perhaps be preparing for another series. But how does it matter. In the present scenario, appointing a coach (desi or foreign) is hardly the priority.

The BCCI has bigger agendas to handle, just that someone out there must have told them about the fact India has no foreign coach!