4 years ago it was a huge drama. Now it was pretty sedate and a bit of dampner.
Hunt for India coach. Then it took almost a year to find one, this time not even a month to find one.
But then we had found out a gem in Gary this time a dampner in Duncan Fletcher.
A lot of prodigies in Chandu Borde, Ravi Shastri and Lal Rajput managed India before Gary came aboard, this time board found one even without an ad or even a presentation from the ex England coach.
Duncan Fletcher was the man incharge of England in 2007 World Cup fiasco and 0-5 drubbing down under. He was also infamous for an idiotic approach to the English ODI team. When he took over in 1999, England was worst Test team notorious for collapses, when he left they were nowhere after plummeting of a wonderful high of 2004-2005.
It would have been too much to have asked for a man better than Gary to coach India, but at least they could have got someone at par. Fletcher's record as coach is for every one to see. He has been SA's batting consultant in the world cup and didnt they suffer batting collapses in crucial games. He also was part of Kiwi setup in December when they toured India. How much success Kiwis had also is for every body to see.
Its been said that this guy has a methodical approach and has a liking for physical fitness. Its also said that he loves being in the centerstage. He also had some strategic success like putting on a leg side field and negative line to Tendulkar in 2001 series when Ashley Giles managed to get him stumped first time in Test career. But the man who kept Graeme Swan on sidelines for Giles is expected to have some question marks put on his coaching resume.
India are the top team in Tests and very soon the transition to the new generation shall begin. The 3 batting greats shall bow out and they would need to be replaced by the likes of Raina, Pujara, Kohli etc. How Fletcher handles this would be a key to the future of Indian tests team. But the likes of those who shall replace the 3 batting greats would already have a lot of international experience and they would have spent a lot of time with the 3 batting greats.
ODIs would be other key area for this man. The expectations out of the team after the world cup win would be huge and they would be expected to win every game they play. Managing them would also be a huge thing for Fletcher to do.
All in all, the appointment of Duncan Fletcher is damp squib and too early. The board should have taken some time to research for a worthy candidate to replace Gary and who would come true to the huge expectations now everybody has come to keep with the coach of Indian cricket team.
