Gary Kirsten's Role

India is pushing claims for the top spot in Test Cricket, and it is hard to overlook the man who may be instrumental in the getting the team there.

Gary Kirsten, in his prime, was the resilient, if at times dour batsman, who took guard to face the fiery opening bursts of a Mcgrath, Ambrose or Akram and often came out with flying colours.

In South Africa’s second innings as a cricketing nation, his contribution was right up there with Donald’s, in catapulting his country to the status of a powerhouse. His colossal on-field performances have guaranteed him his exclusive identity, besides that as Peter Kirsten’s half-brother.

Could this introverted, soft-spoken, but tough tittie, shepherd the star-studded Indian team towards green pastures? Or rather, greener pastures after the Test victory in England and the T20 World Cup win? Someone in the BCCI certainly thought so!

However his initial foray at the helm of affairs makes for an interesting re-cap. For starters, it was announced in November ’07 his contract would commence only in March!

With high-profile and exacting contests against Pakistan and Australia scheduled from December through to February, one has to raise the question 'WHY'. When a senior pro was considered critical to lead in Tests instead of the captain-in-waiting Dhoni, why wasn’t Kirsten considered an indispensable member of the contingent?

Apparently it was the BCCI that approached him for the job, indicating that he started off with a significant bargaining power.

Then that fractious and now legendary SCG Test where cricket was no less than a full-fledged war! Captain Kumble and team-manager LS Rajput were straining their nerves to set things right as Ponting, Symonds, Clarke, Hayden were up-in-arms against an Indian off-spinner. The entire cricketing fraternity and also the media seemed to have had just one topic to chew on while opinions were filtering in across the globe from any Tom, Dick and Harry with a cricketing pedigree, as enthusiastic fans like yours truly lapped them up.

Tempers flared, as the combatants clashed to gain the moral upper hand. Quite bizarrely, the coach incumbent remained an almost non-entity for the initial days before coming out with a statement applauding the way Anil Kumble had led from the front, and handled the situation adroitly. It was almost as if Kirsten could not care less till his tenure commenced.

Upon appointment, his very first move was to make the assistant-coach and team-manager LS Rajput redundant. Robin Singh was also nearly dispensed with, as was Venkatesh Prasad until Kumble and Dravid stood up for their erstwhile team-mates.

In his inaugural test as coach, the team crashed to a humiliating innings defeat against South Africa! For a team that valiantly held its ground against the wizard of Oz, the drawn Test series and the reversals against Sri Lanka as well as the ODI defeats appeared out of character.

In the intervening period, the coach was in the news only for a comment on Kumble’s future and Dhoni’s prospects, for which he received a severe admonishment from the BCCI. I would be the first to vote for a coach who quietly does his bit behind the scenes over an in-your-face Guru Greg, but Gary has often appeared too laid-back.

Clearly he deserves his share of credit for the triumphs against Australia & England, but it is hard to suppress doubts over his role in the team.

While Kirsten was an eminent batsman of his times, Sachin, VVS and Dravid, quite blatantly, do not need him. No coaching manual can ever coach Sehwag. Kirsten’s contribution can only be judged from the performances of the younger batsmen in the team. Among the new lot, it is only Gambhir who has gained in stature.

I’m no-one to speak of his input at team-meetings and strategising, but with a headstrong, assertive and resourceful man like Dhoni as captain, and specialist staff to deal with bowling and fielding, Kirsten may end up mirroring the John Wright of the 2004-05 season, who was accorded little respect by Ganguly.