Prior to taking over as India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir suffered a minor setback. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly disapproved of Gambhir’s suggestion for Jonty Rhodes as the fielding coach.
Gambhir, recently appointed as the head coach of India, had suggested Jonty Rhodes, who is widely considered one of cricket’s all-time great fielders. Rhodes had previously worked alongside Gautam Gambhir at the Lucknow Super Giants where Gambhir served as a mentor. Nevertheless, BCCI has continued with its policy in which it insists on having an all Indian support staff members for seven years now.
According to Hindustan Times report on the same, BCCI is averse to hiring foreign personnel for their support staff. It was after completion of Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach and his entire support staff including batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T Dilip that this new coaching regime started following T20 World Cup.
This same HT article says that a proposal by Gambhir to have R Vinay Kumar join as bowling coach did not get backing from the board.
Moreover, Cricbuzz had earlier reported about Gambhir demanding for Ryan ten Doeschate former Netherlands international be included in his backroom staff. Ten Doeschate also works with Kolkata Knight Riders’ teams in Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket apart from being fielding coach there.
However, despite these recommendations, BCCI has made it clear that they will have final say on who becomes part of the rest of his support staff due to him alone. In fact, case of Gautam Gambhir demonstrates why this board wants to keep existing strategy and structure for Indian cricket team’s supporting personnel intactness.
Now it remains only to know what composition will be chosen by BCCI among support stuff so that they could work along with Gautam Gambhir in his new role as India’s head coach.
