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Motivation is the key

Coach or mentor? This is an age-old question since the concept of a coach became vogue about halfway through my career. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not against coaches because they are essential for a player to learn how to analyse his game. I spend quite a lot of time now in this aspect.

There was a time when a coach was a conveyance to get to the next game. Then a period followed when a coach was appointed to cricket teams to help with the many tasks of readying a side for international fixtures. When I was first made captain of New Zealand I had the good fortune to be aligned with Warren Lees, a former player of vast experience and knowledge who, as a teacher, also knew how to impart these to his charges.

Warren and I had daily conferences and our innovative tactics in the 1992 World Cup are well documented. The gist of it was that Warren looked after players and media while I concentrated on field performances and direction. This worked well because we each had strengths that were properly utilised.

Let's put it this way. I may have been concerned with the actual play, perhaps even my own contribution, so Warren would deflect the "pestering" media. Or a player needed massaging, maybe through some decision of mine, and Warren would be at once the pacifier and the motivator.

Now there's the key, the motivator. That's where I see Kapil Dev providing huge input into the India camp this season. I can't think of a more inspiring person to carry out this function. His record as a player was so creative that he ranks as one of the all-time great allrounders. You could take away his batting and fielding altogether and he still is the record wicket-taker in all Test cricket. That is a huge call and one that must earn him the utmost respect. When you add his batting (who could ever forget those four sixes from successive balls at Lord's in 1990 to save the follow-on?), and his athletic fielding (who can forget his pacemaking catch of Vivian Richards at Lord's to win the World Cup of 1983?)

The key of Kapil’s is the combination he forges with Tendulkar. Surely that would have been checked out before the appointment. I bet Sachin said: "I want Kapil" and that would have been the end of the matter. The probability is that Kapil and Sachin will work extremely well together. Tendulkar is a very street-wise cricketer. He knows the right moves instinctively, so Kapil can be sure that the tactical side is in good hands. Kapil can advise but not direct, something a cricket coach should never attempt anyway.

It is interesting that he is denied two early requests: to be a selector, and to see the players' workload reduced a little. At this stage he can only recommend, but I expect that the extra authority will come when and if he can claim results. Lees never became a selector. It enabled Warren to pacify and mentor the players without that barrier of power vested in a selector. Kapil Dev may not be a very experienced coach but I sense he will be a very effective mentor. Maybe, the Indian Board are smart in not appointing him as an official selector.

It will be a changed scenario from the Gaekwad period that worked well, from all accounts. Anshuman was always a gentleman, soft-spoken but authoritative, yet one wondered whether he was assertive enough to steer the players into positive mode. The World Cup was an example, for India played with astonishing inconsistency. Would Kapil Dev have been able to arrest that dreaded slide when the batsmen choked and presented Zimbabwe with a gift win by 3 runs? We will never know. But only in time will we find out if Kapil can help India achieve the consistency that has eluded them for quite some time now. (Gameplan)

Martin Crowe