Cricketing pundits hail http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Duncan-c54739 Fletcher’s appointment as Indian coach
Cricketing pundits around the world have hailed the appointment of former England coach as the head coach of India.
The announcement was made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India today, the 62 year old would replace former South African opening batsman, Gary Kirsten, whose term ended after the World Cup win for India at the start of this
month.
Kirsten chose not to extend his stay citing personal reasons forcing the governing body of the game in India to seek a replacement for him. The replacement is Fletcher, who had a fine stint with the English team. The highlight of his
reign was the dramatic Ashes win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at home in the 2005 series, which many experts feel is the best ever Test series.
The coach of the Australian team at that time, John Buchanan, thinks that Fletcher can take Indian cricket forward, as they bid to stamp their authority, being the World Champions in One Day International (ODI) cricket and being the
top ranked Test match team in the world.
"He's obviously got a pretty good track record on the international and county circuits, and he's got a pretty wide range of coaching experience", http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527 and that obviously is something
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 would like to maintain, but he also has had greater experience, which should be useful for the phase the Indian team are about to enter into".
India has a tough international program that starts with the tour of England, the role of the former England coach would be to instil his knowledge of English cricket in the Indian team and guide them through a tough test in the four
match series.
The Indians also have a tour of Australia lined up later in the year but before the English and Aussie assignments they have to tackle the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in an ODI series in the Caribbean.
Fletcher is unlikely to be in place for the West Indies trip and would hope to continue on the work done by Kirsten and captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028, as he bids to prepare the team that would be soon parting ways with some ageing batsmen in Test
match cricket.
The list includes the irreplaceable trio of Sachin Tendulkar, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 and on the bowling front pace spearhead, Zaheer Khan, is also reaching the expiry date of his international career.
Buchanan added that though the task at hand for Fletcher is a tough one, he surely has the credentials and a strong team at his disposal, which can ensure success for him.
He gave the example of the Australian team that he coached stating that the team that dominated World Cricket in the 90s and the first five-six years of this century played a constant brand of cricket, which was based on high performance
and more importantly sustaining that performance in tough situations.
"Ahead of him certainly will be the opportunity to sustain the success the Indian team has had up to and including the World Cup", Buchanan said. "One of the features of that Australian team from the late 1990s through to 2007 was
high performance maintained for a long period of time even as a number of players were turned over, and that will be India's quest now".
Buchanan’s views have been echoed by most former Indian cricketers, who think that the former Zimbabwean batsman has the temperament and acumen to help India sustain its outstanding run off late, and he needs to be given a free hand
for the future of the game in the country.
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