Gary Kirsten recalls how MS Dhoni stood for him against Indian Air Force

Oct 16, 2016 at 3:17 PM

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Gary Kirsten recalls how MS Dhoni stood for him against Indian Air Force

John Wright was India’s first foreign coach and the team performed brilliantly under him but the team had a turbulent time under his successor Greg Chappell. The team was eliminated from the first round of the 2007 World Cup under the Aussie. Not only on the field but the team was having a poor time off the field too.There were conflicts between the seniors but fortunately, the board sacked him before any more damage.

With the team still recovering from Chappell’s disastrous reign, the board appointed former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten as the coach. But little did everyone know that the South African would be the most decorated coach, India have ever had. Under him, the team won the 50-over World Cup, won ODI series in Australia and reached the top of Test rankings for the first time in its history.

Kirsten is currently in India for mentoring Rajasthan Cricket team. In an interview with the Indian Express, he revealed the secret behind his success as a coach.

“Relationships, for me, are everything,” said Gary Kirsten. “In any team, I want them (the players) to become better. But, for me, to build those solid connections with people is why I wake up in the morning. It’s less about the results.”

When asked about his favourite coaches, he said: “The best coaches that I worked with were the ones I wanted to play for. They genuinely cared about my performances — and cared about me as a human being. Duncan Fletcher, Eric Simons, and Bob Woolmer — they weren’t in it for their own glory. I took a lot out of their coaching style because it worked for me. Their style was first, about the growth of a player, and second, about performances. It’s more important to let a player become a better one than it is to have a great season.”

Speaking about his time with the Indian team, he said that the first thing he did was to introduce a culture that gave importance to the team rather than any individual.

“The Indian way is more flair and instinct. It’s more individualistic, while South Africa’s is more team-oriented. Over here, in India, it’s the individual who stands out,” Kirsten recalled.

“Now, the concept of team was very dear to me. [It was] a very strong South African way [of doing things], and we introduced that in the [Indian] environment. The players really enjoyed it. It became a common belief for us that the team is more important than the individual.”

And to prove that he succeeded in introducing the culture, he shared a beautiful anecdote on how Indian skipper MS Dhoni had his back in an Air force base.

“I will never forget this one incident in Bangalore,” Kirsten said. “We were going to the Indian Air Force base to meet up with a couple of guys there and do a bit of training with them. And we were three South African members of the support staff. They wouldn’t allow us because we weren’t Indians. And MS Dhoni stood up and said, ‘We are not coming if you don’t allow Gary and Paddy (Upton) and Eric (Simons) to come as well.’

“That’s a value system. He is standing up for us. And that’s what we were about. As an Indian team, we stood up for each other. I knew that MS had my back because he trusted me because he knew that I had his back. We are very close to people. I am very close to MS. I trusted him with everything in a game of cricket. So when you got relationships like that, you can do anything.”

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