As the rumours turned out to be a real post ICC Champions Trophy when Anil Kumble stepped down as Team India’s head coach on Tuesday, former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie, who has lot of experience on his back, as a player and coach too revealed one can’t be a ‘yes man’ every time, as he further believes coach and skipper has to be on the same front in order to, strengthen the bond and carry on with the momentum.
“You don’t want a ‘yes man’ one way or the other. Anil has decided not to (return) in the job so he must feel that those discussions and debate about what’s best for the team isn’t working in the current environment,” Gillespie was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
While throwing light on the relationship between the coach and the skipper, Gillespie reiterated in a bid to get satisfactory results there has to be a strong bond between the two important characters which function sort of an engine.
“It needs to be a strong relationship, that’s for sure, they need to be on the same page,” Gillespie added.
As it has been made clear, Dr MV Sridhar will be part of the Windies tour as a general manager.
With former leg-spinner Anil Kumble deciding not to opt for extending his contract, Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) would be eyeing to look for the replacement of the head coach.
“Part of a good relationship between the captain and the coach is good discussion and good debate – they certainly don’t need to agree on everything,” Gillespie maintained.
Interestingly, the CAC was comprised of former skipper Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, as Kumble revealed he was told by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that a skipper holds a reservation for you owing to the captaincy.
The 42-year-old Gillespie stated after the huge success since past one year, the relationship between Kumble-Kohli turned sour while adding that resulted in a rift between the coach and the skipper of late.
“Virat is a big personality, there’s no doubt about that. He’s a fine player and done some fine things as captain and it appears from the outside there’s a bit of a clash of personalities,” Gillespie further added.
However, the New South Wales-born Gillespie revealed one has not to be on the same page while adding the same focus of the leaders could be chalked out in a better way even if they hold the reservations for each other.
“You don’t expect the captain and coach to agree on absolutely everything but if they’ve got a shared vision they’ll work through any potential situations even if they might not see eye to eye,” Gillespie asserted.
In the recent past, Gillespie has been the part of a coaching staff which included Australia England and Zimbabwe.
The right-arm fast bowler Gillespie has featured in 97 One-day Internationals and 71 Tests for Australia. He has bagged 259 wickets in long format followed by 142 in ODIs.