The curious case of Duncan Fletcher

It’s been two years since India won the ODI World Cup. With that victory, came the end of the road for Gary Kirsten, one of the best coaches the Indian team had ever had. And then came Duncan Fletcher, the experienced coach from Zimbabwe under whom India suffered the most embarrassing losses against England and Australia away from home. One would see the man sitting comfortably in the balcony of the pavilion while his team received thrashing after thrashing on away soil.

The team went down further, losing the recent ODI series to Pakistan at home. The series win against England would have relieved the Indian coach a little but critics continue to slam the Zimbabwean who was once hailed as the greatest coach of the English cricket team. It seems to me that age is catching on with him. Already 65 years of age, Duncan Fletcher is never active during the training sessions unlike Gary Kirsten who was very pro-active. And still, even though the team’s performance continues to go down and with Fletcher facing widespread criticism for his tenure as the coach, the BCCI continues to persist with the Zimbabwean. All this while the selection committee has been at its toes, trying to get the winning combination but the board still does not want a change in the coaching staff.

As the Indian coach, Duncan Fletcher has had few moments to cherish. His team failed to qualify for the finals of the CB series and the Asia cup. During the Commonwealth Bank series, a rift started to develop between captain Dhoni and the openers Sehwag and Gambhir. According to media reports, Dhoni had made a few comments in the post match press conference regarding Gambhir’s slowness in the field and this made the Delhi southpaw very angry. The arguments between the two intensified further as both criticised each other in post-match press conferences. And all this while, coach Fletcher reportedly made no attempt to restore the inner unity within the team and preferred to stay on the sidelines. The end result was India not being able to qualify for the CB series final.

Then came the disappointing finish in the T20 World Cup in which the Men in Blue failed to reach the semi-finals. Under Fletcher, the Indian unit of late has become a much more defensive side than an attacking one. Dhoni has adopted defensive strategies in the recent Tests and Fletcher may be the man to blame. One reason for this defensive tactical approach adopted by Dhoni in the recent Tests can be the fact that coach Fletcher himself never played Test cricket and hence doesn’t know the nuances of Test cricket.

Now Duncan Fletcher faces a bigger challenge as Australia comes to India this month. The Zimbabwean will now have to pull up his socks for this series if he wants to extend his stay with the Indian team.