Desperately wanted – an all rounder

31-May-2001Desperately wanted – an all rounder.This is the kind of an advertisement Indian cricket coach John Wright would love to put in newspapers as his search for a genuine all rounder continues. But he knows all rounders cannot be located that easily. The genial New Zealander, now with the Indian team in Mutare, says, “We are desperately needing someone who is an all rounder, someone who can be a genuine number six..we do need a balance”.Wright believes a couple of players in the team could turn the course of a match but the need was to have more of them. “I think the captain (Sourav Ganguly) is in a better position in this area. He probably has to bowl a bit more, he is a very capable bowler. We need people like that. Even Sachin (Tendulkar). These two players, the main batsmen on their day, can turn a cricket game. If they can expand their roles, they can help us to become a better cricket team,” the coach said in an interview to PTI.In fact, Wright believes the present players have got it all in them and he was trying to extract more out of them. “Zaheer Khan can become a better batsman. Harbhajan can become a better batsman. Ajit Agarkar is capable of lot more with the bat. And that’s my objective – to get more out of them,” the former New Zealand opener and captain said.Juggling the batting order to suit various situations can also bring about good results, feels the coach, as it happened in the Kolkata Test against Australia when VVS Laxman was sent in to bat at number three. “You have to be a bit flexible. I think we have learnt that from the last series. Changing Laxman to number three made all the difference. We may have to look at moving Dravid or one of them up again if we find the team needs it.”I know psychologically Laxman doesn’t want to open. I think that is the question you always ask yourself as a captain or a coach. What is the best the team members have to do which does not really suit them but is in the interest of the team. You have got to do that,” the coach said.To work out a strategy for India, eyeing an elusive away win since the last decade and a half, is what keeps the coach pre-occupied in this African country. Having guided the Indians to a great Test series win against Australia, he knows expectations from him have increased to break the jinx this time.Wright is hoping for a lot from the seamers, who he feels, have a “a good opportunity to keep the ball up, make the batsmen come on the front foot when the ball is moving around a bit”.The seamers’ inability to bowl longer spells, of course, is a point ofworry. “At present stamina is quite a problem. They probably need a bit more strength. They need to be fit after bowling long spells or coming back after lunch or tea. That’s the area we need to develop.”Wright knows that to do well in international cricket India needs at least two quality strike bowlers. “We can’t expect Harbhajan knocking over the sides on the first day of a Test when we are touring abroad. So we have got to work hard on that”.The coach expects the cricket academies would help spot fast bowlers “who are different from batsmen in the sense that while batsmen take time to mature, fast bowlers just turn up one fine day.”So, next on Wright’s priority list, after all rounders, are fast bowlers.”There is some promise but we need performance. We need to be on the look out for fast bowlers. Javagal Srinath at the moment is looking sharp. And there is quite a bit of battle for the other two medium pacers’ slot”.No team is perfect but Wright asserts the team he handles comprises a bunch of players who are “hungry” and willing to work very hard. “They are great boys to work with. They want to work hard. I don’t think they are afraid of hard work. Sometimes, with some of the blokes, you have to use a word or two but they work hard and they want to learn, that’s the big thing. If we can learn, we will be a formidable team,” he said.A lot also depends on the hunger of the boys to excel, said Wright. “Away from home a lot depends on hunger. I have this funny feeling that their best is yet to come..I hope their best is yet to come”.The gruelling international schedule ahead for India will also work in favour of the team in that it will help it develop as one family and unit. “The coming six months will be good for us because we will be away from home and will develop as a unit. We have to keep it tight together in victory or defeat,” Wright said.”It is a young side. And I can tell one or two older players that if they want to be great individual players, they would become one. But also, wouldn’t it be great if they could be a part of the great Indian team,” he asked.On suggestions that players tend to group on regional lines, Wright said, “It is natural for players to move with those they know but if these barriers are broken down, it would be better. I don’t belive in distinction. I am not too big on seniors and juniors and where you come from. The team is a team. There is no ‘I’ in the word ‘team'”.This should be a big boost for a side that now has a coach unaffected by regional affiliations and not having any prejudice.All said about the team, does the coach himself get weighed down by the heat, dust, expectations and crisscross travelling? “I don’t feel weighed down. I believe in the process of working. Win or loss does not matter. As long as you keep doing things you believe in, hopefully things would go your way.”