‘Your performances should pick you’

AFP

‘Your performances should pick you’

John Geoffrey Wright is widely considered to be the driving force behind Indian cricket’s renaissance.

India’s first-ever foreign coach, John Geoffrey Wright was in harness from 2000 to 2005. He enjoyed great relationships with Sourav Ganguly and others. With his guidance and Ganguly’s inspiration, India made a statement that they were no pushovers on foreign tours.
In an interview to ESPNSTAR.com’s Himanshu Shekhar, Wright, the current ambassador of the Southern Institute of Technology, explains how he found India ‘hugely vast’ and ‘hugely passionate’ about cricket.

Excerpts:
Himanshu Shekhar: You have coached both New Zealand and India. How were the two different?
John Wright: It is at a very different scale. It’s obviously bigger in India. I suppose the passion for cricket is much more alive here. I think the pressure as a coach in India is much more. You need challenges. Frankly speaking, I enjoyed both the jobs.
Perhaps being India’s first foreign coach made things sharper. One has to focus a lot when one is coaching India.
HS: Many Indian players have supported preparing rank turners against the visiting England side. Do you think it will be a regressive step?
JW: No I don’t think you are going backwards. There were no recognised spinners in the India A team which played against England in the warm-up game. However, Raina and Yuvi bowled quite a lot.
Obviously the selectors have decided to give England less practice against spinners, which leads me to think that perhaps in Test cricket, the pitch will turn.
I have always liked the flavour of the Indian cricket. Earlier, in Test cricket, it was a batting paradise on the first three days and it normally turned on the fourth and the fifth days. It made for really interesting cricket. At home you always have your own conditions. In India generally it is spin. Moreover, the BCCI is making a concerted effort to make different conditions in Ranji Trophy games.
HS: What do you think worked for you and Ganguly that you became such a successful combination?
JW: We had a good chemistry. We were both very passionate about the game. Sourav coming from Kolkata and me from New Zealand. We are both Cancerians, we used to discuss things, sometimes we did not agree but we were honest. But, along with that, we were both very fortunate to have very good bunch of senior players. Rahul was a very much part of that, you had Sachin, Kumble, Srinath, and that makes a big difference. We had great group of senior players and Sourav commanded respect.
Though Sourav was the captain and I was the coach, we had other leaders too. You know the youngsters like Bhajji, Viru, Yuvi, Kaif and Zak (Zaheer) came through. It was a good balance. A whole second line-up was waiting in the wings.
HS: In your book The Indian Summers, you have mentioned that players like VVS Laxman and Mohammad Kaif were always couple of failures away from being axed. Do you think Laxman’s retirement had anything to do with India’s eight straight Test defeats? Do you believe there was more cricket left in him?
JW: Well… VVS made his decision. You got to respect that as a player. I wouldn’t like to think that there was any pressure on him. He was good enough to bat in any Indian team.
I think he made a very unselfish decision to allow the youngsters to come through. I think he will be missed, very much. Not because of the runs he scored, but the way he scored them. He was a beautiful player to watch. Very graceful.
When I was around, VVS sometimes found himself out of the one-day team, which was very tough. It was obviously an extremely tough decision. We needed to bat him into the top three. He really wanted to play one-day cricket.
But there was never any question in my mind, if ever there was a question of selecting the Test team, like Ganguly, Dravid or Tendulkar, his name was there on that starting list.
HS: Do you think India would find difficult without their rescue men - Laxman and Dravid?
JW: It’s going to be a challenge for everyone. They have to bat down up to seven or eight. Ashwin can hold the bat, Dhoni, I imagine, would be coming at seven. The middle-order has to bat well and Gambhir and Sehwag will have to give a good start. It’s a good opportunity. Kohli looks like an outstanding player. Sachin got a hundred, its good he found some form going into the series.
Laxman and Dravid were outstanding as players and the workload in their absence will have to be shared. England are pretty good side. There should be no fear for the home team.
HS: Why do you think players like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have not succeeded at Test level? Many believe that, had they been under a captain like Ganguly, they would have either cemented their place or given way for someone else. What is your thought on it?
JW: I am not party to that line of discussion. It is very difficult to make a judgment when you are sitting back in New Zealand. The real onus on any player is to make sure that you are not the ninth, tenth or eleventh name in the line-up. Your performance should do the picking for you.
You don’t want to end up as a fringe player. When you get an opportunity, you got to make best use of it. What’s good is that there’s competition in the side, particularly for the middle-order slot. Both the players, Rohit and Raina, are very talented. They are quite capable of making good Test players.
The problem in India is that there is lot of middle-order competition at the Test level. So as a batsman when you get to fifty, it’s not a bad idea to look for a hundred. That will ensure that you will get picked more often. Here when you are picked, you got to make it count.
HS: Where do you see the India-England series heading?
JW: Well, it’s going to be tough series, you have to prepare well. England will pose certain challenges. They wanted to win the three first-class games. They are obviously very motivated for the series.
India will have to play very well in the first innings. Establish a good first innings lead in the first Test. They would not like to play catch up. Particularly in the first two Tests, it is important to do well or else there would be a lot of pressure.
India will have to score big in the first innings. They will have to bat once and bat big.
HS: What are your predictions?
JW: (Laughs) Well I think it’s going to be a tough series. It will be close. I feel, provided that India bat well, they should win. But it is going to boil down to them getting some big scores. That will allow the spinners to get into the game. I am personally excited about the game. I will watch it very closely. It’s going to give you a very good gauge where the teams stand. They have got another big series coming against Australia later. I think the exciting thing is that we are talking about Test cricket and a lot of people are talking about it.
HS: How come this sudden move to academics? What is this whole concept of the John Wright Scholarship?
JW: I was approached two-and-half years ago by one of my mates. We played basketball together. I had a good look at the place. Only after being satisfied, I agreed to be a part of this initiative undertaken by the Southern Institute of Technology. This university will give students the world over a nice platform to pursue their academics. That is just not limited to one field but even sports studies will be encouraged. Proper stress will be on streams like Sports Science and such courses.
HS: Many believe that you left many issues unanswered in your book India Summers. Can we expect another book in the future?
JW: It was a privilege to coach the Indian team. It was something that I would remember rest of my life. The whole reason of penning that book was to tell the rest of the world, how big, how vast and how passionate the game of cricket is in India, and what it means to India, and I hope it did that.
I wanted to reflect well on the players particularly, because you have to keep their trust. Now the world knows about Indian cricket. I was made to feel very welcome here. I was privileged enough to see it earlier than most.