Harbhajan Singh calls for split coaches for India team: Bring someone who understands the concept of T20
Harbhajan Singh has supported the idea of having split coaches for the Indian cricket team. There have been discussions recently about having split captains and coaches for different formats.
Harbhajan has delivered his verdict on the split coach policy (Courtesy: Reuters)
By India Today Sports Desk: Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh has advocated having split coaches for the Indian team in different formats.
There have been calls for split captains and coaches for India after their exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE after which Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain.
Harbhajan is the latest to support the idea of the policy. The former cricketer, as quoted by Hindustan Times, said it would be good to have someone planning things differently and pointed out the example of England.
Harbhajan suggested that bringing in someone like Virender Sehwag or Ashish Nehra for the T20I format would be good for India.
“Yes, you have two captains, so you can have two coaches. Why not? Someone whose planning is different. Like England has done with Brendon McCullum. Someone like Virender Sehwag or Ashish Nehra who worked with Gujarat Titans and Hardik Pandya won his first tournament (IPL) as captain. So, bring someone who understands the concept of T20 and demands of the game.
“The coach knows that focus is on T20 cricket. Say if Ashish Nehra is the T20 coach, then he knows that his job is to make the Indian team champions in the T20 format, and Rahul Dravid knows he has to work on how the Indian team can be No.1 in Tests and ODIs,” said Harbhajan.
The former cricketer also advised the Indian team to show more intent as they prepare of the ODI World Cup.
“I think we need to show a little more intent. If you are playing T20s then you can’t play it like a one-day match. If you are playing one-day, you can’t play it like a Test match. We can’t be dependent on two-three players to win you the championship. When you have a World Cup in front of you, you need eight to nine guys performing at the same time. One or two players can win you matches, but it is the team which can win you the tournament,” said Harbhajan.
