Mumbai: Team India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday said the team feels the need for bowling and fielding coaches, which has an increased workload for present chief coach Gary Kirsten.
While talking to reporters on the eve of the team’s departure for the tri-series in Bangladesh, Dhoni said Kirsten had his plate full and the team was indeed missing bowling and fielding coaches.
“To some extent, it does (affect the team). You need specialist coach to get the best out of the players. Gary looks after so many things. He has all those team meetings, talking to batsmen, bowlers and then working out strategies. He has a lot on his plate,” Dhoni said.
“It does help to have specialist bowling and fielding coaches for the bowlers and fielders. But that’s the way it and it’s now an administrative issue,” he said.
Both the bowling and fielding posts are lying vacant since BCCI sacked former Indian pace bowler and now bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh (former India all-rounder) in October after the team fared badly in the Twenty20 World Cup in England and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.
Even though Australian Mike Young was roped in by BCCI for a short stint during the recent Twenty20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka, the team is now again without a fielding coach.
“Mike is not available for this tour. He came with the basic techniques and went slow as he did not want the players to get injured. He won’t be around but with the help of other support staff it’s important to go ahead with that. Fielding is one aspect of the game that is important whatever be the format of the game,” Dhoni said.
Agreeing for the need to lift the team’s fielding standard, Dhoni said, “We dropped quite a few catches in the last series. We will try to rectify that. Whatever good fielders we have we will try to make them the best in the world because it really helps, especially in the middle overs, with four good fielders inside the circle who can save the singles,” he said.
[Source: Cricketnext.com]
