By Sports Bureau

Cynics may label it a ‘tamasha’ but each important event that happens unannounced seems to set the tone for the discourse of Indian cricket.

So when Anil Kumble’s name was announced, it meant two things – completion of a circle that started with the appointment of John Wright and the beginning of a new one where an instinctively-aggressive captain will collaborate with an astute student of the game to chart the destiny of the country’s cricket. 

But before the Kumble-Virat Kohli duo hits the road, we can have a flashback on how and why coaching India is not just about coaching any nation.

When Greg Chappell came in 2005, with his ideas, people had expectations and the Aussie great wanted a sea change in mindset. When he left unceremoniously after the 2007 World Cup debacle, the stakeholders knew what exactly they didn't want. While change they say is the only constant thing, in our country’s cricketing fraternity, maintaining status quo is considered the best option. When John Wright came on board in 2000 as the first foreign coach, no one knew what to expect. There wasn’t a parameter to compare him. But the amicable Kiwi struck the right chord with skipper Sourav Ganguly and the twosome charted an impressive success formula for the next four-and-a-half years – Wright as the quintessential backroom boy and Ganguly as the vibrant leader of a bunch of young men. It was a “match made in heaven”. So when Chappell arrived with his “commitment to excellence” mantra and due diligence on processes, he demanded a shift in credo.

However, in a country where the number of individual Olympic medallists in over a century is paltry and F.I.F.A. rankings hover below 100, making demigods out of cricketers is more of a necessity than a demand of the times. It’s a bitter pill to swallow; cricket in India for the masses is about stars rather than the game. Whether it’s good or not is a subjective issue but in the country’s culture, the star system has worked from time immemorial.

Chappell never understood this psyche and had a troubled relationship with a skipper whose form was on the decline and a few others who felt offended at being asked questions about their thought processes. So it wasn’t a surprise that he was forced to leave. In India, you give stars the space and he didn’t.

Indian cricket bosses knew that a course correction was necessary. In came South African Gary Kirsten – quiet, unassuming and ready to give hundreds of throwdowns, to Sachin Tendulkar especially. You knew Kirsten was a hit when former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who had his best run under the South African, questioned Ravi Shastri’s disappointment by asking, “How many throwdowns has Shastri given in 18 months?”

You might squirm over whether giving throwdowns is a parameter to judge someone’s coaching credentials, but Gambhir’s take on the issue gives you a sneak peek into the mind of a once top India player. But Kirsten never complained about giving throwdowns.

It only helped that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s temperament matched Kirsten’s and they together took India to the World Cup triumph in 2011. It only helped that Tendulkar’s second coming, Virender Sehwag’s genius, Gambhir's consistency along with Zaheer Khan getting back his mojo happened at the same time. And more importantly, Kirsten’s tenure did not have a single away tour to Australia and England. So when he left after the World Cup high, he set a definitive benchmark for others to follow.

But no one saw that Kirsten left when India was at the cusp of transition. The seniors had entered the twilight zone and Duncan Fletcher had a difficult job in hand. The arduous tours of England and Australia were round the corner and the second string was not ready. Two whitewashes later, it was understood that a coach and a captain is as good as his team. But to be fair to Fletcher, he did his best in the role. A master in helping players with their batting technique, if Fletcher had done one good thing – his gift to Indian cricket is a classical Test batsman in Ajinkya Rahane and presenting Murali Vijay as a dependable opener in longer version.

When Shastri became director of the team in 2014 making Fletcher virtually persona non grata for 8 months, his job was both easy and difficult. Easy because Fletcher had seen over the difficult phase: Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman’s retirement, decline of Sehwag and Zaheer. Difficult because Shastri had to shepherd the Gen Next to the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In between Dhoni retired from Test cricket and there was another void created. But Shastri saw Kohli very comfortably don the mantle of best batsman and assume the responsibility that Tendulkar did for over two decades. The Shastri-Kohli combination also gelled well as the former India all-rounder knew the value of the star system. He gave Kohli the space to operate and also had great impact on current Team players with his pep talk and strategies.

Now that Kumble has taken over interesting times lie ahead.

While India's highest-ever wicket taker wants to stay in the background, let’s not forget that he himself has been a feisty character in his own way. He is deeply knowledgable and will be providing Kohli with his inputs and insights. Whether Kohli perceives that as help or encroachment, only time will tell.