Language of cricket: BCCI's insistence on Hindi-speaking coach is confusing

The Sunrisers Hyderabad team, that won the IPL this Sunday, was captained and coached by an Australian duo who, one assumes, speaks no language other than English. The team’s bowling coach was Muttiah Muralitharan, a Sri Lankan Tamil. It was mentored by VVS Laxman, the only member of the team’s support staff who could speak Hindi, although his proficiency with the language is laughable at best. The team’s star performer was a Bangladeshi, Mustafizur Rahman, who came to his first IPL knowing neither English nor Hindi. Somehow they managed just fine. If managing just fine is what you call winning the IPL these days.Over in England, Leicester City’s Premier League triumph has been the stuff of fairytales. The club is owned by a Thai business group and features players from 17 different nationalities. Somehow, nothing got lost in translation, remarkable for a sport like football, so heavily dependent on tactics and positioning. Somehow, manager Claudio Ranieri’s part-English-part-Italian exhortations weren’t misunderstood, and when the manager asked his players to score more goals, nobody thought he meant racially abuse Thai prostitutes.[caption id="attachment_2813270" align="alignleft" width="380"] India's most successful coach in recent times was Gary Kirsten, who spoke no Hindi. File Image. AFP[/caption]Clearly the BCCI doesn’t agree. Unconvinced by success stories like the Sunrisers and Leicester City, the Indian cricket board has decided that language is paramount. In a nine-point list of favourable attributes it wishes to see in candidates applying for role of chief coach of Team India, the BCCI has prioritised knowledge of Hindi language and a squeaky, controversy-free image. While we are all for hiring coaches who have carefully maintained a clean track record — though it makes us sad to know we will never get to say the words India coach Kevin Pietersen — the insistence on knowledge of Hindi is a bit befuddling.The two best coaches India have had in the last decade or so have been John Wright and Gary Kirsten, neither of whom knew Hindi too well. Occupying third spot on the pecking order would probably be Ravi Shastri, whose tenure as team director has just come to an end, and though he was well-versed in the language of the land, it’s very doubtful that his successes will be attributed to this particular skill.However, there are a few pertinent points among the nine. The insistence on a coach who has completed a certification course will lend the appointment credibility and asking him to present a blueprint of what he plans to do once he assumes charge will be a sort of vision document that can be used to separate wheat from chaff. Similarly, a solid coaching record and previous successes are also necessary prerequisites. These are all factors that directly impact what the team does and how they play. What languages a coach knows doesn’t.Does the BCCI really believe that in this day and age, there exist people — international cricketers at that — who can’t speak a word of English? How did they rise through the age group ranks and attend overseas tours with the ‘A’ teams? Surely they must have worked with foreigners then. How do they manage in the IPL, where seven out of eight teams have foreign coaches?Besides, isn’t it far more important that the coach is someone who shares a good rapport with the players, and more importantly, the captain? Considering Virat Kohli is the Test captain now, and is almost inevitably going to take over as limited overs captain as well, wouldn’t his pick of coach candidate have more say? If so, Kohli has already made his pick: Daniel Vettori.If the BCCI continues insisting on Hindi-speaking candidates, the only viable alternatives still in the fray among the top candidates are Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid. Although anybody who has heard Dravid speak Hindi would never bet on him communicating anything across.