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'Bring someone who understands T20. Dravid knows he has to work…': Harbhajan's doosra on split coaches, suggests 2 names
There have been calls for a specialist coaches for the T20 role and former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has been among the few who has been in support of split coaching as he made a staggering claim on incumbent head coach Rahul Dravid.
There have long been discussions on split coaching and split captaincy in Indian team. In the aftermath of India's horrendous show at the 2021 T20 World Cup many veteran cricketers have called for a specialist white-ball skipper in the Indian side before Virat Kohli eventually stepped down from his captaincy role across formats. Later, there were calls for a specialist coaches for the T20 role as well and former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has been among the few who has been in support of split coaching as he made a staggering claim on incumbent head coach Rahul Dravid.
Speaking during an Idea Exchange session of The Indian Express, Harbhajan exemplified his notion through England cricket team. He feels that someone like Virender Sehwag or Ashish Nehra can be given the responsibility to mentor the T20 side because India need a coach who "understands the concept of T20 and demands of the game."
“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,” Harbhajan said.
Harbhajan also urged the Indian team to show a little more intent as they gear up for the 2023 ODI World Cup which will be played at home later this year.
“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," he said.
