Last Update on: September 19th, 2023 at 07:36 pm
Sanjay Manjrekar opened up about the criticism former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid faces after the team’s loss. He revealed that even if the team wins or loses, the contribution of a coach is marginal.
Rahul Dravid as a coach of the Indian cricket team hasn’t had a great outing. Under him, the team has struggled to win consistently and has faced some disappointing losses. Following this he has received a lot of criticism and there have been calls to remove him.
Apart from India’s losses, Rahul Dravid also has been targeted for the changes that Team India make. The Indian coach often gets criticized when senior players like Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli are rested. This, however, is quite unnecessary as most of the decisions like this are taken by the BCCI itself.
Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out that people confuse cricket coaches with football coaches, saying that the criticism of Rahul Dravid is unfair. Speaking during an interaction with journalist Vimal Kumar on his YouTube channel.
“People often confuse a cricket coach with a football coach. In cricket, a coach doesn’t have enough power. Even when the team was picked. Rahul Dravid was not part of the meeting. When a team wins or loses, the contribution of a coach is marginal.”
Sanjay Manjrekar added that the chairman of selectors has more power than the coach. He added that all things that take place in the team are combined efforts. He explained:
“Rohit Sharma is very experienced, and there are a few others in the team as well. So, it is a combined effort. I believe that the chairman of selectors has more power than the coach.”
The pressure is also a lot higher – Sanjay Manjrekar on India for ICC World Cup 2023
Sanjay Manjrekar further pointed out that expectations during the 2011 World Cup were less as compared to what they are for the ICC World Cup 2023. He lauded MS Dhoni for living up to the expectations during the WC triumph. He added:
“There were a lot of expectations in 2011 as well. It was different in 1983, as there wasn’t the added pressure of expectations. India were expected to win the World Cup in 2011. I consider this a significant achievement for MS Dhoni, as he was able to deliver amid all the expectations. Yes, there is a home advantage, but the pressure is also a lot higher.”
ICC World Cup 2023 will kick start from 5th October. India will open their campaign against Australia on 8th October.
