Duncan Fletcher Rises

Samir Chopra is skeptical about the Duncan Fletcher pick:

Fletcher is a big mouth, prone to talking too much about his wards to the press. This has the makings of a disaster in India’s media scene.

Well, actually. The Guardian has details on the contract Fletcher signed, which includes some interesting clauses:

Fletcher has been employed to work as a head coach, not a manager. He will not act as a team selector and he will be working alongside a team manager who will be in charge of disciplinary matters. A clause has also been included in his contract stating that he will not necessarily have to talk to reporters in an official capacity or attend press conferences, though it gives him the option of doing so if he wants to. Given how fractious and distracting his relations with the press became in England – media-management was not one of his strong-points – he saw this as another sign that he would be allowed to get on with what he is good at. [Emphasis added.]

All things considered, it appears the BCCI has learned from the Graham Ford fiasco. They didn’t air a shortlist publicly (at least not officially; those leaks must have come from somewhere), and when they picked a candidate, they made sure to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Don’t want to manage the team? Fine. Don’t want to talk to the press? We hate them too. Don’t want to start in the West Indies? Who does?

But two questions: The Guardian says Fletcher was impressed with BCCI’s modernization, an improvement he noticed over the past decade. True? Second: Fletcher wins praise for knowing technique, and knowing how to coach these skills. But in his previous incarnation as English coach — and in his Guardian columns — he came across more as a master strategist. Is this the right pick for Dhoni?

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