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Chandrakant Pandit: Coach with a difference

V Veera Kumar | Cricketnext.com

Posted on Jun 06, 2008 at 12:15 | Updated Jun 06, 2008 at 19:08

Walking into Chandrakant Pandit's academy in Mumbai, one can see the former India wicketkeeper in a panama cap, keeping a keen eye on his wards being put through the paces by assistant coaches.

Pandit, who made his mark as a coach during stints with the Kenyan national team, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the West Zone Cricket Academy (WZCA) apart from his time as coach with the Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Maharashtra teams, firmly believes in keeping things simple.

"Coaching is a 24 x 7 job and requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Not all trainees have the same level of aptitude and doing routine stuff with everyone does not help," said Pandit, who played five Tests and 36 ODIs for India, including quite a few as a specialist batsman.

"We have to behave like them and be one of them so that they open up with you and share their understanding of the game," said Pandit, who was a member of the team that played in the 1987 World Cup, along with main wicketkeeper Kiran More.

"Some coaches believe that hours of net practice will improve a players' technique while some others prefer to stage 'centre pitch' (practice matches). But I believe in 'situation therapy', where a player is made to go through various situations in a match. For instance, we explain what needs to be done when the team needs runs at a fast clip and what if the team has lost a few early wickets," he added.

Pandit felt that observing players early on helps spot talent quickly and narrated an interesting incident during his stint with the WZCA a few years ago.

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"Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan were training under me at the WZCA and both had the ability to hit the ball hard. Irfan preferred to come higher up the order while Yusuf would come low down.

"During practice matches, when I prompted Yusuf to bat higher up the order, he started winning his team more matches than anyone else and this made me realise his potential as a hard-hitting batsman. When I asked him one day to switch over to opening the batting, he was a bit confused and was low on confidence," he added.

"However, during the Deodhar Trophy a couple of years ago, when I was in charge of the West Zone team, I made it very clear that he would have to open the batting and should not worry about failure. He scored three centuries in that tournament. So, identifying a player's talent early will go a long way in shaping his career," said Pandit.

Pandit also felt that treating each member, be it in an established team like Mumbai or in an academy with boys of various age groups, would equally enhance their performance.

"If you are coaching a team like Mumbai, you don't have to do much with players like Sachin Tendulkar or Ajit Agarkar. The juniors have to be told what is expected of them and at the same time they should be treated at par with the seniors. The coach has to work hard here to find the right mix," he added.

Pandit, who has played a role in shaping the careers of the Pathan brothers, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma in the past and now with players like Swapnil Asnodkar, Yogesh Takawale and Sahil Kukreja, feels a player can achieve more if he gives more importance to the fitness aspect from an early age.

"With the advent of Twenty20 and One-Day cricket, more and more emphasis is being put on the fitness aspect and we see that every lad in our academy goes through a fitness regime regularly but according to their age and physical structure," Pandit said.