Sunil Gavaskar has called for the immediate sacking of India’s chief coach Duncan Fletcher and wants batting legend Rahul Dravid to replace the Zimbabwean.
The former Indian captain said: “For me, Duncan Fletcher would get 1.5 in a scale of 10 as far as his success is concerned. I believe a younger guy should be appointed as the coach of the Indian team.
“Rahul Dravid is one man who is enormously respected and is a successful captain having won series in West Indies and England.
“When he speaks, the Indian players – some of whom are superstars – listen to him as they know how much preparation went into his game.
“I know it’s only 11 months [until] the World Cup and people don’t want to tinker with support staff. But had it been the staff of 2011 [Gary Kirsten, Paddy Upton and Eric Simons], I would have agreed. But what has Fletcher done? He has done nothing. His achievements as a cricketer weren’t anything incredible. He was an ECB reject. The ECB dispensed with his services.“
"A coach has to be somebody who is in touch with the modern game and take the team forward. If Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh all stalwarts of Indian cricket can be dropped on poor form then why not drop support staff for poor performance?
“Fletcher never had credentials of Gary Kirsten or John Wright, who were achievers in international cricket. The way things work in India is completely different. Kirsten was never the most talented cricketer but he was very successful in both Tests and ODIs. He did it the hard way and when he spoke to the players about value of hard work and training, they listened to him. You need someone with a positive outlook, with fair bit of receptivity and flexible thinking.”
He said that India as a team has not improved one bit in the three years since Fletcher took charge from Kirsten after the 2011 World Cup.
“In Fletcher’s tenure, there has hardly been any improvement as a team. There has been no improvement of players individually also. Somewhere, this slide needs to be stopped. There is still 11 months left for the World Cup. It’s a lot of time and the current lot has done nothing."