Asia Cup will be Kirsten's real test

Dubai: Indian cricket team coach Gary Kirsten has been basking in the glory of India clinching the top Test rank but what has been his contribution to this team's success?

Kirsten is more of an acceptable coach than an effective one. India clinched the top slot mainly due to the performance of their star players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag. On the bowling front it was due to Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan's fine spells.

All these star players are naturally talented and Kirsten had no role to play in their success. Kirsten could have been applauded had he groomed a few players and made them as effective as these star players.

The most pathetic statement from Kirsten was after Indians crashed out of the Twenty20 World Cup. He admitted that the defeat of the team was due to fatigue. It is surprising that only he could detect that the players had been hit by fatigue only after the World Cup.

Kirsten has actually kept his mouth shut not wanting to disturb the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials, who were busy organising the Indian Premier League matches and late night parties.

He is fully aware of the fate of former Indian coach Greg Chappell, who questioned the attitude of some of the players. A coach's duty is to inform about the drawbacks of the team and take remedial measures and not speak his mind out only when the team crashes out.

Pacers like Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan have displayed patches of their brilliance mainly due to the tips they received from the MRF Pace Foundation.

Indians won the Twenty20 World Cup when Lalchand Rajput was their coach. India's bowling attack too looked stronger when Venkatesh Prasad was their bowling coach. India fielded better than now when Robin Singh was their fielding coach. It's time Kirsten lived up to the expectations. The forthcoming Asia Cup will be his real test.