Sacked Indian cricket coach backs his boys

Dubai: The manner of his dismissal may have left the Indian cricket team's bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad deeply "hurt and disappointed" but he wished his wards well on the eve of a tough one-day series at home against Australia.

"The series is going to be a hard one, but our boys have it in them to bounce back," he said.

It's been more than two days since Prasad and Robin Singh, the fielding coach, have heard of their sacking, but the former Indian swing ace refuses ro accept that his ties with the national squad have been severed.

"Yes, a e-mail tells me that I am no longer associated with the team, but my emotional attachment with the boys will remain. I am still available to serve Indian cricket in any form that they may need me to," Prasad told Gulf News from Bangalore.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in a sudden move, decided to sack both Prasad and Singh last week as the squad for the first two one-dayers against Australia was being named.

True, the board had been under some pressure following humiliating exits from both the major tournaments this year (Twenty-20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy), but Prasad questioned the yardstick that had been applied to judge the duo's performance.

"After the Champions Trophy, the bowling was seen as the weak link but has anyone given a thought as to the number of injuries that I had to contend with? Zaheer Khan was not available, while it's almost the same set of bowlers who had won so many matches for us during the last two years," a disturbed Prasad said.

Asked why his pace bowlers were breaking down so frequently, he said the absence of a specialised fitness trainer over the past year had cost the team dearly.

"Ever since Gregory King left, we did not have a proper fitness trainer. While I can guide the bowlers on the technical aspects, it's the job of a demanding trainer to give the boys that final push — something which was missed over a period of time," he said.

Groundwork

Looking back at his tenure over the last two and-a-half years, Prasad minced no words in saying that it was him and Singh who had prepared the "base" for Gary Kirsten to take over as coach.

"If one remembers, when we took over after the debacle of 2007 World Cup, Greg Chappell had just left and the morale of the team was at a new low. We had worked extremely hard with the boys and had several high points during that phase like the T-20 World Cup triumph, an unprecedented victory in Perth Test as well the VB Series against Australia.