Quite predictably, Vasudevan Baskaran is back as the coach of the senior National team after the Indian Hockey Federation discarded Harcharan Singh, whose disgraceful act of entering the field and abusing the umpire during the recent Test series in Belgium while the match was in progress, led to his exit.

On his part, Baskaran when congratulated on Wednesday evening here after his appointment (or, rather re-re-appointment) was his usual calm self and responded with a sardonic smile when asked whether he is the ``crisis coach'' of Indian hockey.

The act of reinstating Baskaran at the helm was, indeed, a tacit admission of wrong doing by the IHF which had unceremoniously kicked him out barely a year ago following India's poor performance at the Utrecht World Cup. It was a needless move, but luckily, India, under Baskaran's successor, MK Kaushik, won the Asian Games gold at Bangkok in December.

However, Kaushik himself was shown the door inJanuary and the IHF suddenly realised that it was left without a coach since Cedric D'Souza (1994-'96 Olympics) rubbed president KPS Gill on the wrong side with his insistence on a formal contract. Thus, IHF went back to Baskaran and re-appointed him for the Test series against Pakistan before inexplicably removing him and bringing in 1975 World Cupper, Harcharan Singh.

The amazing game of musical chairs continued and completed a full circle on Wednesday when, quite rightly, Harcharan was sacked (though still to be officially announced) and Baskaran, yet again, reinstated.

It is now quite clear that the IHF is red in its face for first sacking Baskaran a year ago and then bringing in somebody like Harcharan, who, by all accounts, still lived in the past -- as far as coaching and training methods were concerned. And Harcharan's final act of indiscipline only forced IHF's hand in removing him from the post.

All these coming and going of coaches and players (the `resting' of six Asiad heroes and thenbringing them back in phases) has only caused needless confusion. Given the fact that the Sydney Olympics is barely 14 months away, the IHF is yet to kick-start the preparations.

To begin with, if Baskaran feels insecure as regards his tenure (which he prefers up to the Olympics), it is understandable. A couple of bad results in the months to follow could put the 1980 Olympian's head on the chopping block. After all, he was given to understand at the start of the current year that he would coach the team up to the Olympics, only to be sidelined immediately after the Pakistan series.

Worse still, when IHF required a coach for the junior team for the 2001 Junior World Cup, it re-appointed Baskaran to handle the youngsters, as he had done two years earlier when India won the silver medal at Milton Keynes. And yet, within weeks after his appointment as the coach of the junior team, Baskaran finds himself elevated as the chief National coach for the senior side!

Amidst all this, the IHF even sent feelers toJude Felix who is in the City on a holiday from his coaching stint in Paris where he is attached to the Racing Club. The informal discussions between Felix, the former India captain, and IHF Secretary-General K Jothikumaran did not fructify. Thus, the IHF had run its course of options and fell back on old faithful Baskaran.

Baskaran, on his part, seems to be reconciled to the muddled working of the IHF, and he told this correspondent on Wednesday: ``It is pointless to harp on the past. I propose to submit a comprehensive plan to the IHF with regard to preparation of our team for the Olympics. Rest is up to the IHF. There is plenty of hard work ahead of us and it is necessary that we concentrate on building a strong side for the Olympics.''

It is to be hoped that the IHF will continue with Baskaran and get on with the business of preparing for the Olympics. There has been too much of uncertainty in the past six months, and it is time that the IHF gets down to the brass tacks.