Indian Express
Sign In | Register Now
Newsletter | ePaper
Indian Express >  Front Page > 

Half of my mind has said yes, says Gary Kirsten after India coach offer

Font Size
Ajay S Shankar Posted: Nov 28, 2007 at 0144 hrs IST
Related Stories: Old favourites and rugby stars in tow, Dakar rally comes to South AmericaChinese athletes relish taste of new-found freedom‘Armstrong won’t be the favourite’Jack Johnson, now an online comic legendWhy British stars don’t like the taste of ItalyA 73-year-old gives basketball another shot
New Delhi, November 27: Nearly seven months after Australian veteran Greg Chappell was shown the door and five months after South Africa’s Graham Ford declined to take over citing personal reasons, the Indian Cricket board has offered former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten the job of Team India coach.

Kirsten, whose 11-year international career as a solid left-hand batsman ended three years ago, has told the BCCI’s seven-member coach selection panel that interviewed him here last evening that he needs seven days to “make up his mind” after considering the offer from a “family point of view.”

Describing the offer to coach India for the next two years as “a great honour,” Kirsten, who turned 40 just four days ago, told The Indian Express this morning, hours before his flight back home from Mumbai: “It’s a great offer. I had an interesting chat with the selection panel yesterday. One half of my mind immediately said ‘yes’ but I will have to go through the contract carefully, look at it from a family point of view, and get back within seven days.”

Ads By Google
Kirsten, half brother of former South Africa batsman Peter Kirsten, is based in Cape Town and is married with two children.

Kirsten added he was not in a position to divulge details of the contract although BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who was part of the panel that interviewed the South African, confirmed that the offer was for a tenure of two years.

“It has happened all of a sudden. I was approached just a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has been discussed in detail yet. Or confirmed. Everything lies in the contract that is offered,” said Kirsten, who was famous for his no-frills batting but has no serious team coaching experience yet. However, while the world’s richest cricket board is waiting eagerly to know which way he would shake his head, Kirsten, who was South Africa’s batting consultant during India’s tour last year-end, said he had a “fair idea” of the job.

“I have played against some of them (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and current skipper Anil Kumble). I watched them when they were in South Africa for the Test series last year-end. So I do have a fair idea,” he said.

BCCI’s Shah said that the Board would take an official call only after Kirsten agrees to take on the job “to prevent a situation like in June” when Ford (former South Africa coach and Kent’s cricket director) first agreed, attended a much-hyped interview in Chennai, and then backtracked.

... contd.

Ads By Google
Post Comments
Message*
Maximum characters allowed     
 
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
View all Messages [ 0 ]
View all Messages [ 0 ]
Group Websites : Express India | Financial Express | Screen India | Loksatta | Kashmir Live | Biz Publications
Privacy Policy | Feedback | Site MapThe Indian Express Group | Work With Us | Adverise With Us | Contact Us© 2009 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. All rights reserved
*Recipient(s) name *
*Recipient(s) e-mail address *
(Separate addresses by commas)
*Your Name *
*Your e-mail address *
Select your Country
Comments(optional)

The name(s) and e-mail address(es) you provide will
not be used for any purpose other than to inform the
recipient(s) of your identity. (*mandatory field)
 
Close