A few months back, ask even the most ardent cricket fan who the bowling coach, or fielding coach or batting coach or assistant coach of the India cricket team is, he/she would have had to take a bit of a pause before coming up with an answer, if there was to be one at all. Ask that same question now, the answer will be instant, with plenty of extra information added for good measure as well.
Such has been the hoopla/controversy created over the appointment of the support staff after the Cricket Advisory Committee picked Ravi Shastri as the new India cricket team head coach.
Zaheer Khan was initially named as the permanent bowling coach, only for the BCCI to go back on that statement when it became clear Shastri had a different man in mind.
So, Zaheer was quickly converted into a bowling consultant on a tour-to-tour basis, much like Rahul Dravid had been given the same role by his former teammates Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, the three members of the CAC.
The COA, who have been on a paid vacation since being appointed by the Supreme Court, said "Sorry boys, you do not have the right to make appointments on the support staff," and the controversy over Shastri's assistants rumbled on. The BCCI made things worse by dillying and dallying.
It was clear from the start that Shastri had his own support staff in mind the moment he was appointed India's head coach. So, this was another controversy that shouldn't have been. If there is an organisation that needs a good communications team, it certainly is the BCCI.
And had the BCCI just talked with Shastri after his appointment and gone with what the head coach needed, like it eventually happened, all this controversy would not have arisen.
Bharat Arun would have been named the bowling coach, Sanjay Bangar would have seen his role changed from batting coach to assistant coach and R Sridhar would have continued on as the fielding coach.
News outlets would have carried that story, and most fans would have barely batted an eyelid.
However, thanks to Zaheer and Dravid's name coming up and the CAC and the COA coming into the picture over the appointment of the support staff, it's all turned into a monster, and suddenly everyone "cares" and has an opinion about what India's support staff should be.
Whether Zaheer has been mistreated or not, or if Dravid should have been given an opportunity?
Whether Shastri has the right to pick his own support staff or if all that power has suddenly gone to his head?
Whether the COA and BCCI are incompetent and could have handled things a lot better? OK, we know the answer to that one.
At the end of the day, this is just the support staff. Yes, in the modern game they are quite important, but it was not going to make or break the India cricket team.
Virat Kohli resigning as captain would have been a massive story. Ravi Shastri saying "no thank you," after being given the job, would have been a big story. Bharat Arun, if not for all the controversy, being appointed the bowling coach would not have been.
He might have been the best man for the job, he might not have been, but in such a professional world, anyone who would have been appointed – and this is the India cricket team, so it would have been an experienced appointment – would have done a pretty good job.
Let's just move on shall we; look forward to the Test series that's coming up in Sri Lanka and see how Kohli and co. perform after that diabolical Champions Trophy final loss to Pakistan and an iffy series in the West Indies.
