Anil Kumble brings back the old ‘Buddy System’

Although this may be the first coaching job for former India skipper Anil Kumble, the latter has brought about a subtle change in the management system. Reports suggest that Kumble has reintroduced the ‘Buddy System’ for the current crop of players, a system that was first introduced in Indian cricket by Kumble’s former coach John Wright.

In the 2001 series against Australia, Wright introduced the buddy system for the Indian players as the Sourav Ganguly-led unit went on to clinch the series against a seemingly formidable Australian unit. One such relationship, VVS Laxman becoming Zaheer Khan’s unofficial batting coach, carried on well beyond Wright’s tenure.

Stuart Binny and Amit Misha have opened up about the same. “It’s about the senior guys communicating with the junior guys,” Stuart Binny said. “Today we’ve paired up – each guy’s paired with another guy; it’s called a ‘buddy programme’. So it’s me and Rohit [Sharma] paired up together. Ro has played a lot of one-day cricket and Test cricket, and for me to share thoughts with him, that’s the way forward, I think. If I can help Rohit by 2%, then maybe he can help me with 30% – that’s what we’re looking to do today. It’s about helping each other through situations.

“It’s about me and Rohit communicating about our net sessions, about areas that I bowl [for example]. In the past, many guys held back because you didn’t want to say something to upset another guy, but we’ve been pushed in a direction to communicate what we want, especially with our games. There’s a lot you can learn from someone else, even by telling him that, I think this is the way forward. Communication is the key, I think. That’s what we’re trying to breed.”

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“We’ve divided in such a way that batsmen will help bowlers and bowlers will help batsmen, so that whenever we need to play six or seven batsmen, the batsmen can chip in with the ball, bowl seven-eight overs for us,” Mishra said. “My buddy is Pujara – he bowls a bit of leg spin; he can help me with my batting, and I can help with his leg spin, so that whenever we might need it, he can bowl seven-eight overs for the team and help us.”