No consensus among selectors, players over next strength and conditioning coach

The national selection committee led by MSK Prasad and the national team reportedly lack consensus over picking India’s next strength and conditioning coach. The selection committee picked the rest of the support staff of the Indian team last week and is set to reveal the name of the next strength and conditioning camp on Saturday in Bengaluru.

Among those who were shortlisted for the job are Grant Luden, who served as Pakistan’s strength and conditioning coach recently; Luke Woodhouse, Nick Webb, Rajnikanth Sivagnanam and Anand Date.

Questions over the inclusion of Ranadeep Moitra

However, it has been reported that all is not well over the decision. As per a report in Times of India, the inclusion of expert consultant Ranadeep Moitra from Kolkata to help the selectors in the matter has raised questions. Moitra is being seen as a ‘gym instructor who was last associated with on-field cricket almost a decade ago’.

It is learnt that the Indian team management wants to consider two factors while selecting the strength and conditioning coach. The picked individual preferably has to be an Indian (though the interviewing panel lacked a unison on this) and must possess an understanding of the players’ requirements and practical skills.

The report further added that the team management is open to picking either Paul Chapman or Ramji Srinivasan for the job. Chapman already has the experience of working with the Indian team and the National Cricket Academy while Srinivasan worked as the trainer of the Indian team that had won the World Cup in 2011.

Whoever becomes India’s next strength and conditioning camp will have to fill in the shoes of Shankar Basu, the previous post-holder who made quite a name for himself. Thye 50-year-old’s four-year tenure ended with the ICC World Cup and he has indeed left quite an impressive fitness regime for the national players.

While Basu never hid his admiration for captain Virat Kohli’s obsession with fitness and said that the latter has never taken a cheat day in the last two years, he also completed his tenure with a satisfaction that he succeeded in transforming the fitness levels of the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – the cream of India’s all-conquering pace battery.

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