With John Wright indicating that he is unlikely to seek an extension of his contract as coach of the Indian team after the series against Pakistan, the focus now shifts to his successor.
When Wright was selected for the job, there was lot of resistance from former Indian cricketers. Most of them wondered whether no former Indian cricketer is capable of taking up the job.
But Wright changed the way Indian cricketers approach the game and brought a level of sophistication to the squad. The result being that all resistance to the appointment of a foreign coach evaporated in his five years in charge.
Now there are a couple of former Indian players, like Sandeep Patil, in the fray for the job, but former India skipper Mansur Ali Khan 'Tiger' Pataudi, who is in Mohali for the first Test between India and Pakistan, believes that only a foreign coach would be the ideal replacement for Wright.
"There is a lot of politics in our cricket. If there is a local cricketer, he cannot help but get involved. Outside coaches don't get involved and that is perhaps the biggest point in their favour.
"These coaches also tend to be more technologically aware and that helps in this day and time," said Pataudi.
Talking about the proceedings on day 1, Pataudi said he expected India to go in with two spinners instead of three seamers, because that strategy had brought them a lot of success in the recent past.
"I felt they might go in with two spinners, but that didn't happen. Instead, the three seamers have worked quite well together to put India in a position of strength. India made the right decision today but let's see how it goes from here."
Whenever one speaks to an old-timer there is always the hope of hearing an anecdote or two about the days of yore from him. Unfortunately, Pataudi never played a Test against Pakistan. So all he could look back at was his various encounters against Pakistani players in county cricket.
