By IANS
New Delhi : At a time when the Indian cricket board is groping in dark in its search for a new coach, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said Friday that in international cricket a team needs a man manager and not a coach.
"In international cricket you can't teach Anil Kumble to bowl a top spinner. In international cricket you need a man manager rather than a coach. John Buchanan was a good manager and ended up having a great record with the Australian team," said Ponting.
The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) was in a fix after South African Graham Ford refused to coach Team India, just a day after he was offered the post. As a stopgap arrangement the BCCI had to appoint former captain Chandu Borde as the manager for the tour to Ireland and England starting later this month.
The Australian captain also thanked Buchanan for helping him in his career.
"Buchanan helped me as a player and also as a captain," said Ponting, who was in the city for a promotional programme of a private bank.
The Australian captain was speaking at a function to announce a scheme by which every run that he scores in one-day internationals this year will help to provide education to underprivileged children
He also said that he doesn't see any reason why an Australian can't coach the Indian team.
"I don't now why an Australian can't coach the Indian team. They have the best success record. But it is up to the BCCI to find the right person for the job," he quipped.
Australian Dave Whatmore was initially a frontrunner for the post of the Indian team coach, but was surprisingly left out of the race by a seven-member coach selection committee, headed by board president Sharad Pawar, that met in Bangalore last week to search Greg Chappell's successor.