Bharat Arun’s eyes sweep across the MAC ‘B’ ground bathed in glorious sunlight. He is excited at what he sees. The former India cricketer smiles as he strokes his beard with its streaks of grey.
The arena is receiving a massive facelift with 28 practice pitches being prepared on it. “There will be all types of pitches. The sporting tracks, the green-tops, the red-soil ones and the ones with clay. Then there will be surfaces with a mix of everything.”
The idea is to prepare cricketers who can handle different kinds of pitches. In this ambitious project, involving men and machinery, emerging State cricketers stand to benefit.
As Director of Coaching at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) Academy, Arun holds a job of immense responsibility. Apart from the pressures that come with the territory, the post is full of possibilities.
Arun’s credentials are impressive. He was head coach at the National Cricket Academy from 2008 to 2014, guided India ‘A’ and is coach of the India under-19 team.
He has had success too, coaching the Indian under-19 side to World Cup triumph down under in 2012 and having a 10-tournament winning streak with the National under-19 and ‘A’ teams.
Now his name is doing the rounds for the job of the assistant coach for the Indian team. Arun has clearly made significant headway in his post-cricketer phase.
For the moment, his thoughts are firmly on Tamil Nadu cricket though. He is aware that the State team faces disturbing questions after failing to qualify for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals (two successive seasons). And Tamil Nadu, a former powerhouse at all levels, does not have a single cricketer in the Indian under-19 team.
Says Aruns, “It is a challenging situation but then there is enough talent at the district level. What we need to do is to channel that talent. Right now, even from the school level at the State, there is too much focus on winning. That should change to focus on the ‘process’ of development as a player for the transition to the senior ranks.”
Of course, Arun is conscious of Tamil Nadu’s bowling woes. “I know good bowlers, both pace and spin, are not coming through at the State level. Preparing sporting tracks is among the major solutions.”
Coaching, he believes, “deeal with setting up an atmosphere where a player can express himself while staying as close as possible to the fundamentals.”
Cricket, Arun points out, is a game where bio-mechanics, the science of movement, forms the core. The 51-year-old Arun adds, “The coach’s job is to bring balance and stability to a cricketer’s game without changing his natural style. A coach cannot look at the perfect picture, but should seek a method that would suit a cricketer best.”
Crucially, a coach has to work on a cricketer’s mind. “I concentrate on one-on-one interaction with the players. They will have their bad days. You have got to make them believe in themselves.”
“Instructing a cricketer to follow a rigid method is limiting his mind and skill. You got to support him to discover himself as a player. Awareness of his own game will give him that clarity of mind,” he says. Arun picks ups a quote from famous basketball coach John Wooden to underline his view – “A good coach expects the player to think highly of him (the coach). A great coach expects the player to think highly of himself.”
The TNCA Academy, he says, is trying to create of pool of junior talent. “We have camps for the State under-14, 16 and 19 boys. We also have camps for the Combined Districts under-16 and 19 boys. In the coming years, some of these cricketers could translate their potential to impressive performances for the senior State side.”
In an otherwise gloomy scenario for the State cricket, Arun eyes the future with optimism.
