Former cricketer Robin Singh had a chat with The Hindu on the sidelines of the MoneyGram ‘Bowling Challenge’ here on Tuesday. He spoke on the present in Indian cricket and his varied coaching experience.
Excerpts:
On India’s chances in the World T20: India is one of the favourites without a doubt. From my personal experience, I’ve sensed that other teams find it difficult to adjust to the conditions here. Most of the countries actually fear playing in India, especially playing India in India.
On the impressive Jasprit Bumrah: He was an unknown entity when we picked him in the IPL (Mumbai Indians). He suffered an ankle injury last year but has come back really strong. He’s a very skilful bowler. He reminds me a lot of Lakshmipathy Balaji, who was skilful yet picked up injuries often. Bumrah has to focus more on keeping himself fit.
On how challenging was it to coach a fringe team like Hong Kong: Coaching smaller teams is more difficult and challenging. It’s more of man-management with the big teams since they are already quite well-set, whereas the smaller teams need to be upskilled and instilled with confidence. And when such a team is elevated to play at a more competitive level, it stands to gain more out of that exposure. I prefer to coach younger and smaller sides since the results are definitive.
On Chennai being deprived of men’s World T20 and IPL action: Chennai has always been like home for me. I’m disappointed. It’s very sad considering the City is one place where the game is followed wide and religiously. It’s also unfortunate that there’s no CSK in the IPL. Also, I was disappointed that Tamil Nadu did not advance to the next stage in the Ranji Trophy this season.
