Andhra has enjoyed an optimistic run in the Ranji Trophy’s ongoing season so far. After draws with Uttar Pradesh and Baroda, the side pummeled Odisha, winning by an innings and 50 runs.
But, the best was yet to come.
An emphatic four-wicket win against Tamil Nadu where Andhra wrapped the game up in three days has the domestic ecosystem talking about one unit needing some long-pending introspection while another seems to be heralding a new dawn.
Andhra’s rise has been slow but steady. Putting the blocks together is newly-appointed head coach Gary Stead. Funnily, if both he and the Andhra Cricket Association had their ways, this partnership wouldn’t have happened at all.
Stead initially wanted to continue as New Zealand’s Test coach, which New Zealand Cricket was not keen on. It named Rob Walter as his successor across formats, pushing him to look for new opportunities.
Tamil Nadu was stripped of every morsel of pleasure it had earned on the second day, first being bowled out for 195 after resuming at 101 for three, and then watching Andhra chase down a 201-run target with four wickets to spare on the third day of their Elite Group-A fourth-round Ranji Trophy match at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
| Photo Credit:
K.R. Deepak
“I had seven years with the Black Caps and made a decision that I wasn’t going to continue in all formats of the game. New Zealand cricket then decided that they wanted a coach to do it all. So it worked out that my time was up, but I was okay with that and understood that it might be that way,” he told The Hindu.
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Stead stayed with coaching, helping Otago, a team based in the country’s south. He stepped in to help the side while they hunted for a full-time head coach. It was then that the opportunity to coach Andhra was put before him.
“I got approached around August. I had an online meeting with a few people from the Andhra Cricket Association. We talked about the opportunities and we agreed that coaching the Ranji Trophy was something that they were prepared to take me on and I’m very grateful for that,” he added.
Fortuitous partnership
The ACA wanted an Australian coach who turned down the association, but pointed them in Stead’s direction instead.
“I wanted to bring someone serious from outside India. I was trying for a few people and one of them, who couldn’t join us, suggested that Stead might be available. He gave us the lead and we immediately sent him a request,” ACA secretary Sana Satish Babu told The Hindu.
“We had two calls to figure out plans and align our goals. That involved Girish Dongre (ACA CEO), too. He was convinced, but his only concern was wanting to go back home for Christmas. We were flexible and he was pleased,” Satish said.
If the ACA ever had any doubts about how Stead would fit in, they would have been abated when Stead dove right into his meticulous homework done on the outfit and the setup, long before he was officially appointed.
“Gary took us by surprise. He has some friends in Mumbai, at Kolkata Knight Riders and other places. He took all the Andhra players’ analysis from them, not only Ranji players but also the under-19 and under-23 players. He took all the analysis and studied them during the negotiation time. That pleasantly surprised us and showed us that he was not speaking with us out of formality.”
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For all the talk of Stead taking a ‘step down’ in his career, the excitement and eagerness in his voice about turning around Andhra’s fortunes tell a different tale.
“I love cricket in India. I love the way it’s played and the difference in terms of pitches, compared to New Zealand. I thought this is a great way for me to get out of my comfort zone as well, because I’ve coached in New Zealand my whole life,” Stead said.
He is confident that he will not be the last foreign coach to try his hand on the Indian domestic circuit, just as he is not the first to do so – the likes of Dav Whatmore, Michael Bevan, Intikhab Alam, Darren Holder and Alvin Kallicharan having produced varied results over the years.
Making adjustments
The 53-year-old is also aware that he will have to adjust to his players as much as they are adjusting to his methods.
“This is an opportunity for me to grow. I’m coming into a different environment now, so as much as there are things that I think will work, I also have to adapt to the culture of the Indian people and the Andhra Cricket Association as well. It works both ways,” he admitted.
“Coaching is about trying to get the best out of the players and help them develop. That is the same here as it was in New Zealand. I think the differences are obviously the cultural aspect, very different from the Western world that I lived in, compared to the Indian culture of cricket and how it’s almost a religion here.”
Andhra captain Ricky Bhui in conversation with head coach Gary Stead during a practice session.
| Photo Credit:
K.R. Deepak
In a country teeming with talent and opportunities sparse to come by, Stead is aware of how important performances on the domestic front are for Indian cricketers.
“I think one of the tough things for an Indian cricketer is actually getting noticed, and being noticed by the right people. There are so many good players here and that’s just a population thing as well. I’m sure there are thousands of cricketers here who haven’t been given an opportunity, who are outstanding cricketers and they haven’t been noticed because they haven’t been in the right place at the right time,” he said.
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Stead worked with a large squad of 31 before the Ranji Trophy’s playing squad was announced, commuting between Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram to stay on top of things.
“I think there’s a good mix of different bowlers, different varieties, left-armers, right-armers, good pacers and spinners as well. And I think there are some really exciting batsmen as well. You know who the leaders of the group are: KS Bharat and Ricky Bhui, but I guess Shaikh Rashid as well… he’s recently been with the Rest of India XI, so they’re probably the most well-known ones.”
“But there are several guys who have played IPL: Prithvi Raj Yarra and Satyendra Raju for example. They have some experience at higher levels. We will be leaning on some of these characters this season,” he added. Incidentally, Rashid and Prithvi Raj played crucial roles in Andhra’s takedown of TN in Visakhapatnam.
Stead’s long-term targets are all about overall improvement in performance, both for the team and for each player individually. Silverware would be a bonus, but not something he is necessarily targeting this season.
“I don’t look at it like there’s a whole lot of expectations from me. I know the team wants to improve on how they’ve done in the past and I want them to do as well as they can. My job is to try and help the team adapt, to understand what the situations are and then to give them the confidence to go out and attack the game,” he stated.
“I want all players to feel like they’re improving their games. I want Andhra to start being talked about by other teams as a team that is very, very good. If results come our way, well and good. You obviously have some big states here in India that have done well in the past, your Mumbais, Karnatakas etc. I see no reason why Andhra can’t be talked about in the same breath and that’s what I’d like to get in the long run for this team.”
Conversations with players in the Andhra Ranji team shed some light on how Stead likes to operate. His emphasis is on the team doing well, with individual performances not being judged purely by statistics. He has repeatedly spoken to his bowling unit about hunting in packs, explaining that the pressure built by a pair could bear fruit for those who follow.
In his quest to change Andhra’s fortunes, Stead has put in rules to ensure that nothing derails his plans, including injuries and suspensions.
“15 people will go for Ranji matches. There are five standbys. He said every other player should be in the Vizianagaram camp. He has given our coaches the agenda for the upcoming weeks. He said that if one selected player is unavailable, for whatever reason, he wants to pick someone who is in the camp, not a player who is sitting at home relaxing,” Satish revealed.
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Stead has also worked with coaches back in New Zealand as coach development manager and sees value in transferring those experiences here too.
“I was still playing at the time, so I guess I tried to bring a number of current happenings which was going on in the First Class scene in New Zealand and make sure our coaches were up to speed with the current game as well. There’d been a bit of a gap at New Zealand Cricket for a while around their Level 3 course, so I helped to redevelop that and, I guess, bring in a little bit more professionalism along with some ideas, not necessarily about playing the game, but around the game as well, planning, periodisation, coaching process, things like that. So that was interesting.”
Meanwhile, Stead – whose heart still beats for the Kiwi cricket ecosystem – has found a way to stay connected to the workings of the sport back home. In September, he was signed on as a high-performance coach tasked with supporting player and coach development and overseeing high-performance programmes within the ambit of New Zealand Cricket.
The ‘part-time’ gig, as he calls it, will let him continue to contribute to the cricket ecosystem in his country and not something that will require him to divide his attention and resources between two entities.
“My new role is a part-time thing. I’m there to help support the first-class players and coaches when I’m back in New Zealand, but also to probably oversee the New Zealand A program a little bit more and the players that are coming in,” he explained.
“That could be across men and women as well. It’s exciting for me that there is still that opportunity to give back to New Zealand. It’s been a huge part of my life for the last 30 years, when you consider coaching and playing. To be able to still have a connection there is great for me.”
