Kohli must have a say in selection of next coach: Jones

Former Australia batsman Dean Jones believes that Test skipper, Virat Kohli, must have a say when the next Indian coach will be appointed after the completion of ICC Cricket World Cup, 2015. Incumbent coach, Duncan Fletcher's contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expires after the World Cup. "Virat Kohli is the Test skipper now and he will be the ODI and T20I captain in the time to come. So, he must have someone he is comfortable with and together they must work for the betterment of Indian cricket," said Jones, known for his tactical nous during his playing days."They need to come out of the mess their Test team is in, and a new aggressive captain with a new coach should help achieve that. In fact, they have a lot of time on their hands, to pick a proper coach after the World Cup and the IPL. There is a good 3-4 months to settle down on some good choices," Jones added.India have slipped to No 7 in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings, placed just above West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. "The question to ask here is this, have they got the best coaching staff that money can buy?" said Jones, when asked if the BCCI's deep pockets have brought good enough support staff to the team mix.India had changed their support staff after the Test series loss in England. Joe Dawes and Trevor Penney were sacked, while Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Bangar, R Sridhar and Bharat Arun had come in their place."Changing staff again and again isn't a solution either and certainly not one that I recommend. However, has there been a difference in performance from England to Australia, particularly of the bowlers? They bowled short and wide in England and they have bowled short and wide in Australia. And India have lost both series despite playing some competitive cricket," Jones explained."What India need, and what the BCCI can afford, is a proper bowling coach. Someone needs to be talking to these young bowlers all the time, before and after the matches as well as during the breaks. Support staff can only do so much. A proper bowling coach, a big name, an ex-cricketer might be able to help these young bowlers better. They have the pace and the ability to swing the ball, they have the talent. They just don't know to use it," he said.In an exclusive chat with PTI, Team Director, Ravi Shastri, had hinted that he will be willing to take a permanent role with the team after the World Cup. Interestingly, there were also speculations that Michael Hussey, former Australian batsman, is a likely candidate to take over the mantle of coaching the Indian unit from Fletcher, but Hussey has since ruled himself out of the running.Indian bowlers struggled to hit good lengths consistently in Australia and with the margin for error on true wickets Down Under being small, the hosts took advantage of it to amass big scores. Jones, on his part, said that India can look at playing five bowlers. "Look, the problem for India has been very simple. They can't get 20 wickets. If they can't do it with four bowlers, they must do it with five bowlers. Look at R Ashwin. He is a decent bat. Wriddhiman Saha has good technique too."In overseas Tests, these two will have to do the job of the sixth batsman and India need to play four other bowlers, an extra spinner along with Ashwin and three pacers. It will give Kohli more control and more options to play around with. He looked clueless when they were getting hit all over the park the other day. Australia scored 200 runs in one session. And the Indian attack was bowling short and wide after playing in this country for the last two months. Now, you can't bowl like that in ODIs or the outcome will be pretty similar," Jones warned.Jones though, said that in ODIs, India have the ability to win games despite their bowlers struggling to bowl with control. "Limited-overs cricket is a different ball game. India definitely have a chance because their batting is quite good and they can chase targets. The bowlers have pace and swing, so they can use that in ODI matches here as well. However, if they don't bowl proper lines and lengths, how many times will the batsmen rescue the team, even in ODI matches?" Jones signed off.