NEW DELHI (Reuters)
John Wright is under pressure to save his job as India's coach in the wake of a string of recent defeats and a change of regime at the national cricket board. New Zealander Wright's one-year contract expired last month but he is with the team on their current tour of South Africa while the working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) resolves the contract issue. Former Indian test players have come out in support of their country's first foreign coach, saying Wright should be retained since he has had little time to be judged accurately. "Frankly, he's not been there long enough. To be fair, he should be kept for another term at least," Erapalli Prasanna, the former test off-spinner, told Reuters on Monday. Former New Zealand captain Wright made a spectacular start to his new assignment by guiding India to a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe and a stunning 2-1 victory over Australia in successive home Test series in 2000-01. But the team slipped up after that initial burst, losing a Test series in Sri Lanka, being held 1-1 in Zimbabwe and taking their tally of consecutive losses in one-day finals to eight. With India in South Africa for their toughest tour since Wright took over, experts feel sacking him on the basis of India's performance in the forthcoming three-test series would be a reckless decision. "I would certainly keep him for now. He's not done a bad job and his second year should be far more rewarding since he'll have gained experience," former test medium-pace bowler Atul Wassan, said. "Improvements have been there and India's losing crucial matches is nothing exclusive to Wright's term. That has been happening for quite a while," he added. A congenial man who smiles almost constantly, the 47-year-old Wright is a hard taskmaster who believes in a strict regimen and expects his players to have a high fitness level. "He's stressed a lot on the physical aspect of the game," Prasanna said. "Indians are known to be artistic players but have not really been the fittest. He's trying to give them that." But Wright's strenuous routines have come under scrutiny after a spate of injuries recently. Sachin Tendulkar missed the Sri Lanka tour due to a foot fracture attributed largely to wear and tear. VVS Laxman, the batting hero against Australia, has been out for over two months due to a knee ligament tear. Paceman Ashish Nehra is nursing a groin injury while fast bowler Zaheer Khan and middle-order batsman Hemang Badani are out of the team with foot and back injuries respectively.

"We have to see whether Wright is pushing them too hard or these cases are just a coincidence, or if there is some other reason," Prasanna said. Despite the emphasis on hard work, Wright is a popular coach. "I have feedback from a lot of players and they all seem to like and respect him," Wassan said. "But I'm not sure if, being a friendly person, he can actually enforce himself on issues where he doesn't see eye to eye with senior players."

India for many years said a foreign coach would not be able to adjust to their environment and playing conditions. Many of the BCCI office-bearers who finally decided on appointing Wright no longer hold office after a group headed by former International Cricket Council (ICC) president Jagmohan Dalmiya took over earlier this month. "We'll have to see what the new board thinks," Wassan said. "The argument on whether we should have a foreign coach or not will go on forever."

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