Gauti ropes in Raman as personal coach

CHENNAI: High-profile professionals being hired as personal coaches isn't always the norm in Indian cricket. Gautam Gambhir, however, in his desperation to make a comeback into the Indian team, has acquired the services of former Tamil Nadu coach and ex-India batsman WV Raman to fine-tune his batting skills.

Raman, who was the assistant coach of Kings XI Punjab during the IPL, has joined Gambhir in New Delhi earlier this week and will working to get the left-hander's game back on track. "We had a talk during the national one-dayers in Vizag. Since then, we have been in touch over phone and when he asked me to come over to New Delhi to work with him, I couldn't say no," Raman told TOI on Tuesday.

Raman, for now, will work with Gambhir for a week. The Kolkata Knight Riders captain is eyeing a berth in the India 'A' squad which will tour South Africa. "Gautam is a quality player who has been successful in all forms of the game. I don't think there's anything drastically wrong with his game, it's just that he has to clear a few cobwebs of the mind," Raman said.

Gambhir got dropped from the Indian team after a poor series against England and since then, the likes of M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have gone on to establish themselves in the team. Raman feels Gambhir still has a few years of international cricket left in him.

"I have told him not to try too hard. It's just a matter of doing the basics right. He has done that over the years and there's no reason why he can't do that all over again. If he gets selected for the India 'A' series to South Africa, it will surely help him," Raman added.

The current training programme includes a gruelling nets session followed by analysis and discussions. "He is very sincere about his game and that makes a coach's job easier," Raman, who has coached Bengal for the last three seasons, said.

Raman was a big influence on Vijay when he made his Ranji debut for Tamil Nadu seven years back. Even now, Vijay takes tips from the senior coach. Raman also played a major role in the rehabilitation of L Balaji when the bowler was making his comeback after a career-threatening back injury.

"Yes, I worked with them closely, but both those assignments were in a team set-up. This is slightly different, where I am working completely on a one-to-one level. It's a different challenge but I'm relishing every bit of it," Raman said.

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Shweta Pandey

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