BCCI's gag orders

Kirsten asked to stop match-specific columns

Cricinfo staff

July 3, 2008

	The BCCI hasn't taken very kindly to Gary Kirsten's match comments © Getty Images

The BCCI has restricted the India coach Gary Kirsten from writing columns on matches involving India but made it clear that it did not have any problems with him operating his website. Kirsten, for instance, isn't allowed to comment on the team's preparations and strategies, as well as his feedback on the performance at the end of the game.

"As far his website goes he [Kirsten] had already made us aware of that before he took over as the coach. We have no objection to that", Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief operating officer, told Cricinfo.

Shetty said the board had explained to Kirsten that besides the national captain, no-one was permitted to express his views in the media in any form. "He has been conveyed the message that he can't write columns related to the pre-and post-match, especially when India are playing," Shetty said.

Recently Dilip Vengsarkar, the chief selector, had to stop writing a long-standing column after the board took hard objection to the matter.

Kirsten, along with his assistant Paddy Upton (the mental conditioning coach and trainer) have been writing columns on garykirsten.com, but Kirsten's comments that dealt with selection issues seemed to have rubbed on the wrong side of the board. Kirsten's previous column, published on June 25, touched on the issue of having a rotation policy to keep the players refreshed in an already packed season.

"One of my most important tasks as head coach will be to implement a rotation policy for the national squads in order to keep our best players rested and fresh," Kirsten wrote. "It won't be easy - it never is - but I'm sure there is a sufficient level of maturity and understanding among the players to accept that there is simply too much cricket for any single player to perform at his best all the time.

"Mahendra Singh Dhoni [the Indian ODI and Twenty20 captain] is probably the most obvious example of a man needing a break. In my own experience, by the time a player is feeling tired or 'flat', it is already too late to rest him. The rest needs to happen before fatigue sets in."

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India