Gary Kirsten

Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967 in Cape Town) is a former South African cricketer, and the World Cup winning coach of the Indian cricket team. He played 101 Test matches and 185 One-day internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004, mainly as an opening batsman. His half brother Peter, also played provincial cricket for Western Province, and then later for the South Africa cricket team which included the highlight of the Cricket World Cup in 1992.

Playing career

Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He retired from international cricket in 2004 after crafting a match-winning 76 in his final innings, against New Zealand. Against the same country he had made history by becoming the first ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches.

Over the years, he gained a reputation as being a sturdy batsman in both Test cricket and one-day cricket. He could up the tempo of an innings if he needed to, but more often than not he simply waited for the bad ball, much like Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. He was also a reliable fielder. Kirsten held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis. He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations. He made a score of 275 against England as a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on at Kingsmead, still stands as the second-longest innings (in terms of duration) in Test history. The high score was later surpassed by Graeme Smith when he made 277 against England in 2003. He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International; 188 not-out made against the United Arab Emirates during the 1996 World Cup, which is the sixth highest innings of all time in One-Day International cricket, and the highest score in World Cup cricket history.

Coaching career

India (2008-2011)

After retirement, Kirsten organized his own cricket academy in Cape Town. In November 2007, it emerged that Kirsten was a candidate for the vacant post of Indian coach. The BCCI offered him a two-year contract for the post, and despite voicing reservations about concerns he had about having the full support of India players, he confirmed he would be taking the job on 4 December.

He officially started as coach on 1 March 2008. However, he travelled to Australia with India beforehand during the test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March–April 2008 which was drawn 1-1. Also, he coached India to the finals of the Kitply Cup and 2008 Asia Cup (India lost both the finals). During his tenure as Coach of India, Indian cricket team won a home series against Australia beating them 2-0. Apart from clinching the Border-Gavaskar trophy, he also coached India to its first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka and India's first One-Day International series victory against New Zealand in New Zealand after 40 years. India also won the Compaq Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals on 14 September 2009 by 46 runs. A highly accomplished batsman himself, he has brought in a considerable amount of improvement in the batting performances, which is largely associated with his ability to instill better confidence among younger players.

Gary Kirsten has been praised by all players for improving/enhancing their playing techniques, motivating them and discussing tactics that can be deployed on the field. The results could be clearly seen within months. He is considered the key force behind the clearly visible performance improvement in all players. In 2010, Prior to the start of India's tour of South Africa, Indian captain M.S. Dhoni described him as "The best thing to happen to Indian cricket."

Last assignment (2011)

After the tour of South Africa, which India drew 1-1 in the test series lost 3-2 in ODIs, Kirsten announced he would not renew his contract with BCCI because of family commitments, Kirsten often stated that he wanted to spend time with his two growing sons, Joshua and James and wife and three-years away from home was long enough, with Kirsten's contract ending just after the World Cup finishes it is believed that the World Cup will be his last assignment as coach of the Indian national Cricket team. Immediately after the announcement Kirsten was linked with joining South Africa as their coach as the South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl also announced his contract would end after the World Cup as well. Kirsten ended his tenure as coach after India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare on 2nd of April, 2011 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India. During the celebration, he was carried around the ground by Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli to show their respect. His term as coach to the Indian side has come to an end with the Indian team's victory among various media reports of very lucrative offers from various quarters from the cricketing world. But he has cleared the air by adopting a modest approach on his further availabilty as coach to the Indian team by saying that he has no offer and he wanted to say goodbye to India for the reasons that he wants to spend time with his family.