A new trade for JAK

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J Arun Kumar has previously coached first-class teams in India and had a coaching gig with KXIP in IPL © BCCL

Jagadeesh Arun Kumar, a product of the good old Karnataka brand of cricket: Cerebral, unassuming and high on integrity, is also well-known in the Indian domestic cricketing circles as 'JAK'.

The new USA coach joins with a glittering CV as a coach and player. Apart from scoring 20 first-class hundreds for Karnataka, he also holds the unique distinction of being the only coach in the history of domestic cricket in India to win the treble (Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy) in successive years. It earned him a gig with Kings XI Punjab in the IPL for the 2017 season, an excellent springboard for an eventual move into the big stage of international cricket.

"It is an opportunity to test myself against international sides. I've been associated with Kings XI Punjab in the IPL and have also coached a few Ranji Trophy sides. I have coached in all three formats of the game but the only thing missing was the international experience. So I knew I was good enough for an international team. I am glad everything fell in place and feel excited to share my experience with an upcoming international team" Arun Kumar tells Cricbuzz.

In recent times, the USA coaching job has had a turnover rate higher than a few entry-level gigs in the sales industry. They have had six different coaches as part of their think tank in the past 10 months, failing to retain even one of them. Arun Kumar replaces the interim head coach James Pamment after the latter chose not to assume the role of a full-time head coach offered by USA Cricket. This job has proven to be a throne of thorns for many of Arun Kumar's predecessors as they have failed to gel arguably the most culturally and ethnically diverse outfit in world cricket into a cohesive unit.

"I see that as one of the challenges," he acknowledges. "I have already started on it. We have come up with a list of 36 probables including some U19 players that are in touch with each other and myself.

"On a personal note, I have spoken to every single player. We are discussing a few things from a practical and mental aspect of the game. We are also focusing a lot on group activities even while being in quarantine. We are on the zoom app and doing group fitness sessions. It is heartening to see even during a time like this, the whole group has been compliant. I already like the connect between the team and there's a bit of fun and banter which will go a long way to lay a good foundation to be a strong and formidable unit."

One of the other imminent challenges facing Arun Kumar would be USA's dismal T20 form. It is imperative for a team like the US which sees T20 as an important tool to market the game in one of the world's biggest sports industries to regularly qualify for world events and stand up against the big boys. The team sensationally went down twice against Bermuda and Canada in the Americas WT20 Qualifiers which saw them fail at sealing a berth at the final WT20 qualifiers in UAE last year. Arun Kumar hinted at taking stock of things and choosing a fresh approach to banish USA's T20 woes.

"Since we are lower in the ranks in the T20s there is a bit of apprehension in everybody's mind that whether we are gonna be a good enough team to compete with the top teams of world cricket. I feel we need to identify the core players and make them play against each other to get a good sense of how a certain player reacts to different match scenarios and match stimulations so that we can identify who can fit in our T20 and ODI squads.

"Looking for players who can play the anchor roles or who can be the good finishers and same with the bowlers. Looking to tighten up these important facets of the game so that everyone knows their role exactly. Giving them the clarity of thought so that these talented bunch of players become more proactive than reactive," he adds.

Colloquially, the captain calls the shots in any cricket team. Invariably he marshals his troops and the coach is a sort of a mentor and plays second fiddle from outside the fence. But for some of the top associate nations, it is often the coach who is more experienced than the captain, having played more top-flight cricket or having seemingly greater credentials and repute than the captain. The coach ultimately becomes the nucleus the team revolves around, downplaying the role of the captain. It's a challenge Arun Kumar understands.

"That is important. But if the coach wants results, he's not going to the centre to play cricket. In the end, you have to empower your players because they're the ones taking the spontaneous decisions on the field," Arun Kumar says. "A spoon-fed team who doesn't take ownership will never do well. With USA we have made a leadership group and have given the responsibility to our leaders who look to interact with the subgroups, and I interact with the leaders and the subgroups personally.

"So yes, there's a lot of empowering, but they're the ones who go in the middle and handle the tough situations play and deal with the pressure. That's a very big part of coaching and I'm very happy to do that. I'll be there as a guide to give suggestions on what could have been done better and give them solutions to get better at the end of the day."