Top Raman: New Indian women's cricket coach WV Raman intends to guide team to greatness

It has been 22 days since WV Raman was handed the reins of the India women’s team. 
They find themselves in a situation where de­spite growing from strength to strength, they have to to put behind the differences that emerged during and after the World T20. Since replacing Ramesh Powar as coach, Raman has been quietly going about his work. Though there was a bit of chaos during his appointment, few would disagree with his credentials.

Since retirement, Raman has been in charge of Tamil Nadu and Bengal in the domestic circuit. He has even been a part of Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders’ support staff. Until recently, he was batting coach at National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. 

He even stepped in to take care of India U-19 side when Rahul Dravid was busy with India A commitments; another indicator of how esteemed Raman is in India’s cricketing circle.
Raman is known to be a no-nonsense coach, one who builds discipline and knows how to unearth talent. He is known for understanding the technicalities of the game; a reason as to why he has always been sought after by domestic teams. But as he embarks into uncharted territory, Raman is excited about what his role has in store. For starters, he has never been associated with the women’s team as a coach, but that holds true for many others too.

“It is different. In the sense that I’ve been used to one particular segment of the game,” Raman tells this newspaper. “But first up, I need to understand the psyche of the players, how they prepare for a game, their training, and their skills. You need to know and understand those things first — including their mindset — before starting with work. This will be a challenging assignment.”
As Raman prepares for his first assignment, the challenge that lies in store for him is quite big indeed.

Only Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj have played before in New Zealand, India’s next destination. That apart, in World Championships, New Zealand are placed second to India’s fifth.

But, even as all eyes are still on Mithali and her fallout with Harmanpreet Kaur, Raman’s pr­agmatic approach to his job is very evident from his resp­onse on that issue. “Whatever happened between them is like a run-out. It happened because of a disagreement while judging a run. I’ve seen in the past that players move on with time. That is one of the good aspects of a solid team culture. They know how to handle situations. What happened already seems a long time ago, and there is no point dwelling in the past.” 

Apart from being a commentator for few women’s matches, and watching them on television, Raman has now delved a lot deeper to prep for his role. After taking over, he spent the first week of 2019 in Vijayawada, watching the Challenger Series unfold. “I’ve seen a few as a commentator, but that was with a different lens. But as coach, I need to look at them with a different perspective; that way there is a change. In Vijayawada, I got to see the talent we have. That is very exciting to begin with.” 

Raman’s appointment also comes at a time when the team has been attracting eyeballs for more good reasons than bad. Their tours have been in sync with the men’s team and their matches are constantly being aired. Results-wise too, India have been one of the strongest teams in the world, having made the final of the 50-over World Cup and WT20 semifinals in a year’s span. And their new coach sees all this as the perfect platform to build on.

“Just going by how the team has performed over the last two years, it is a wonderful opportunity for me to take them to another level. They came so close to winning in those two events. There is enough talent to make them a force to reckon with. The idea is to make them formidable, which is what we will try to do in time.”