How Gary became India's guru

In the Indian Express, Neil Manthorp speaks to Gary Kirsten on how he willed himself to take up coaching and how he went about shaping a talented Indian side into becoming the No. 1 Test team.

He empowered the players in a way they had not been empowered before and in the way he wished he had been empowered as a player. There's no point in asking a bowler or a batsman what "works for him" as a pre-match practice routine, if he's only ever done what his coach has told him to do. So they had to find out what worked for them.

Most of all, however, and this is probably what Kirsten would choose to be remembered for, he presided over a period of Indian cricket in which the national team played more as a Team than ever before.