'I will give tips, rather than coach'

MUMBAI: Even as one congratulated Kapil Dev on his appointment as India''s bowling coach, he countered saying, "The media has got it all wrong. I won''t be the coach as such. I will be just giving tips to the bowlers."
Kapil added, "It''s like the Bangalore camp at the start of the season. We gave them a few pieces of advice."
Kapil said his role was more of a motivator, "It''s easy for the players to get stale. If you give them some ideas they may work for them and make them play harder."
One thing Kapil prides himself on today is his improved communication skills. "I wish Dilip Vengsarkar was here," he had remarked privately after giving a long talk to students of Bandra''s St Stanislaus High School as part of Max''s Junior World Cup promo.
Vengsarkar would pull leg Kapil about his speaking in his young days. "You have seen me talk to the boys it''s virtually the same I will be doing."
Kapil said the critical thing was telling the injured players how to take care of themselves. How did he himself avoid injuries? "I worked hard in the off-season. Played different sports like squash, tennis, swimming and riding."
Kapil said his interaction would be more in the conference room than on the field of play.
What inputs could he provided based on his experience of four tours there? "Pitches out there are no different from ours. On the first tour, I was too raw, they hit our spinners all over the park. On the other tours I got some helpful tracks. I remember a fast pitch at Sialkot where Sidhu got a hundred. Also a Lahore pitch where the ball moved a lot."
What more could one teach players already reaching the international level? "Let me reach there (the Kolkata camp) and I will tell you."