Sairaj Bahutule wants to coach Mumbai

MUMBAI: They say, you can take a cricketer out of Mumbai, but it's virtually impossible to take Mumbai out of a throughbred Mumbai cricketer. One of Mumbai's favourite sons and a man who staged many a rescue act for the 40-time champs, all-rounder Sairaj Bahutule, symbolises that theory completely.
The former leg-spinner, who retired last year after a more than a two-decade long career during which he played two Tests and eight ODIs for India, besides 188 First Class matches — a majority of them for Mumbai—has written to the MCA, seeking a coaching role.Bahutule has been with Vidarbha, first as a player-coach in the 2012-13 season, before slipping into the role full-time last season.
The MCA, last month, had sacked coach Sulakshan Kulkarni after Mumbai were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Maharashtra. Former India opener and coach Lalchand Rajput has been appointed as an interim coach for the remainder of the season where Mumbai will participate in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tourney.
Confirming this development, MCA jt secretary PV Shetty told TOI on Monday: "He has expressed his interest. Our technical committee will take a call on this issue (after the season)." According to a source, ex-India and Railways all-rounder Sanjay Bangar too could be in the race for coaching Mumbai in the coming season. Bangar had applied for the job in 2011 too.
Bahutule is confident of his chances, and is banking on his vast experience in First Class cricket. "Having led the Mumbai and West Zone team for so long, and having played the game since the 90s till last year, I am aware of how cricket has changed over the years, and I can connect with the players easily," the 41-year-old said.
Admitting that it was an "emotional decision" to think about entering the Mumbai dressing room as a coach now, Bahutule agreed that it won't be that easy to coach the current Mumbai team, which struggled badly before bowing out in the quarters this season. "It is a transitional phase, and every team goes through this. We must be patient. You need to give time to these youngsters to deliver. There needs to be a balance of experience and youth in the team. It is a process," the former leggie felt.
Bahutule didn't enjoy a great start to his coaching career with Vidarbha, though. They lost three games out of eight last season and barely managed to avoid relegation. "It was a huge learning curve. It is a developing side. Things didn't go our way. A lot of players didn't perform to their ability. Our ‘professionals' (Hemang Badani and RR Parida) couldn't do well. Umesh Yadav (India pacer) was off-colour too," he
justified.
Maybe, it is with Mumbai that he enjoys better fortunes. Ironically, his predecessor Kulkarni too was Vidarbha's coach earlier.