I prefer to coach juniors, don't believe in foreign coaches: Mohs

Dhaka, May 11 (UNI) Former Pakistan Opener Mohsin Khan said he did not believe in foreign coaches, but preferred to continue coaching the country's junior team even when given an offer to take up the hot seat.

Talking to UNI here today, Khan said, ''Woolmer was a fatherly figure. He loved the cricketers and had a bonding with them and did a lot for Pakistan cricket. But where did it lead us?'' ''See the case of Greg Chappell and India. You have got to understand that a good player won't necessarily make a good coach and conversely a good coach is not necessarily a great player.

Someone can be a fantastic player and a bad captain,'' he said.

Asked if he would take up the assignment of coaching Pakistan team if offered, the flamboyant batsman said, ''It would be a deep honour. And honestly speaking I had a talk with the Pakistan board.

But I am happy to coach the juniors as there is the real challenge of grooming the cricketers. And there is nothing like working hard to earn my salt.'' ''My heart lies with the juniors and I get a lot of satisfaction in grooming them and preparing them for the big league,'' he added.

Mincing no words the former Pakistani opener said, ''A coach should be like Dav Whatmore. He has earned his credentials. He led Sri Lanka to world cup victory and now see what he has done with Bangladesh. But I still believe that for countries like India and Pakistan where we are so emotional we need home grown coaches.'' ''The problem is that the foreign coaches don't understand our culture and ethos. They think differently and then there is the language barrier. A coach is not so much about technical changes as about mental grooming. I have nothing against their culture. I am not saying it is bad. All I'm saying is that they don't understand our culture that easily,'' Khan, who had a stint in Bollywood after giving up cricket, added.

Himself a coach in the junior programme for Pakistan, Khan added, ''When a coach comes to train a national side, the players he gets are all of certain maturity and have developed some skill. So he has to prepare them mainly in the mind so that they can give their best.

He can at best go into some of the finer points of their techniques and nothing more.'' ''The work is to make the boys strong in mind. That is what we aim at. The fact is that there is more to do in the spirit of the players,'' he said.

UNI