Krish Srikkanth, Raman welcome Ford's appointment

Chennai, June 10 (UNI) Former cricketers Krish Srikkanth and W V Raman today welcomed the appointment of South African Graham Ford as the Team India coach.

Talking to UNI, former Indian Skipper and dashing opener Srikkanth said ''obviously the players wanted him and it's good.

''It's better to have a person like Ford as a coach instead of appointing senior cricketers as it will avoid any ego clash,'' he said obviously referring to former coach Greg Chappell, who had quit after India's debacle in the World Cup.

Ford'sappointment would motivate the cricketers and get the best out of them, he felt.

Comparing Greg and Ford, he said, the Aussie was trying to enforce his ideas. ''One should fine tune the skills rather than enforcing one's ideas,'' adding, ''Ford's appointment would help the Indian players fine tune their skills.'' Former Indian Opener and Tamil Nadu Coach W V Raman took a neutral stand, saying it remained to be seen how he performs as every coach have their own methodologies.

On being asked whether a home or a foreign coach would be better, he said, ''Whether he is a foreigner or an Indian it does not matter as long as he delivered the goods.'' ''The most important thing is India should come back into the top,'' the former Indian opener said.

UNI