This won’t go out of fashion!

South Africa and Namibia allrounder David Wiese made headlines recently when he spoke about Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit being ldquomilitantrdquo in his coaching approachMilitant is a strong word even for a tough coach like Pandit and one wonders what exactly the highly accomplished domestic coach enforced in his first year as an IPL coach in 2023 to throw up such an impressionldquoHe Pandit is known in India as a very militant type of coach He is very strict very disciplinarian that type of stuff Sometimes in franchise cricket when you have overseas guys whorsquove played all over the world they donrsquot need anyone coming and telling them how they need to behave what they need to wear and what they need to do the whole time So that was toughrdquo Wiese was quoted as saying on the Hitman for Hire A year in the life of a franchise cricketer podcast recentlyWhat struck me in the above quote was the bit about Pandit presumably telling his overseas players how to turn up It could well be that Pandit enforced something to do with attire or equipment Doubtless he is old school and was brought up in an era where seniors insisted on cricketers looking like cricketers ie being neat and tidyVijay Manjrekar was another Mumbai stalwart who was a stickler when it came to appearance and equipment Dr Chandrakant Patankar the former India and Mumbai wicketkeeper played a lot of his cricket under Manjrekar at Shivaji Park Gymkhana Patankar told me recently how Manjrekar wouldnrsquot allow a player to be part of a match even if one of the spikes on the sole of his shoes was missingOn the subject of spikes Vijay Manjrekarrsquos son Sanjay revealed in his insightful book Imperfect how as a child accompanying his famous father for matches he would be fascinated by the sound of spikes as he watched cricketers return to the Shivaji Park Gymkhana pavilionManjrekar Jr also observed his fatherrsquos obsession for proper gear ldquoVijay Manjrekar was renowned in the cricketing circles for the way he took care of his cricket gear They were like little idols of worship for himrdquo wrote Sanjay in his 2017 bookIan Chappell once said in an interview with Harsha Bhogle how his grandfather Vic Richardson who led Australia only told him a few things on the game of cricket One of them was not to lead Australia like a Victorian if he ever got that job to captain his country indicating he should be an aggressive captain The other was ldquoalways look like a good cricketer dress like a good cricketerrdquoIanrsquos brother Greg elaborated on that advice in his biography written by Adrian McGregor who quoted his subject as saying ldquoWhen Ian grew older Vic gave him the odd piece of advice The first was a trifle loaded lsquoIf you canrsquot be a good cricketer at least dress like onersquo And then when Ian became the Australian vicecaptain lsquoJust do me a favour If you ever get to captain Australia never captain it like a Victorianrsquo He evidently thought them Victorians unadventurous And finally lsquoDonrsquot believe that anything is new in cricket Itrsquos all been tried before Field placings are like fashion If you hang onto a suit long enough it will come back into favourrsquo rdquoTalking of fashion ML Jaisimha was as dapper as they come in flannels Fans couldnrsquot take their eyes off him In My Way mdash the biography of ML Jaisimha authors A Joseph Antony and Jayanthi Jaisimha the late cricketerrsquos wife wrote ldquoHis whites just had to be perfect and tailored just right for him The lsquotightsrsquo he wore had the acidtongued AFS Talyarkhan famous radio commentator figuratively taking the flannels off Jai It made little difference to Jai who felt properly tailored tights enabled him to stoop to pick up and throw the ball with easerdquoOne thing for sure the dashing batsman who passed away at the age of 60 in 1999 would have needed no instructions on how to dress for a game Back to Pandit Hersquod be well aware of the change in pitch as it were Coaching an IPL team would be different from guiding Ranji Trophy teams In fact it could well be chalk and cheese But the emphasis on discipline would be a constantNishit Shetty the former Mumbai batsman told me on Tuesday that Pandit wonrsquot compromise on discipline and procedure ldquoI have played under Chandu for Mahindra and Mumbai It took me very little time to realise that this guy is high on discipline and it sure helps a young player In domestic cricket when we travelled with the Mumbai team we all had to be dressed in the same attire He used to impose fines for breaches and the money collected was either spent on a gettogether or a reward for a young player who had fared wellrdquo said Shetty who was part of the Mahindra team when the Panditled outfit won the Times Shield by beating Tata Sports Club in 1993 apart from being in the XI when Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in 200203Some of Panditrsquos methods can surprise even people outside the team set up Like I was when Pandit walked in for a prematch press conference before the Mumbai v Australia tie at the Cricket Club of India in 2004 armed with a voice recorder Irsquom not sure whether he was more interested in recording his and the then Mumbai captain Sairaj Bahutulersquos views or the reportersrsquo questions But there is no question about him being an exceptional coach and who is to say he wonrsquot dress up KKRrsquos cabinet with their third IPL triumph in Maymiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper