'The Main Focus Was...': Amol Muzumdar Reminisces His Biggest Challenge Of Coaching India

Indian women’s team head coach Amol Muzumdar has said that he had to unlearn multiple things when he took up the job, having been involved in men’s cricket for almost three decades, but the team’s determination to win a World Cup spurred him on.

Muzumdar was the coach when the Indian team lifted the World Cup title last month, breaking a longstanding ICC title jinx.

Muzumdar, who never got to play for India, thanks to the country’s problem of plenty, helped the women fulfil a massive dream.

“When I took up the job, there were a lot of adjustments to make. I had spent nearly 30 years involved in men’s cricket, so naturally, there were differences when I moved to the women’s game,” Muzumdar said while speaking to CNN-News18 in an exclusive chat.

“I had to unlearn a few things and then relearn certain things to adapt. But the main focus was to win the World Cup. I will tell you a little bit of an anecdote. When I took over, I had a charter board in my first meeting,” Muzumdar said.

“The first question that was presented to the team was, What’s your ultimate goal and all 15 of them replied to win a World Cup. That was a great start, I felt. So the benchmark was set on the first meeting itself,” Muzumdar added. 

The former Mumbai cricketer was named the women’s team coach in October 2023, after Ramesh Powar was removed in December 2022.

Asked what changes he had to make to the Indian team after taking over the responsibility, Muzumdar said that the team didn’t lack anything as such.

“We were never short on skill or ability; that became clear to me very quickly. Our first series was against England and the next was against Australia, the best in the world. From those matches, I realised we were not lacking in cricketing talent,” Muzumdar said.

“What we needed was to focus on fitness and improve our fielding. Those were the two areas we really worked hard on and fortunately, the team shared the same vision. Over the last two years, we have put in tremendous effort on fitness and fielding and it has made a real difference,” Muzumdar added.