In his second stint as Mumbai coach, Pravin Amre faces the challenge of overseeing the transition period as the 40 time champions look to bring back the glory days. The former India international was at the helm from 2006-2010 in which Mumbai won three titles. But unlike the star-studded line-up back then, Amre now is entrusted with the responsibility of working with a younger team that has been hampered by the injury-induced absence of the experienced Wasim Jaffer and Abhishek Nayar. The lack of experience has meant that the team hasn’t been consistent in the first half of the Ranji campaign, losing outright to Jammu and Kashmir and earning just one point from two home games. However, the carefree approach has also earned them an outright victory against Uttar Pradesh that has kept them in hunt for a knock-out berth. Amre, who is also known for shaping the careers of the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Naman Ojha among others, knows that the team would need a couple of special performances to achieve that goal. During the team’s match against MP at the Wankhede Stadium bcci.tv caught up with the coach to understand the challenges of working with a young team and his goals for this season. Excerpts: Mumbai is a team in transition, so what are the challenges you see? Even if the team is in transition, expectations are always high because once you are representing Mumbai people except you to deliver. The moment you come in the Mumbai dressing room the atmosphere is different. It is not just about the skill or temperament. But about delivering. That, I think is hard for (on) some young players. We as coaches have to give them ample time to settle down in the team. It is not that easy to come in from Under 19, club or office cricket and deliver in first-class cricket. The opponents are all good teams. The standard is higher, so the role of a coach is to spot good talent, back them even through failures and that is critical (part for me right now I think). Is making youngsters aware of the legacy of Mumbai cricket an added aspect to be worked on? Absolutely! You don’t need to remind seniors what their responsibilities are. But here (with youngsters) you have to make sure that you give them programs, telling them what they have to do and the things they have to be careful about. You have to play your natural game, but at the same time you have to be responsible. Shot selection is important if you are a batsman. And if you are a bowler, it’s important to bowl consistent lines because you are facing a quality attack or bowling to a quality batsman. One loose session and the game drifts away. So understanding the importance of winning sessions is very critical for these youngsters. How different is it while coaching individual players vis-a-vis a team? I started with coaching a team in 2006. But at that time the challenge was different because they were all experienced players. That was a totally different experience. This challenge is bigger, because these boys are young and there are so many debutants, which is a typical challenge that I came across. On the other hand, coaching individuals is totally different from coaching a team. In a team, when someone is not performing you can drop them. While coaching a team, the team comes first. You can back (players). But to a certain level because there are other stake holders -like selectors and think tanks – who are involved in the process and hence there are limitations. But when you are working with an individual, you have to be there during their bad phase. Basically, you can’t leave them (in lurch) and have to support them especially when things are not going right for them and help them improve in certain areas. In this case, you are the one who plans. That is a completely different dimension of coaching. What do you look for in players? First: skill. As a batsman how much skill they have got, that’s the gut feeling I have got as a coach. Then I look at their physical ability and then I look at the mental aspect like gauging how they handle pressure situations. Because in cricket, it’s all about how you deliver under pressure. If you don’t have the skills, if you are not fit, and you don’t have the mental toughness you can’t survive at the next level. Grooming a young captain, how do you work with him? It’s a new generation. It’s very important to go with their mood to convince them and also build a rapport. Sometimes you have to put your foot down. I also have to follow my own gut feeling. We discuss a lot. Sometimes I have to use my authority as coach and say that this is what I need. But at the same time it is important to allow him to go and express himself. It’s not like it’s only my way. It’s about allowing him also to give his ideas because ultimately he is the one going to deliver in the middle. What are the key areas this team is working on? When you lose you know there are areas that you have not done well and there are areas to improve. Batting let us down in the first few games. We restricted opponents under three hundred runs in earlier games but the batsmen failed to score over three hundred in the first couple of games. It’s important to get runs. We were struggling with our opening partnerships. We tried different combinations but it never clicked. That is a major area we have to work on. At present, Aditya Tare and Akhil Herwadkar is the best possible combination for us. A left-hand - right-hand combination. I am only worried that Tare is also the ‘keeper. So when we are fielding first it will be tough on him. But the team needs this from him. Then there was the challenge of missing the senior players, who were injured. Wasim Jaffer was injured in the first game and then Abhishek Nayar got hurt in Kolkata. But hopefully they will be back soon. What is the key to consistent batting? For any batsman, it’s important to have tremendous concentration. That’s the basic. For all great batsmen concentration was the common factor. Who are the players to look out for this season? It is too early to say but Shardul is making news with his performances. Shreyas Iyer came up with a couple of good knocks and we are also backing Akhil (Herwadkar) who is also scoring runs. To be honest this is my plan. Three India Under 19 players (other being Sarfaraz Khan) are going to be Mumbai’s future. They have already played for India U19 and have the talent and skill. The only thing is translating that potential in performance at the first-class level. But we should allow them to grow which is also very important. Shardul Thakur is the key to Mumbai's attack especially with Dhawal Kulkarni out on national duty, what have you been working on with him? With Shardul, there is a special bond because he is the product of the Shivaji Park Gymkhana academy and I have been watching him since he was very young. I know his capabilities and the talent he has. I was glad with the way he performed in the first few games. When needed, he put up his hand and delivered three back to back five-wicket hauls, which is special. From the team’s perspective, he delivered at the right time to get the momentum on our side. He played a bigger role than anybody because in today’s cricket, getting wickets is a major thing and that is a job that he did for the team. He picked top-order wickets and that gave us real edge. Shardul’s innings in Kanpur was also special. I think he can be developed into a good all-rounder. He has to work on couple of things in his batting and more over he has to believe in himself. What have you and bowling coach, Omkar Salvi been telling him? For young bowlers getting into the right mindset is important. You may have talent and the pace but to get wickets it is important to bowl on the right spots, and that’s what we make him understand. It is critical from the team perspective also because if he is expensive then the match drifts away. It is important to not only get wickets but also control the game for the team and that’s the job he did for us against Railways, UP and Bengal. What is the goal for this season? For Mumbai it is always going there and winning the Ranji Trophy, nothing else. Otherwise it’s a bad year. But ultimately you have to go through the right process, right approach. It’s like developing yourself game by game, peaking at the right time is important.