Duncan Fletcher's last hurrah with India will be a different challenge | Mike Selvey

It looks as if the succession was in hand all along. Gary Kirsten had an enduring relationship with Duncan Fletcher as a young player for Western Province so is as familiar with his ethos and methods as any and, of course, in the primary position to make a judgment on who may be most suited to take on the unique task of coaching India, perhaps the most challenging role in the game outside actually playing.

Kirsten's success as national coach gave him absolute credibility with the players, administrators and supporters alike and his recommendation, which Fletcher's appointment appears to be, would carry consequent weight.

For Fletcher, this will be one last grand coaching hurrah. His failings with the England side in Australia in 2006-07 and in the 2007 World Cup, disasters both, should in no way camouflage the debt owed by England cricket, which even now is reaping the benefits of the structures he put in place.

His success in regaining the Ashes in 2005 from one of the most powerful teams ever to take the field remains one of the outstanding England achievements in any era. But there was success in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in the sort of conditions in which England traditionally struggled to compete, and in South Africa, too. He also drew a Test series in India. So he brings with him a considerable CV, more substantial in fact than that of the man he succeeds.

Why he feels he needs the challenge at 62 is another matter. Since leaving the England job he has filled his time with consultancy positions, at Hampshire, and with the South Africa and New Zealand sides. It has helped to keep him in the loop. Has he missed the more permanent contact and influence that he could bring to bear?

Presumably the Indian authorities made him a financial offer he would find hard to refuse, although clearly he took the job strictly on his terms rather than be required to fit into a system that did not meet with his approval. The retention of Eric Simons, the bowling coach who also worked with Fletcher at Western Province, is testament to that.

Fletcher may give the impression of being a curmudgeon, and at times an autocrat, but Kirsten and of course MS Dhoni will recognise and appreciate someone whose qualities tend to involve working in the background. He has never craved attention, believing that as it is the players ultimately who win or lose games, then it should be they who have the profile.

He was always keen to set up a business-style structure – whether it was at England or Western Province, or Glamorgan before that – in which the captain was viewed as the chief executive and himself as managing director. If there were ever any doubts that whoever was appointed it would be Dhoni, along with Sachin Tendulkar, who ran the show, then they have been dispelled by Fletcher's advancement.

His first task will be to form a relationship with Dhoni. With England his bond with Nasser Hussain was immense, but those who believed that Hussain's departure would preclude a similar relationship in the future, underestimated Fletcher's pragmatism: that with Hussain was seamlessly replaced with an equally strong relationship, with Michael Vaughan.

Whatever it was to the two England captains, to Fletcher it was always business. He will, no doubt, operate on a similar basis to Kirsten which, given the nature and stature of the players he had, was consultative. He did not reside in India for any length of time, but commuted as and when necessary. It is unlikely, then, that Fletcher will uproot from his Cape Town home.

Now he faces a challenge of a different kind to that he faced when he took over England more than a decade ago. They had reached the bottom of the heap and it was by instilling the team values, with the aid of a determined captain who sought respect before popularity, that he gradually helped drag them up. This is different for, as it stands, India are the top-ranked Test side and World Cup holders.

There is an analogy, of sorts, with the situation in Australia when Steve Waugh handed on the captaincy to Ricky Ponting. Waugh chose his moment well for, although Ponting would enjoy great success with an established side, it was always going to fragment. Fletcher will enjoy being associated with one of the finest of all batting line-ups, but will do so in the knowledge that it is rapidly ageing.

So he may see his main role not as maintaining the performance of the star players, but of bringing on the next generation, not just batsmen but bowlers, where there appears to be a dearth of emerging talent.

He will do so knowing that, as with West Indies fast bowlers, things in all probability will never again be the same. He will also know that a decline during his tenure is almost inevitable.

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Strong leadership, on and off the field, at heart of India's success | Duncan Fletcher

I first met Gary Kirsten when he was a student at the University of Cape Town. Even then he was a quiet and unassuming, but confident individual. I had just become the University cricket coach and Kirsten was struggling to get a game as the No9 batsman. One day I suggested that he should try opening because, while he was not that sound technically, he had a very strong character. I have seen lots of talented players who I knew were never going to make it, but when you have a man who is as strong mentally as Kirsten is, you cannot put a limit on how far they can go.

Now he is the coach of India. He was always energetic and enthusiastic, which is why I thought he would make a good coach, even if the India job was a hell of a one to take on when he had so little experience.

We went on to work together at Western Province for a long time, along with Eric Simons, who is now the India bowling coach. Another member of that UCT team, Paddy Upton, is the conditioning coach. He has a degree in psychology, so he works on the mental side as much as the physical one. It gives me a lot of pride that three players who I worked with so much have gone on to have such success as coaches. They are the unsung heroes behind a squad full of superstars, especially Kirsten.

That is just how he wants it. It is in some people's nature to want to be in headlines, but Kirsten has always been shy of the media. That was part of why he is so well suited to the job. For a long time India lacked a hard edge. Before Kirsten they appointed Greg Chappell to try and give it to them. Chappell was a good coach in the wrong job. His Australian approach did not fit with the culture of the team or of the country. He was abrasive and always spoke his mind. So he rubbed people up the wrong way. Kirsten is a tough man, but he is also the kind who is quick to put an arm around your shoulder. He talks quietly to people and tries to motivate them in a positive way. That is why he has built up such good relationships with the Indian players. You hear them talking about him as though he were a friend more than a coach, which is very telling.

Take Sachin Tendulkar. Chappell almost seemed to want to provoke Tendulkar into playing better, but a player like that does not need challenging. Like all great sportsmen, he drives himself. I know that Kirsten gets on very well with Tendulkar. They talk cricket a lot. Tendulkar is very forthcoming with his ideas, but does not try to dominate discussions. He will make a suggestion, but will support Kirsten whether he goes with it or not. That is a real mark of the man. I like the fact that Tendulkar tried the captaincy and decided it was not for him, but still contributes so much to the team on and off the field. He does it without too much ego. When he gives advice to MS Dhoni he is not demonstrative. He does not wave his arms around just to show the crowd that he is still making decisions, but just walks up and has a quiet word in the captain's ear.

As in all things, you need a little luck to be a good coach and Kirsten is fortunate to have such good lieutenants in the team. The same goes for Dhoni. I have studied Dhoni closely over the years, and these days I am impressed with every single aspect of what he does. Technically, he is not a very good cricketer, but mentally he looks as though he knows how to work with the ability he has got. Just like Kirsten. When he arrived in the team he seemed to be a showman, always playing strange and spectacular shots. But now he is one of those players who can really adjust his style to the situation. He is prepared to grit it out and to give the glory to other batsmen while he just plays the ball around and tries to occupy the crease. If anything he could do with showing a little more of that old flair.

As a captain he has the great gift of being proactive rather than reactive in his decision-making. You see that in his field settings and bowling changes. When decisions go wrong a proactive captain is always going to be more exposed than a reactive one, but Dhoni does not fear that. Look at the stick he took when he gave Ashish Nehra the final over instead of Harbhajan Singh in their defeat against South Africa. Afterwards, Dhoni explained his thinking, which was sound, and shrugged the criticism off.

He is also a model of good body language on the field. Watch him when a catch is dropped. He does not mutter to himself or stare at the grass. He holds his head high and puts his hands on hips, almost as though he did not notice it happen. The message he is sending the players is "OK, let's move on and get on with it."

Kirsten, Dhoni and Tendulkar. They are an excellent trio of leaders. If India win, they will owe an awful lot to all three.

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