John Wright describes Jagmohan Dalmiya as 'best boss' he has worked for

New Delhi Former Indian cricket team head coach John Wright has described late Jagmohan Dalmiya as a pragmatic cricket administrator and best boss he has worked forJohn WrightWright who coached India between 2000 and 2005 said that Dalmiya who passed away on Sunday was a tough but fair boss I am very sorry to hear about Mr Dalmiyas passing away and as I look back at our time together when I was coach of India he was probably the best boss I have worked for He was a tough but fair boss Wright said in his column for CricinfoI enjoyed working for him because he was tough but he was fair And he always did what he said I had a lot of time for himwe gained a great friendship and respect for each other said the New Zealander He cared about the team very much and he cared about Indian cricket But he was pragmatic enough to know that if things werent going well then something would have to be done and it would probably start with the coachWright said what he loved about Dalmiya was his noninterferenceThe thing I loved about him as a boss was that he never interfered but you knew very well where you stood with him He didnt interfere with me about how to coach you just had to report and let him know what was going on He was hands off in that respect It is why I say he is probably the best boss that I worked for in terms of not telling you how to do your job but telling you what was expected Wright saidExplaining the pragmatic part of Dalmiya further the former New Zealand opening batsman said During one of our meetings just before the team left for the 2003 World Cup he wished me good luck and said if you dont come first or second we might not be meeting again When we reached the final I was reemployed and to me that was okay because we used to joke about it We knew there was a lot at stake that it was important that the team did well said WrightWright said that he and Dalmiya had the understanding that it was important for India and for the team to get the results on cricket field He understood that performance was important it wasnt just about talking the good game you had to get results We would joke about it but it was real He used to say well I might have to show you the door and I would say if things dont go well you will have to show me the door he saidRecollecting the first day of his tenure as India coach Wright said On the first day that I was in the job with India Tony Greig said to me that Mr Dalmiya is a very powerful man in Indian cricket and it was ironic because he wasnt even the president of BCCI then I had been hired by Mr AC Muthiah The next thing I heard when he came to power in 2001 were rumours that he wanted to sack me and physiotherapist Andrew Leipus I met him for the first time when we went to Delhi for a long interview with him two hours in a hotel suiteAt the end of it Ill never forget what he said to me His exact words were Ive heard a lot of things about you but youre quite tough I think we could work together He asked me to put a report together about what Indian cricket needed and I spent a lot of time on it He always wanted you to report personally to him I had to fly every month to see him and we got to know each other well over the next four years A lot of people said a lot ofthings about Mr Dalmiya but you take everyone for what you see and he was a great boss to work for wrote WrightWright remembered another incident early in his tenure when India toured the West Indies I remember early on while working together we were on a tour of the West Indies They were 400 something for 3 andGautam Dasgupta the manager handed me the phone and said it is the president We were sitting in the pavilion in Georgetown Guyana and Mr Dalmiya came on the phone and said John what is going on I cant remember what I said something like We have to do better Mr PresidentIn those days I think failure wasnt tolerated whether you were a captain or coach or even administrator you needed to win or things changed very quicklysuccess of Indian team was very very importantWright also said that Dalmiya was staunch supporter of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly Mr Dalmiya was a big part of that era and while he gave both Sourav Ganguly and me support he was a staunchsupporter of Sourav but he also wanted the results he saidWhen I finished with India he came over from Calcutta to attend a presentation in Delhi and he didnt usually do that a lot it was a nice gesture We kept in touch irregularly over the last few years