We met over a liquid brown vitamin tablet at my hotel in Colombo and it was just like the old days. He has been under enormous scrutiny over the last 18 months and I was interested to see if he had changed in any way. I had seen him on television numerous times during the ten weeks I was in Sri Lanka and on each and every occasion he was engulfed by microphones and subjected to searching questions in an effort to steal a headline. I had noticed that he always handled himself with aplomb and confidence, never giving away too much but releasing enough information to satisfy the journalistic thirst of the hacks and snappers surrounding him. He had learnt a lot over a short space of time. He had to.

During the past year and a half his life has changed dramatically. He has always been a pretty relaxed character but due to an email from left field, he suddenly found himself front and centre in one of the hottest cauldrons going. His life has been pretty much lived in a fish bowl recently and due to his positioning he has belonged to everybody and is responsible for many. He has been public property and scrutinized from all angles as an outsider but has come up trumps so far. He has gained the trust of an exceptional bunch of individuals who themselves face a massive dose of intrusion on a daily basis.

He has been embraced by his immediate subjects and such is his very likeable and unflappable personality, the group of individuals he is answerable for have bought wholeheartedly into his modus operandi. He was never one to rock the boat for the sake of it and has always been non confrontational, but at the same time he is made of the right stuff and possesses a backbone of stainless steel. In his day his determination and application was legendary and he was always the first to admit that raw ability was dished out to the next guy in the line and missed him completely. This made him tougher than most and admired by many.

The current success of my friend is no accident. He is a quality individual who has tackled a tough assignment head on but importantly in an ideal manner. His conciliatory approach has been faultless and rewarding from many angles, not least being secure in the knowledge that support for him is unanimous from both within and above.

Gary Kirsten, Coach of Team India, is a special individual and it was a pleasure to see him again after a hiatus of four years.

Although his responsibility and profile is considerable these days he has not changed a bit and still considers ego to be a dirty word.

He is one of the good guys.

Cheers Gazza.

Recent ColumnsMike Haysman