Describing Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer's murder as 'shocking and sad', Chandu Borde, former chairman of Indian Cricket Board's selection committee, said on Friday that the episode had done great harm to the 'game of gentlemen'.

The former Test cricketer said Woolmer was a coach of international repute who worked sincerely and diligently for his teams.

"If players do not perform, is the coach to be blamed for their failure? The job of a coach is to impart his knowledge of the game to his team members. The surge in emotions that go with cricket in the sub-continent needs to be tempered with reason," he added.

He felt that it was too early to jump to conclusions in regard to match-fixing factor in Pakistan's stunning loss to Ireland in their World Cup league match as one-day games are always unpredictable.

"Just as Pakistan's defeat to Ireland was shocking, the Indian team's performance against Bangladesh too was unexpected," Borde commented.

On the desirability of having foregin coaches in the sub-continent, Borde said he was in favour of the measure as they had a more 'methodical and research-oriented appraoch to the game'.