Thursday, March 29, 2007
Bringing of Greg Chapel inside Indian cricket is the sole cause of the debacle of Indian Cricket
Created a fear Psychosis in the minds of the team Members.
Essentially, I believe that Greg is an autocrat, and wants non-questionable and meek team mates, whom he could bend at his will. May be he felt that Ganguly would not allow such a game plan of his as we had seen that Ganguly is essentially a fierce Indian ( waving his T-Shirt), is a respected “DADA” to his younger team mates like Yuvaraj, Bajji, Kaif, Badani etc. Further Ganguly is the sole senior player who does not play for his personal glory – either in terms of number of centuries, or the reputation as Mr.Solid or Mr. Wall. . Hence Ganguly could be the only possible hurdle for Greg to run his reign.
(Some of the senior players are more interested to gain their personal goal -Tendulkar as a statistics creator, or Dravid, Mr wall. Such talented experts, would not play differently, when occasion demands them to lift India out of trouble as against gaining commendation or the usual head lines in the media like " stood like a wall amidst ruins, or despite a brilliantly Gathered ton by Tendulkar the total team collapsed", etc.)
Greg achieved two goals in one sinister move, that is,
1) remove Ganguly so that there is none strong enough in the team to question him and
2) others will keep shut after seeing what has happened to Ganguly.
HE HAD ALREADY STARTED HIS GAMEthe second time after the debacle at the world cup, BY leaking out the so called non-co-operation from Senior Members. He does not bother whether the Heads of Dravid and Tendulkar may roll, but he would like to continue his mercenary contract. LET US HAVE A or MANY INDIAN COACHES, than an alien.
DON QUIXOTE - cut the feet to fit the shoes ?
I would also like to add, that the team manager/coach should identify the core-competency of each player, and then they are used for their core-competencies.
Irfan Pathan is essentially a swing Bowler, and who can at time act as a pinch hitter. The team management treated him as competent batsman- number three position belongs to the strongest Batsman of the team. He was asked to open, he was asked to play one-down, and thus leaving him confused as to who he is in a real sense. Naturally, he can not be a success every time he goes inside, thus we lost one great and budding youngster by foolish plans of Mr Chappel and a meek Dravid- after all walls do not speak. A lot of expert counselling should be given to him. In fact it was he and L Balaji who brought glory to India in Pakistani soil.
Good old days core competency was identified as Openers, middle order and pinch hitters. Till recently, this was practised. Kaif could not get in as middle order position is filled. Sadagopan Ramesh could not play as SS Das was found to open with Tendulkar. Rajinder goel could not play as Bedi filled the leg-spinners slot. I can go on and on. But now, no one knows till such time the first two Batsmen walk inside, as to who are going to be the openers. Keeping the reputation and place in the team for TENDULKAR and SHEWAGH was more important than core competency, and some scapegoat(s) are always found, and these scapegoats play under tremendous pressure and fear as to, whether they will be retained or dropped. Thus the Indian team is filled with three castes;
a) Complacent class – will be in th team for ever irrespective of performance – Ajit Agarkar, Virendar Shewag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, etc
b) not sure about future caste- Murali Karthik, Badani, Kaif, Zahir, Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Raina
c) in between caste –Ganguly, Yuvaraj, Munaf, Bajji
d) strictly for one appearance- Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, T Kumaran, and in General star performers from Tamil Nadu.
Now a batsman is a Batsman and they can be asked to play at any slot as the team Management decides, and yet they have to succeed, irrespective of the fact whether they have competency to play at any slot. The members are reduced to as mute and helpless members and as they have lost all their self respect and ego they have become emotion less robots. Probably, the same emotion less character is exhibited whether India wins or loses.
Thus getting the eleven is the concern of the team Management- but they need not answer the question –which eleven ? Despite two continuous failures, Uthappa, and Shewag,will play the third also, while Dinesh Karthik, Pathan and Shreeshant had to sweat it out in the Caribbean.
The Coach failed as a coach.
For more than 50 years, I have been seeing the Indian Cricketers
1. incompetent in running between the wickets
2. not grounding the bat-or use the height as length by falling flat to gain extra yard or two ( sole exception is Kaif)
3. Incompetent in playing away moving ball pitched on the off-stump _Exception GR Viswanath, Manjerekar, Gavaskar and Srikant in that order)
4. running the first run fast- irrespective of a possible 2nd or 3rd run. It is comical to see our players walking between the wickets. My mother used to say that there must dedication and discipline in whatever you do.
5. Chasing a ball and using your height to gain extra yards while fielding.
6. Pitching the ball short as a reaction to a four in the previous ball (Agarkar is notorious)
I would consider that the job of a coach is to constantly watch and make people to correc their short comings. As a management consultant, I had always taught that, by forcibly doing something for 21 days you could make it as your habit. We had witnessed the same sloppiness in fielding and in running between the wicket. What did Chappel do to correct this perennial problem?.
There was always a complaint that India was lacking All-rounders. If so how come that Tendulkar, or Shewag or Yuvaraj and occasionally Ganguly used to bowl in almost all matches. That means, there was no specific attempt was made to develop all- rounders by the team coach or the team members would like to be called specialists than all rounders to protect their own place. Shaun-pollock or Kalis is no Shane Bond or Bret lee, but they are consistent wicket takers.
Indian Coaches
Time and again, I have seen our ex cricketers like Gavaskar, Krish Srikanth, Mohindar Arunlal etc., comment on the shortcomings of our players- say absence of leg movement, or wrong line and length etc. If these players were made to serve the team as advisers to the team members already under one senior Indian cricketer as coach, a lot could be achieved. I would even go to the extent, that person like Kaif could be asked to advice his team mates on running between the wickets, or Yuvaraj on fielding. Kapil had publicly accepted that it was Manoj Prabhakar who gave him tips about reverse swing. Manoj was not worried about his place in the team, by training somebody also on the technique he alone had. Simillarly a senior owler like Srinath commenting on the expertise and the knowledge of an youngster like Venkatesh Prasad. Both Kapildev and Srinath did not sgow egoistic tendencies as they treated youngsters like their equal and as team members. It is painful to hear our present day captain using words like "our boys " or I am proud about our boys, cleanly exhibiting a divide within the team.The ego that senior/ junior member of Team India must dissolve, and all the players must feel that they are one team comprising of experts belonging to different core competencies.
Selection
The lap-top should select the team and not parochial, partisan and commercial selectors. There were rumours in 60s that a greatest of the great used to publicly proclaim that “ I would never allow a Madrasi inside the team”, or Kiran More’s alleged public out burst that Ganguly has no room in the team, and in fact he will never play for India again. The data should not be mere scores, as to the number of 100s, total run scored etc., else Tendulkar would be playing even when he is 60 Plus .
The value of score, impact of the score, and how the score impacted the team’s and the countries goal. Imagine, Kaif, Yuvaraj or Badani or Dhoni coming in as number 7, when India is reeling at 127 for 5, at 40th over. ( Mr VVS, WALL/STRONG, and Tendulkar had left the team in similar situation, while their own score could have been 60+. The tendency of these youngsters would naturally be to improve the run rate, and in the process of hitting out they could have failed. My request is- do not punish these youngsters with negative points in their data-base, but punish the stalwarts who left India under such circumstances.
If India has to make a decent score, the top order- batsman should collectively reach a strike rate of 90+. Thus, the who ever has achieved a consistent 80+ strike rate should find a place, than some one with strike rates of 120, 40, 40, 80, 60, 60 etc. More importantly, how the strike rate was achieved:
1 to 5 overs 40, 6-15 overs 60 and then end with a strike rate of 90, is poor compared to another batsman with strike rates of
1 to 5 overs 80, 6-15 overs 75 and then end with a strike rate of 90 even though both the batsman had taken same number of balls to score their runs. The second man, would leave his opponents demoralized and his team mates motivated.
If a data base of all Ranji/ Duliph players are maintained, then the data should select the team than parochial feelings or zonal representations or Agarkar selectors. ( In fact the chief of Indian selectors, was himself a great example that he achieved selection grade qualities after playing and failing consistently in his initial days
Indian Players should play to the Gallery and not to the Media
I miss iron hearted Abid Ali, Durrani, Borde, Krish Srikant, Kapilldev, Gavaskar, Solkar, Wadekar, Viswanath etc., who played for the country and to the Gallery and definitely not to the media. Those were the days, body line bowling, Hall-Gilchrist, Thomsons bowl to these under equipped courageous knights. How many blows thye must have weathered. ( Anshuman Gaekwad and Vegsarker- with due credits to their courage, had more number of balls on their chest, elbow or shoulders than on the bat ) Can one forget the felling of Nari Contractor through a head fracture. Our present day cricketers are as much equipped like American Soccer Players, but still at a loss to face the fast moving ball. Why? Are they afraid of losing their media endorsements if they get hurt?
Players of yester-years were concerned about satisfying the spectators. How can I ever forget the sixers galore from Durani, or the late-cut experts like Manjerekar and Viswanath or the Guru of modern one dayers-Srikanth who demonstrated to the world
the importance high-scoring in the first fifteen overs. They wanted to make the spectators happy. Their only income was from the spectators. Even after shamelessly losing will the new boost advertisement will say- “ Boost is the Secret of my failure”. When our cricketers are guaranteed their income irrespective of their performance, why should they perform. Or Dravid saying that he would trust the words of only Greg for his life-insurance.
Created a fear Psychosis in the minds of the team Members.
Essentially, I believe that Greg is an autocrat, and wants non-questionable and meek team mates, whom he could bend at his will. May be he felt that Ganguly would not allow such a game plan of his as we had seen that Ganguly is essentially a fierce Indian ( waving his T-Shirt), is a respected “DADA” to his younger team mates like Yuvaraj, Bajji, Kaif, Badani etc. Further Ganguly is the sole senior player who does not play for his personal glory – either in terms of number of centuries, or the reputation as Mr.Solid or Mr. Wall. . Hence Ganguly could be the only possible hurdle for Greg to run his reign.
(Some of the senior players are more interested to gain their personal goal -Tendulkar as a statistics creator, or Dravid, Mr wall. Such talented experts, would not play differently, when occasion demands them to lift India out of trouble as against gaining commendation or the usual head lines in the media like " stood like a wall amidst ruins, or despite a brilliantly Gathered ton by Tendulkar the total team collapsed", etc.)
Greg achieved two goals in one sinister move, that is,
1) remove Ganguly so that there is none strong enough in the team to question him and
2) others will keep shut after seeing what has happened to Ganguly.
HE HAD ALREADY STARTED HIS GAMEthe second time after the debacle at the world cup, BY leaking out the so called non-co-operation from Senior Members. He does not bother whether the Heads of Dravid and Tendulkar may roll, but he would like to continue his mercenary contract. LET US HAVE A or MANY INDIAN COACHES, than an alien.
DON QUIXOTE - cut the feet to fit the shoes ?
I would also like to add, that the team manager/coach should identify the core-competency of each player, and then they are used for their core-competencies.
Irfan Pathan is essentially a swing Bowler, and who can at time act as a pinch hitter. The team management treated him as competent batsman- number three position belongs to the strongest Batsman of the team. He was asked to open, he was asked to play one-down, and thus leaving him confused as to who he is in a real sense. Naturally, he can not be a success every time he goes inside, thus we lost one great and budding youngster by foolish plans of Mr Chappel and a meek Dravid- after all walls do not speak. A lot of expert counselling should be given to him. In fact it was he and L Balaji who brought glory to India in Pakistani soil.
Good old days core competency was identified as Openers, middle order and pinch hitters. Till recently, this was practised. Kaif could not get in as middle order position is filled. Sadagopan Ramesh could not play as SS Das was found to open with Tendulkar. Rajinder goel could not play as Bedi filled the leg-spinners slot. I can go on and on. But now, no one knows till such time the first two Batsmen walk inside, as to who are going to be the openers. Keeping the reputation and place in the team for TENDULKAR and SHEWAGH was more important than core competency, and some scapegoat(s) are always found, and these scapegoats play under tremendous pressure and fear as to, whether they will be retained or dropped. Thus the Indian team is filled with three castes;
a) Complacent class – will be in th team for ever irrespective of performance – Ajit Agarkar, Virendar Shewag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, etc
b) not sure about future caste- Murali Karthik, Badani, Kaif, Zahir, Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Raina
c) in between caste –Ganguly, Yuvaraj, Munaf, Bajji
d) strictly for one appearance- Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, T Kumaran, and in General star performers from Tamil Nadu.
Now a batsman is a Batsman and they can be asked to play at any slot as the team Management decides, and yet they have to succeed, irrespective of the fact whether they have competency to play at any slot. The members are reduced to as mute and helpless members and as they have lost all their self respect and ego they have become emotion less robots. Probably, the same emotion less character is exhibited whether India wins or loses.
Thus getting the eleven is the concern of the team Management- but they need not answer the question –which eleven ? Despite two continuous failures, Uthappa, and Shewag,will play the third also, while Dinesh Karthik, Pathan and Shreeshant had to sweat it out in the Caribbean.
The Coach failed as a coach.
For more than 50 years, I have been seeing the Indian Cricketers
1. incompetent in running between the wickets
2. not grounding the bat-or use the height as length by falling flat to gain extra yard or two ( sole exception is Kaif)
3. Incompetent in playing away moving ball pitched on the off-stump _Exception GR Viswanath, Manjerekar, Gavaskar and Srikant in that order)
4. running the first run fast- irrespective of a possible 2nd or 3rd run. It is comical to see our players walking between the wickets. My mother used to say that there must dedication and discipline in whatever you do.
5. Chasing a ball and using your height to gain extra yards while fielding.
6. Pitching the ball short as a reaction to a four in the previous ball (Agarkar is notorious)
I would consider that the job of a coach is to constantly watch and make people to correc their short comings. As a management consultant, I had always taught that, by forcibly doing something for 21 days you could make it as your habit. We had witnessed the same sloppiness in fielding and in running between the wicket. What did Chappel do to correct this perennial problem?.
There was always a complaint that India was lacking All-rounders. If so how come that Tendulkar, or Shewag or Yuvaraj and occasionally Ganguly used to bowl in almost all matches. That means, there was no specific attempt was made to develop all- rounders by the team coach or the team members would like to be called specialists than all rounders to protect their own place. Shaun-pollock or Kalis is no Shane Bond or Bret lee, but they are consistent wicket takers.
Indian Coaches
Time and again, I have seen our ex cricketers like Gavaskar, Krish Srikanth, Mohindar Arunlal etc., comment on the shortcomings of our players- say absence of leg movement, or wrong line and length etc. If these players were made to serve the team as advisers to the team members already under one senior Indian cricketer as coach, a lot could be achieved. I would even go to the extent, that person like Kaif could be asked to advice his team mates on running between the wickets, or Yuvaraj on fielding. Kapil had publicly accepted that it was Manoj Prabhakar who gave him tips about reverse swing. Manoj was not worried about his place in the team, by training somebody also on the technique he alone had. Simillarly a senior owler like Srinath commenting on the expertise and the knowledge of an youngster like Venkatesh Prasad. Both Kapildev and Srinath did not sgow egoistic tendencies as they treated youngsters like their equal and as team members. It is painful to hear our present day captain using words like "our boys " or I am proud about our boys, cleanly exhibiting a divide within the team.The ego that senior/ junior member of Team India must dissolve, and all the players must feel that they are one team comprising of experts belonging to different core competencies.
Selection
The lap-top should select the team and not parochial, partisan and commercial selectors. There were rumours in 60s that a greatest of the great used to publicly proclaim that “ I would never allow a Madrasi inside the team”, or Kiran More’s alleged public out burst that Ganguly has no room in the team, and in fact he will never play for India again. The data should not be mere scores, as to the number of 100s, total run scored etc., else Tendulkar would be playing even when he is 60 Plus .
The value of score, impact of the score, and how the score impacted the team’s and the countries goal. Imagine, Kaif, Yuvaraj or Badani or Dhoni coming in as number 7, when India is reeling at 127 for 5, at 40th over. ( Mr VVS, WALL/STRONG, and Tendulkar had left the team in similar situation, while their own score could have been 60+. The tendency of these youngsters would naturally be to improve the run rate, and in the process of hitting out they could have failed. My request is- do not punish these youngsters with negative points in their data-base, but punish the stalwarts who left India under such circumstances.
If India has to make a decent score, the top order- batsman should collectively reach a strike rate of 90+. Thus, the who ever has achieved a consistent 80+ strike rate should find a place, than some one with strike rates of 120, 40, 40, 80, 60, 60 etc. More importantly, how the strike rate was achieved:
1 to 5 overs 40, 6-15 overs 60 and then end with a strike rate of 90, is poor compared to another batsman with strike rates of
1 to 5 overs 80, 6-15 overs 75 and then end with a strike rate of 90 even though both the batsman had taken same number of balls to score their runs. The second man, would leave his opponents demoralized and his team mates motivated.
If a data base of all Ranji/ Duliph players are maintained, then the data should select the team than parochial feelings or zonal representations or Agarkar selectors. ( In fact the chief of Indian selectors, was himself a great example that he achieved selection grade qualities after playing and failing consistently in his initial days
Indian Players should play to the Gallery and not to the Media
I miss iron hearted Abid Ali, Durrani, Borde, Krish Srikant, Kapilldev, Gavaskar, Solkar, Wadekar, Viswanath etc., who played for the country and to the Gallery and definitely not to the media. Those were the days, body line bowling, Hall-Gilchrist, Thomsons bowl to these under equipped courageous knights. How many blows thye must have weathered. ( Anshuman Gaekwad and Vegsarker- with due credits to their courage, had more number of balls on their chest, elbow or shoulders than on the bat ) Can one forget the felling of Nari Contractor through a head fracture. Our present day cricketers are as much equipped like American Soccer Players, but still at a loss to face the fast moving ball. Why? Are they afraid of losing their media endorsements if they get hurt?
Players of yester-years were concerned about satisfying the spectators. How can I ever forget the sixers galore from Durani, or the late-cut experts like Manjerekar and Viswanath or the Guru of modern one dayers-Srikanth who demonstrated to the world
the importance high-scoring in the first fifteen overs. They wanted to make the spectators happy. Their only income was from the spectators. Even after shamelessly losing will the new boost advertisement will say- “ Boost is the Secret of my failure”. When our cricketers are guaranteed their income irrespective of their performance, why should they perform. Or Dravid saying that he would trust the words of only Greg for his life-insurance.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
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