Lara insists that the problems with West Indies cricket ran deep. "It's that we don't have a good infrastructure for young guys to develop. West Indies have a great Under-15 side. I know a 16-year-old guy in Trinidad who's awesome but I worry for him because of the facilities. A mediocre Australian cricketer at 17 or 18 will be slapping everyone all over the world five years later. If you don't have facilities and you don't have employment then you have a negative atmosphereAnd that in short, is the crux of the matter.
We often lament on the quality of our sides that take to the field. A lot of debate has been generated/is about to be generated over the squad selected. A lot of ink will be wasted on the identity of the coach.
At the end of three Tests, you might just find that India have carried a couple of passengers, but this is due as much to the fact that the cupboard in domestic cricket is a bit bare at the moment,is another common refrain.
Fair enough.
So what is being done about it?
Why is it that "A mediocre Australian cricketer at 17 or 18 will be slapping everyone all over the world five years later" ?
Why do our World Champions in the age group level falter on the bigger stage that is International cricket?
What are we going to do about it?
And isn't the answer to that question far more important than the identity of the coach and the team selection to whatever country we are playing against at the moment?
PS:-
What will Paras Mhambrey and Kiran More and Makarand Waingankar do?
14 comments:
Homer ...
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tennis/theobserver/story/0,,2099609,00.html
Love All. Play...
Homer,
Perhaps I might answer. The last decade or so (1996 ownwards) has seen little or no change in the middle order batting in the Test matches. The big 4 have been playing with some consistency than in any other point in Indian history of tests. True there have been changes in the opening order and the fast bowling department.
So many batsmen who sparkled in the U-20 (or 19) group didnt get a chance to be part of Test cricket for long time unless some one got injured or dropped for shortwhile (Yuvraj, Kaif from that group of U-19 still play as substitutes). And so did superficial batsmen like Badani and Kanitkar, however they were not very special enough to have got a long chance.
Ditto for spin bowling. One end was tight with Kumble holding his forte with dignity and strength, unless his injury in 2001. And then Harbhajan was mainstay for a while and then Aussie tour of 2003-04 turned around the fortuens of Kumble. So not many spinners around too.
Yes we had lots of fast bowlers, and we still look for that elusive allrounder and an express fast bowler.....
Once the 5 biggies of Test cricket retire, then may be the young prodigies might make the cut.
Superunknown,
Whatever you are saying is true, but only partially.
Why did we have such dearth of batsmen on the '99-00 tour of Australia? Why couldn't a batsman seal his place, if he was awesome as you mention, when Ganguly went into wilerness for 10 months?
Why couldn't a batsman stake his claim and put Sachin under pressure when he was out injured for quite a few months?
Answer is, the batsmen on the domestic circuit who have come up the ranks of various age-level tournaments are just mediocre and the scene at domestic cricket is too weak and diluted to be taken into account!
Bottomline is that we are suffering from a dearth of quality batsmen and will struggle tremendously because of that when these big 4 retire!!
Homer,
I've been in contact with few cricket writers of Hindustan Times and yesterday I asked them this very question: why doesn't the media ask relevant questions from persons in BCCI?
The answer was that they want to but are mostly overtaken by the stupid electronic media who not only create that chaos whenever there is a press conference but also ask such foolish questions and the shoving and pushing of cameras put the print media-persons behind!
The author seemed really irked by the electronic media.
Chandan and Superunknown,
Let me give you and example - Ambati Rayadu was God in age grade cricket.
Then he sustained a loss of form. Where is he now?
Where is Shikar Dhawan?
Tel me this - Iqbal Abdulla is amongst the finer talents churned out by the Mumbai school of cricket. Kid is 17 years old and a natural. So what do the Mumbai selectors do?
Play him in a 20/20 tournament.
So, tommorrow, when we lose out on a talented young left arm orthodox, who is to blame?
And wif that happens, are there systems in place to rehab him?
Chandan,
Do you really buy into that BS?
Most of the Electronic media worthies cut their teeth in the hurly burly of print journalism. And when our print media worthies get thier moment in the sun ( read exclusive interviews ) with said BCCI honchos, guess who lobs half volleys for the BCCI guys to hit for six?
Chandan
Yuvraj Singh is a good enough to be a test replacement for VVS Laxman and the hide and seek game between this 2 in the Test side (when team would play 7 batsmen incl Dhoni) would be good for both in terms of competition.
99-00 Australia tour was more of a revenge selection in the team when suddenly the big wig names were pushed out of the team (Read Azhar). Not only he was stripped of captaincy, but also dropped from the team for no reasons. So the disaster.
Mohd Kaif came good in WI'06 tour when he hit 148 in 2nd or 3rd Test, but then later he failed. He started off well in England series too, but again the lack of consistency. The strongest plus point of this 5 bigwigs of the test team is their consistency.
India might not be a strong ODI team now, but it is a better Test team than most of the teams around. (Behind Australia and at par with England).
Homer,
I don't buy into the BS but much of the foolish question are asked by electronic media and print media's news agencies like PTI or AFP.
Whatever good journalists I've come across, do have some relevent questions but perhaps they're frustrated that no one can answer them.
Only today, I was watching the breakfast news and just flicking through the news channels I stopped seeing some batting-bowling taking place. But it was a news to say how Sachin has been performing badly against good opposition and every line was followed by "Sachin, retire kar jaao" comment!
I never watch this news channel and today I decided that I'll never ever even stop at this channel for a second!
Superunknown,
Non of the two batsmen you've mentioned are going to be consistent performers like Sachin or Dravid.
Homer,
I agree with you about Rayudu and Dhawan--both have lost their way in which I came to know through Prem's site that Rayudu was a subject to too much politics from shivlal yadav because of which Rayudu had even left his state for a year to play for Andhra.
And I think Abdullah needs to be handled with care in these formative years. But there is no system of anything at any level in India.
And Chandan, that is the point. Shouldn't we be focusing on putting those systems in place rather than worry about the lack of a coach for the team?
If there were no systems in place in India, then how come we have produced batting greats like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Sehwag and to be likes Yuvraj, Dhoni etc etc.
The schools in Mumbai are the birthyards of cricketers who play for clubs, then Mumbai ranji side and then to the national team.
If we had no system, then how come we have produced players who have done good at the highest level. We do have a system, but it needs overhauling. It needs to be toughened like Australia.
We have NCA, we have MRF pace academy, we have Elf Academy in Mumbai, so many coaches around the country who are unknown, but deliver goods. And why today s team forms of players from small states or from states which had negligible presence earlier on cricket map ? UP, Jharkhand, Kerala , Baroda have thrown up cricketers who are no way inferior to the guys from metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata, Chennai.
superunknown,
So how many of the current Indian team are a success story because of the system?
And if that was the case, why is Irfan Pathan on the wayside?
Where is Md. Kaif?
Where is our "A" team - the feeder for the national squad?
We know that individual coaches have done good things - why havent those training methods been institutionalized?
When was the last time the BCCI came out with ant instructional material for young cricketers throughout the country?
What monitoring systems do we have on a nationwide basis to assess and identify talent?
Why is the Delhi Team the largesse of the selectors rather than a merit selection and more importantly, what is being done about it?
Club and maidan cricket is dying in Mumbai.. whats being done?
Till date, the MCA has not felicitated the Ranji winning cricket team for season 2006-07. Why?
Now if players come on top level and they fail, then it has more to do with themselves rather than being blamed on support system. Kaif and Pathan are glaring examples of the U-19 system, who came on top. But if they failed then its their own fallacy than being blamed onto the system.
Pathan was being "prescribed" many medicines from too many experts by ex-coach and the result was he lost his confidence and bowling form.
I wont be able to answer about MCA or any state association cos they are puppets in the hands of politicians. Ditto about Delhi.
There is NCA, there is TRDDO (or A) whose chairman was Mr Cournal himself till he took over the selection head post. These are the systems that take care of the players countrywide. Then there is sports hostel in kanpur (UP) where players all over UP assemble to play and learn skills, the result being UP winning Ranji trophy in 2005.
Tendulkar s story is world famous, no player in this team has come straight or with some influences, and even if someone has managed the cut, he s being thrown out soon.
Laxman and Azhar came out of Hyd which hasnt had that success in breeding international players. Theirs is a case of sheer hard work, playing club cricket.
Take for example Virendar Sehwag. He showed some return of form in the recent Asia cup, when he played club cricket for his employer. Not only did he manage to loose wt, but also improve his foot position.
Things are not that horrible as made out, perhaps WC debacle is not yet forgotten
"We have NCA, we have MRF pace academy, we have Elf Academy in Mumbai, so many coaches around the country who are unknown, but deliver goods."
superunknown,
These things or systems as you say are as facile as BCCI website. I hope you've visited it.
And Prem told us that Bindra said openly that BCCI won't have a professional CEO despite ICC's concern because.....because BCCI is an elected body!!
He was being as ridiculous and laughable as Indian cricket has recently become courtesy BCCI!!!
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