Post the World Cup, the BCCI needs to seriously consider splitting the Test and ODI captaincy.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Boof for Coach?
Come 2007, Greg Chappell's contract runs out.. Boof wants to coach England.. Can we get him to coach India?
Who wants to be a bowler?
Friday, December 01, 2006
All's not well in South Africa
If you thought the Indians had problems
SA get behind Smith
Does Smith have too much power?
Publish
When Resource Management went awry
Sehwag at the crossroads
Have they lost the plot?
Greg's Dharma, decoded
A Lax ray of hope in heart of darkness
Sehwag’s fall is a VVS warning
For all the Management mumbo-jumbo mouthed by the Team Management, they have sadly overlooked Personnel Management.
There is a lesson in this, somewhere, on what not to do when dealing with individuals and teams.
Little things...
add up to a lot ( random thoughts during India's first 20/20 game at Jo'burg).
South African Innings.
- Sreesanth's 3rd ball of his first over is a wide.. to first and second slip.. who bail out and let the ball go to the boundary.
- 1st ball of Zaheer's second over. Bosman is ball watching while Smith wants a single.. Throw at the bowlers end.. Would have been out if it hit.. but the point of interest is that neither the bowler nor any of the fielders are close enuf to collect the ball and effect a run out.
- "Go out there and enjoy" says Wasim Jaffer.. About time too.
- Zaheer Khan.. you beauty!!!
- Oh dear... over #4.4 and another run out chance wasted.. to add insult to injury, overthrow given.. and the next ball crashed through midwicket for 4.
- Wicket maiden Ajit Agarkar...In a 20/20 contest..
- Its official.. Graeme Smith is Zaheer Khan's bunny.
- over#8 : Who is this imposter posing as Ajit Agarkar? a wicket, a maiden and now another wicket!!!
- over # 10 :- oh dear Ajit.. what have you done to yourself?
- over #11 :- is there something wrong with sachin's left hand?
- India on fire.. Sachin gets Kemp!!
- over 13 :- lets not lose the plot now.... 13 runs in the over.. not good
- brave... getting Harbhajan to bowl over #15.
- ooooooh!!! aggression from Sreesanth after bailing out of his bowling run.. 103/6 in 16
- oh dear!!! Sreesanth misfields.. over #17. A super over ends up being just good.
- Dinesh Kaarthick .... Energizer Bunny!!
- 126/9 SA
- Now, over to India's weakest link!!!!
- 4 in the first over.. But Sehwag is stroking the ball well.
- a lot more smiles from the Indians today
- MISFIELD!!!!! Way to go Albie!!!
- Sachin looks shaky..
- oh dear... How close was that Sehwag?
- AB deVilliers not wearing pads?
- over #3 steady Veeru.. steady now.
- over #4.. here come the chants ... "Sachin SAAAAAACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"
- and GOOOOOOOOOOOONE.. Sachin departs..
- Mongia at one drop.. Interesting... Maybe the county stint is the reason behind him coming up the order.
- sweet pull Mongia... Super!!!
- finally, the Indians are playing out the overs instead of trying something stupid
- over # 7 :- problems for SA.. Telemachus in some pain.
- over #7 :- good, aggressive running between the wickets..
- this is going to be interesting.. If the Indians don't lose a wicket in the next 3 overs, the pressure will be square on the Proteas for the first time this series. How will Smith react?
- Just thinking that Lalit Modi and co could use the 20/20 format in domestic cricket.. Will be a huge money spinner. Revenues generated could be used to upgrade Stadium infrastructure and also supplement the players income.. Just a little marketing and a little glitz ( Bollywood meets cricket on the sports ground), and this thing will fly.
- over #9 :- Sehwag turning it on here.
- Taking on Gibbs for that single. Nice
- over 9.3 :- SUICIDE!!!
- hang on now.... was Langeveldt holding onto the ball after the stumps were broken? remember the Harbhajan run out of Haddin in the DLF cup? This looks eerily similar.
- over #11 :- Dinesh Mongia.. sweet swing of the bat there.
- over #11 :- Dinesh Mongia using a baseball bat? Look at that bat go :-)
- over #12 :- GOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE.. Dhoni goes. another inside edge
- out comes Energizer Bunny
- over #13 :- easy now Dinesh.. the runs will come.
- over #14 :- steady.. steady.. steady
- 38 in 36 with 7 wickets.. if India botch it up from this point forward, they deserve to be dumped in the Indian Ocean.
- 33 in 30 with 7 wickets.. Energizer Bunny looks cool .. Mongia, a little edgy..
- over #16 :- oh Brian.. what a cock up!!
- 29 in 24 with 7 wickets..
- over #17.. Energizer Bunny.. you beauty!!!
- PRESSURE!!! South Africa is feeling it.. and how..
- The Indian bench is all smiles.. YAY!!!
- Robin Peterson on..Huge gamble!!!!
- And why was that required now Dinesh? After all the hard work, you toss it all away
- 18 in 14
- Scores level. INDIA cannot lose!!
Playing favorites?
"Apart from Dravid in the Cape Town game where he broke his finger, Sachin Tendulkar in Durban, and Irfan Pathan in the last game at Port Elizabeth, no batsman has shown signs of having come to grips with the conditions."
- What about this fourth gent, who scored 55 in the very same game that Rahul broke his finger?
Making the right noises..
is Venkatapathy Raju, here... Now, can he and the Board match their words with deeds?
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Some thoughts on the Team selection
Overall, a pretty balanced effort I think..
Ganguly's selection is bound to inflame passions, and it will be a pretty interesting Indian dressing room with Ganguly and Rahul and Greg. That said, from a purely cricketing point of view, Ganguly is bound to be a passenger more than anything else. If Rahul is fit and available, it will be difficult to slot Ganguly anywhere in the Team XI, unless India go with a bowler short and Ganguly becomes the 5th bowling option, something even Ganguly wont be too keen on.
Questions have been raised about what this means to the "process" so dear to Greg and Rahul, and IMHO, if the "process" is paramount, then the process should succeed irrespective of personnel. I will be dammed if the "processes" put in place are so personnel-centric that any change will derail it completely. If that is the case, what is the value add from Greg anyways?
About investment in youth, its a good thing to do.. After all, the middle order is nowhere as potent as it was a couple of years ago. And with the players ageing, and retirement not far away, it is imperative that younger players be given a chance.. But, is there a real, conscious effort to do so? But for Kaif and Yuvraj, has there been any other player who has been identified as a middle order bat and played in place of Rahul or VVS or Sachin ( when fit and available) in Test Cricket? and regarding the youth policy in ODIs, the only kid who has been persisted with, irrespective of performance, has been Suresh Raina ( under the new dispensation, that is). Robin Uthappa was tried and dumped, so was Piyush Chawla, ditto R.P Singh and VRV Singh . Besides these, what other player has been really groomed who was not part of the thinking under the previous management?
Finally, the wickets.. Or lack thereof in the Indian domestic structure.. Shashank Manohar of the "player salary to be linked to performance" fame, had no qualms getting his groundsman to prepare a green top at Nagpur.. Neither did the CAB at Kolkata.. Jamshedpur, Mohali and Hyderabad have been bouncy. So it is not that the wickets cannot be prepared.. But does the BCCI, and local associations, have the guts and gumption to do so on a regular basis? Punjab tried a green top and lost to Bengal.. To avoid relegation, wont they go for "patta" wickets in the remaining home games?
There are 30 teams playing the Ranji Trophy ( give or take a couple). Why does the BCCI not mandate that the home grounds of each of these teams be of a particular character.. Bouncy, Green, Square turner, Balanced between bat and ball ( some purchase on the first day for pacers, easing out on day 2 and 3, and turning on day 4 and 5), and patta wickets.. Balance this across all 30 teams, and let each of the teams in the Elite and plate divisions of the Ranji Trophy be exposed to each kind of wicket.
the BCCI could also mandate that the Balanced wickets be in the test match centres ( Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalaore, Chennai) and the remaining types across the board.
Its not that hard is it?
About talent search and the dearth of "quality" players in the domestic scene, why not revive the "A" tours that have been sporadic so far? The Indian domestic season runs roughly between end November through Feb.. How about this then
1. Identify a pool of 30 players, categorized into two ("A" and "B") teams,based on the performance in the Ranji domestic season.
2. Play home series against England/SA/Oz/NZ/WI/SL/Pak in the period between February through April/early May.
3. Tour England or play county/club cricket in England during the English summer. Monitor the progress of each of these players through the period.
4. Tour SA/NZ/Oz during October/November or play club cricket there during this time..Play Queensland Second XI, or Auckland or Gauteng or any of the other teams depending on tam availability.
based solely on performance, rate the players. Those who make the cut can be put on a supplementary retainer along with the national team. Those who don't make the cut always have the next year .
Make this an annual affair with all players ( on retainer or otherwise) be available for selection.
The BCCI surely has the money and the muscle to get this in place if they wanted.
Given the amount of cricket played, it is difficult to get the National team guys to play domestic cricket.. But surely, a system can be set into place in spite of them?
In closing, this bit from Sambit Bal on CricInfo :- "The average Indian cricket fan might have been fooled by the team's success in the last World Cup in South Africa but it wouldn't have been lost on the discerning few that the pitches were flat, almost designed to give India a good run."
The weakness to cope with anything outside of the norm was apparent even when India was beating all comers at home last season. But so swept in the euphoria of winning and team changes was everyone that it took a string of defeats to bring this weakness to the fore.
Master Stroke
VVS Laxman appointed vice-captain of the test team
Indian Test squad
Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman (vice-capt), Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
109/6
is it an inability to play on bouncier tracks or a lack of application? time and time again, batsmen have gone for broke without a) settling down and judging the bounce b) awareness of the match situation. I think they are so caught up with their image of swashbucklers that they are unwilling to do the hard yards in the middle, irrespective of the conditions.
39/4
What does one say to this performance? Why would anyone, after this, want to bowl?I mean, the bowlers get the stick for bowling badly at the slog. So,they put on a much improved performance this time round..
And what do the batters do? Play like headless chicken!!! Time and time again, the Indian bowlers have bowled superbly, only for the batters to lose the plot. If I were Zaheer Khan or Anil Kumble, why would I put the extra effort only for the "superstars" of Indian cricket throw it away?
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