Crcket the gentlemen's game seems to be loosing its identity somewhat. The game seems to be played more off the field then on the field atleast as far as Indian cricket is concerned. Its very unfortunate.
Ever since, India got knocked out of the World Cup 2007, there have been numerous stories surrounding the reasons why India played so poorly to not progress to the Super 8 stage also. There have been stories surrounding certain individuals in the team big or small; the differences that the stories claim to exist in the Indian dressing room. Very unfortunate indeed and I think media needs to take some blame for depicting a very dark picture of Indian cricket which I dont think is the case. Very frankly and very astutely.
In a country like ours, which has the best of brains,quality professionals in every field including media, why cant we stop spreading stories which have less of base more of sensational element.
We need to be talking Cricket, thinking about the way forward for indian cricket and not about individuals.
Why dont we all understand that the game is bigger then the individuals playing it and not the other way round. Sachin Tendulkar cant be bigger than the game too neither can anybody else be. The important issues are our selection processes which desperately needs to leave the regionalisation system and be a more rational and prudent system picking people on the basis of performance and not on the basis of whether they represent an X region.
Youngsters like Raina, Kartik, Pujara, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Aavishkar Salvi etc need to given chances at the right time. They need to be encouraged because they will take Indian cricket forward.
The senior players will have to take more responsibility and groom the youngsters in the team and i think they need to start thinking collectively for god sake now.
I think what the BCCI should make it mandatory is the players spending 20-30 days together even in the non-playing season. The pool of 20-25 selected players should stick together which helps in improving inter personal skills and most importantly helps in knowing each other well which has its role even on the field.
Also our domestic tournaments need to made more competitive and the international players should be forced to play it if they are present in india and not touring.
Now coming to the selection issues, my pool of 20 players who should represent India in the next couple of yrs would include the following -
Dravid, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dhoni, Ganguly, Laxman, Jaffer, Zaheer Khan, Irfan, Harbhajan, Powar, Kaif, Kartik, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, Sreeshanth,Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, RP Singh. And the remaining pool should be floating option wherein other 5 spots could be based on domestic performances in the given season.
The 20 players mentioned above should not consider themselves certainities all the time. Their performances should be reviewed from time to time. Maybe once in six months. And i think if these measures are undertaken, the Indian cricket will definately go forward.
The captain should be given free hand to decide which players he wants and he should always be part of selection meetings.
Fitness should be given prime importance because fit players would enhance performances and thus indian team would benefit.
RE:Cricket is played more off the field then on the field
by Varun Chaturvedi on Apr 05, 2007 07:24 PM Permalink
Well i certainly agree to the things mentioned above. I think this kind of attitude is expected from we indians. Unfortunately Cricket is not a game in India but regarded as religion. And ofcourse we have seen people going to any lengths in a name of religion. Cricket can only improve in India if it is considered as a game.
Regarding selection issues, well thats has always been achilles heel for India. Unfortunately the entire India cricket board has divided the entire domestic tournaments also on the zonal basis. We have teams playing each other within their respective zones. I believe the zonal affinity and issues has to come in the final selection process. So the final solution lies in going to the root of the problem-i.e structure of our domestic tournaments. We hope that something serous would be looked upon in order to ensure the good future of Cricket in India
In my opinion this is a CREATED DRAMA by BCCI and ZEE to divert the attention of crorers of Indian cricket fans from the poor performance of Indian cricket team
Otherwise how a league can be organised without having basic infrastructure EVEN GROUNDS ????
And with this drama people will forget the world cup and everything will be in control within couple of months when Indian team will defeat Bangladeh on next tour
RE:Dravid
by Nageshwarrao Malladi on Apr 06, 2007 02:03 PM Permalink
I think after we lose the match against SRI LANKA, Dravid in the PRESS CONFERENCE takes personal responsibility for the debacle in WORLD CUP. He is a matured GUY and he will talk in the BOARD MEETING. I think giving statements to the MEDIA against others and trying to get sympathy is not a RIGHT ATTITUDE. We are lost. No body is complaining against this, every body forget the issue and looking forward. SACHIN is WRONG giving statement to the MEDIA and intentionally trying to get sympathy from all the quarters.
SACHIN IS GOD - 100 % AGREED But time has come, he has to retire from ONE DAYS.
SAURAV PLAYED FOR HIM NOT FOR THE TEAM. HARBHAJAN LOST HIS RYTHEM, he has to go back to BASICS.
rediff, did S.A. lost any match in super 8? as far as my knowledge, they played with SriLanka & Ireland and both matches they won. then how their points will be 2? anybody can give answer?
Nothing will change in cricket team..... All player will be same........ no changes because these player are very strong politically.. And nothing is going to change in BCCI, manager, selector, advicer, cashier, fixers, receiver, cleaners will remain same
RE:No one will change
by Ravi chandran on Apr 05, 2007 04:22 PM Permalink
... and we will continue to waste time by watching them failig every time. That also won't change.
RE:No one will change
by Sachin Tendulkar on Apr 05, 2007 04:52 PM Permalink
They continue to blame the fans being crazy,applying a of pressure and things like that!
wake up Rediff guys, please update your points table everyday. SA have played 3 matches and have 4 points. What is your table showing ?!! You have already updated the table with yesterday's SL vs ENG match but not with previous matches of SA vs SL and SA vs IREL.
RE:points table incorrect
by Ravi chandran on Apr 05, 2007 12:57 PM Permalink
Forget Rediff. See http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/site/wc/points.html everyday.
Well the world cup might be over of India, but this Indian cricket circus is even more entertaining than cricket i hope Sachin, Saurav, Sehwag, Agarkar, and Harbhajan remain in the team. Even though cricket will suffer, but we'll get more such oportunities of watching circus in future.
If India looses who will Sachin and sourav target.I think maybe Niranjan shah or it might be Pawar too.Both these must be sitting at home and thinking about their next target.
