Ha...Ha...Ha.......It is extremely funny to know that Shastri has the experience to put Indian Cricket back on track. He kept critisizing all the players and the coach sitting alongside Harsha , Sunil and Sidhu and I don't understand how he will gain the confidence of the players. First of all what Shastri acheived as a cricketer ? Bowling some lollipop spin bowling and batting like a snail scoring 50 of 100 balls !!! Even the legendary Kapil Dev could not do anything as a coach.
As I already quoted in another column, International Players don't need a coach to tell them what to do. They know better. It was Sourav who guided the right path to Indian Cricket for the past 5 years (before Chappell took over). John Wright , as he himself would accept , only played a role of a catalyst and motivator. I'm strictly against a coach taking the headmaster role and trying to instruct players what they should be doing. It's absolute bullshit. Not even college students listen to some one nowadays . It all should end within school level. How can you expect a more accomplished and extradinary genius like Sachin to listen to others and oblidge ???
The following are the mistakes done by Chappell during his tenure.
1. Demoting Sachin down the order when the whole world knows that he should be opening in the innings. Shastri himself told several times that the best batsman should get the full 50 overs to play !!!
2. Randomly changing the batting order of younsters like Kaif , Raina , Rao and successfully dented their confidence and forced the selectors to remove them from the squad. Kaif and Raina were winning matches for India in the lower order and once they were asked to bat at No 3 , No 4 they started to crack under unfamiliar batting positions. 3. Did not stick to the experiements he did. He attempted the experimentation of sending Dhoni and Pathan at No 3 , both of whom scored brillantly and won matches. But all of a sudden that stratergy was stopped when it mattered the most. (I think Dhoni batted up the order only against Bermuda). 4. Believed that only fielding abilities will win matches in ODI's. When Sri Lanka won the World Cup under Ranatunga, their first 6 top order players were over 30 and all of them fired. Today , the highest run scorer in this world cup so far is Matthew Hayden and he is 34 !!! Select team based on current performance . Age is not the criteria for selection. 5. Finally , anybody will agree that Chappell is a poor manager. His man mangement skills are truly under question that he could not tackle things without hurting the other person and that is not a leadership quality . If he is going to say that he will speak whatever he thinks straight infront of anybody's face he is never going to be successful even with the domestic (or schoolboy) cricketers because no human being likes to be critisized before others.
Shastri knew all these but still wanted to give credit to Chappell. Why ? Because he is a true leader. He knows what to speak and when. He knows that this is not the time to insult Chappell blaming his decisions and tactics. He just wanted to send off Chappell in a good note. Shastri , atleast you understand people better.....!!!
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by Babu 3 Taangwaala on Apr 07, 2007 02:12 PM Permalink
My dear friend MONEY MATTERS and he has nuthin to do with putting indian team back on track, he eevn doesnt know which track he is talkin abt
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by saravan kumar on Apr 07, 2007 02:50 PM Permalink
Hi Senthil, Whatever you have mentioned is not right.What Chappel tried to do was shake the senior players from complacency.Sachin was the best batsman some 3 or 4 years back but not now.Sachin himself realises that.So Chappel has asked him to go down the order. Also if Sachin continues to play like this Chappel would have even dropped him from the side which is the right thing.So the writing was on the wall.Inspite of this Sachin wanted to be in the team and also become the captain so that he couldn't be dropped.So he has ganged up with other players with big attitude to oust Chappel and Dravid. Do you realise Sachin and gang are only playing politics and not cricket.Sachin with other players with attitude should be dropped from the side immediately and infuse fresh talents with Dravid leading the side.He will sure turn things for us fans and will probably make India a force to reckon with in Intl cricket.]
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by Gaurav Sharma on Apr 07, 2007 02:16 PM Permalink
Good coaches or managers need not be accomplished players themselves. John Buchanan, Woolmer, John Wright, Whatmore were very ordinary as players but look at their performance as coaches. They've proved better coaches than Chappell, Miandad, Kapil, Lloyd, Viv Richards who were all legendary players.
In soccer also, Alex Ferguson wasn't an extraordinary player but his Manchester United was once the most formidable team in the world.
Shastri has youthfulness and energy. He can connect better with the players. He has a broad and open approach, knows about cricket politics and is also well respected in the cricketing establishment especially in the BCCI. I think its a fantastic choice and maybe this is what Indian cricket required.
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by Suprabhat Sen on Apr 07, 2007 02:53 PM Permalink
Shastri is a chota version of Chapell.He is a manipalator.We needed someone like Mohinder as coach because he is a fighter.It will be most unfortunate if Rahul is retained as Captain.
RE:RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by sunilkumar mishra on Apr 07, 2007 02:16 PM Permalink
One has to accept that our premier batsmen and particualarly Sachin and Sauarav Sehwag were much below par as they failed in whatever position was given to them leading Greg to experiment shuffling with the younger lot. No coach and more so external one wud have dared to fiddle with a well balanced side playing consistently. When most of the cricketing fraternity is lauding the sincerity and the cricketing brain of Greg, it cannot be for nothing when they all have seen from close quarters including the presnet captain. We cannot have a finegr of suspicion everytime and everywhere.
Ravi Shastri is a very good cricketing brain , bery diplomatic, very astute and pretty experienced and is expected to be a good Manager, if not a good job. I fully agree with u that we may not really require a Coach in the role of a headmaster.
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by Ashok on Apr 07, 2007 03:16 PM Permalink
ravi sastre he bigest bogus felo, he politishan, he dubal krosing felo, he nose noting aboot krikit, he lousy felo he fraud, he spoyl indin krikit even fardhar
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by sunilkumar mishra on Apr 07, 2007 02:18 PM Permalink
One has to accept that our premier batsmen and particualarly Sachin and Sauarav Sehwag were much below par as they failed in whatever position was given to them leading Greg to experiment shuffling with the younger lot. No coach and more so external one wud have dared to fiddle with a well balanced side playing consistently. When most of the cricketing fraternity is lauding the sincerity and the cricketing brain of Greg, it cannot be for nothing when they all have seen from close quarters including the presnet captain. We cannot have a finegr of suspicion everytime and everywhere.
Ravi Shastri is a very good cricketing brain , bery diplomatic, very astute and pretty experienced and is expected to be a good Manager. I fully agree with u that we may not really require a Coach in the role of a headmaster.
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by rakessh singh on Apr 07, 2007 02:07 PM Permalink
Dear senthil,
I agree with you to a certain extent but not in entirely.The basic thing a sportsperson should have is the confidence.Which unfortunately the Indian team was lacking.
I think its not right to blame the coach totally for the players dismal performance.He can't go out and play for the players.
RE:Shastri - The Bluffmaster
by Senthil Kumar on Apr 07, 2007 02:15 PM Permalink
Rakessh,
Thanks for you're comments. I do agree that Chappell is a legendary cricketer. But the fact of the matter is he completely failed to understand human tendency and physcology. He had that arrogant high handed attitude towards the players ,media and even towards the member of parliments to comment and critisize them.
Just to quote an example , the husband and wife should understand each other for a smooth and sucessful life. It does'nt matter how intelligent and genius the husband is if he fails to understand his wife and deal with her accordingly. This applies vice versa.
