India won initially when Dravid was captain coz most games happened at home soemthing which the writer has forgotten. England came with half the team, Sri Lanka was in bad shape - these are facts the author has forgotten. it seems the point of view expressed is devoid of hard analysis. We lost not coz we have an old team, we lost coz we didnt play with the committment and agression which we played in 2003. the reason for this atttiude lies in a sense of insecurity amongst players, a weak captain and heavily politicized board which can't look beyond the next election We should now focus on getting an aggressive captain who can stand by his team and have positive body language yet good cricketign brain - maybe it is time we groomed yuvraj as the next captain - he comes in the middle order, can handle pressure, is an excellent fielder and has the aggression of Sourav. I think he will enjoy the support of some of the old boys as well
RE:some errors in the article
by dtr on Mar 26, 2007 07:14 PM Permalink
We not only need an aggressive (it's only a relative term though, people express aggression in different ways) captain, we need tougher captain mentally and physically. A captian who can move quickly in the field, who can inspire every team members (not divide them). And also, we need tougher and younger players. So naturally it should be freed from all regional and mainstream politics. We should create a sports culture that is not dictated by 3rd rate politicians and people who like political support.
It all comes down to the character of people who controls and play the game. That means there have to be cultural change. Traditional Indian culture do not take sports professionally.
They like Gods, Godesses, and they make Gods out of players, loosing the idea that it takes a team to be successful in sports like these, and everyone in the the team is equally important even if they don't hit sixers, they might have other significant roles to play in the team. A cultural change, that's what Chappel tried to do. But I guess, he miscalculated the time required to fulfill it.
