Indian cricket must reinvent itself!

[Chandan]

Link ROHIT BRIJNATH The subcontinent views itself as the game's headquarters, its beating heart. Certainly its enthusiasm fuels the game, its economy enriches even foreign players. And there is no unspoken rule that insists the centre of cricket's universe must produce its finest team. But certainly you expect progress. As the game's centrepiece, there must be evidence of sound decisions, a moving forward, a grand ambition with regards to the team. There is little evidence. So angry, so shamed, so hopeless are Indians feeling about their cricket that the board may feel compelled to offer up a sacrifice. So the coach will be removed, and possibly the captain. Greg Chappell's ideas are provocative, but his salesmanship has been unreliable. Individually almost no player has improved during his tenure, and as a team they display no collective nerve. After much shuffling of the order we were left mostly with disorder. By placing himself at centre stage, Chappell put himself in position for all praise, and also every criticism. Dravid's work ethic is unquestionable, his desire undeniable, but his ability to inspire men to play for him is under discussion. He is not a back-slapping fellow and perhaps India is in search of one. Sometimes leading by example is not enough. He made his name without anyone holding his hand, but sometimes lesser men need more careful handling. An introspective man must ask himself if he could have done better with this team. Culling coach and captain is easy, but scarcely solves India's problems. Despite hefty bio-data, members of this team have not struck fear in anyone's heart for a while. It is revealing that in hypothetically choosing a replacement for Dravid, not one young player appears as a suitable candidate. Neither in form, or personality, has anyone stood out. Any year now Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble will be gone and the future is terrifying. A West Indian collapse comes to mind. There is only one captaincy contender and he is the nation's favourite maverick, Ganguly, who requires all his concentration to keep his batting sharp. Still, let us place Ganguly with say Mohinder Amarnath, to pick one distinguished name, as coach, and step back. Is this the beginning of hope and the end of our problems? Could it be so simple? The team may play more energetically for a while, for the sound of new voices and the arrival of fresh ideas is always invigorating. But Indian teams rarely go beyond the point of impressing, they do not embrace greatness, for they are not conditioned to chase excellence. In a recent interview in Good Weekend magazine in Australia, swimmer Ian Thorpe disclosed that in his retirement he misses "pain", that pure, undiluted feeling known mostly to the great athlete. He spoke about how he would push his body so hard, so far, so long that he had to halt and vomit on the side of the pool. "I miss pushing myself to the point where it almost brings you to tears," he said. It is that desperately that a player must want to become better. As much as we might censure Chappell for players not advancing under his watch, it might be argued that slothfulness is ingrained in our sporting culture. After all, what stops players from taking it to the next level, what stops them from practising, from running, from vomiting, from fielding till they bleed. What stops them from greatness is sometimes only themselves. Without excusing the players, eventually so many attitudes they own are not new, but passed down through generations, cemented into the culture. John Wright having to banish the practice of drinking tea on the ground before nets is a tiny but telling example. These attitudes flourish because the system is okay with them, because the system does not encourage greatness. And here lies the heart of India's cricketing inadequacy. No one in the Indian board has ever been involved in producing a champion sporting team. And no one in the Indian board appears interested in producing a champion sporting team. What exactly is India the best at? Does it have the best academies? No. The best umpires? No. The best coaches? No. The best range of pitches? No. The best domestic set-up? No. The best schedule for its team? No. The best schools programme? No. The best fitness regimes across states? No. So then, how do we expect the best team? Yet ask those questions about Australia and how many answers come up "yes". Until Indian administrators alter their view of themselves, not as masters of the universe but servants of the game (requiring a world record leap of humility), progress will not arrive. Unless they understand the ingredients of excellence; unless they ask themselves, how can we construct the finest team in the world; unless they say, how do we remove these obstacles facing the team, greatness will elude us. If you dissect great sporting dynasties, you often find that everyone, from chairman to office boy to clerk is passionate about the team being the best. Most Indians do not want to hear about financial deals; they want to hear about how we will be a world-class team in 10 years, how we will have a competitive side for the 2011 World Cup. Indians want to see plans, ideas implemented, development, players inspired. Indians are tired of words, they want results. In his fine essay on Cricinfo before the Sri Lanka match, Sambit Bal wrote: "As an Indian, I would like India to win the World Cup. But it might not be such a bad thing for cricket if they were to be knocked out in the first round. Cricket needs a reality check." India's exit from the cup is a tragedy. It is also a unique opportunity.

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Okay, Mr Brijnath, even a common fan knows that the board has to change its ideas for the cricket to be reinvented. But why isn't anyone saying how will it be done? Does anyone have any solution, any plans? It is really easy to describe the problem. Even a common Indian cricket fan knows what the problem is. But why is no journalist saying how it could be solved? Do you people have any ideas?

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! First find the cat you want to bell This is what Ajit Wadekar predicts will happen. Will anything come out of it? Absolutely nothing. Then?

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Okay. Harsha Bhogle provides solution of some sort. Everyone is pointing fingers, looking within is passe. The tide has turned its time now to topple heroes where simple men were once anointed kings. So everybody must go; captain, coach, wicketkeeper, bowler. The Queen in Alice in Wonderland would have loved it. ?Off with her head? she said and that is now our theme song. We are lighting torches and fanning flames, there are nameless blogs and civility, far from being virtue, is now a discarded friend. But anger never solved problems; never solved anything. Is there no time for a deep breath? Must all defeat be death? Must any victory be a conquest? Must water only be at 0 degrees or 100? A backward step is no good in war but in times of stress and frayed tempers it is a great balm. So let us try and take a step back and look ahead from relatively calmer land. I?d like to look at six issues in Indian cricket, each a mere four-word sentence. ?Where is my focus?? Cricket, at the moment, is number three on the priority list of the BCCI. This is not meant to be an indictment just a statement of intent. Number one priority is clearly revenues and at most times it is not bad because an enterprise must survive. Number two is the vote and its acquisition on a year-to-year basis. And only at number three is the product. For an organisation to be successful the product must be good and every effort should be geared towards making the product competitive. If, on the other hand, revenue and the vote take precedence, we dilute the product. Hence, my old theory. India will never be a genuine cricket-playing power. A financial power? Yes. But not a cricket playing power because priorities are in the wrong order. ?Taking the tough decision.? Do we want to produce tough, modern, intelligent cricketers? If that is indeed so, they have to learn to play tough cricket early in life. The first two teams they get selected for should not be easy, should require them to be able to analyse their game and play tough, uncompromising cricket. What you learn earliest in life tends to stay with you. 27 first class teams means early progress is too simple. ?Which is my team?? I believe a player can represent no more than two teams at any given time. If he has to don more caps than that, the idea of the team taking precedence over the self will never sink in. Players will become selfish, put their own performance first. Can you imagine a player playing for his state, his zone, for ?India Red?, for Rest of India and for India? Which is his team then? Which cap is he proud of wearing? To inculcate pride in the team, a player must play only for his state and his country,that extra five per cent can only come from a sense of belonging. So maybe there should be no Duleep Trophy, no Irani Trophy and certainly no Challenger. ?Do I love India?? Or do I love my state more? Are administrators thinking more about their own associations, their own grants, their own players? Inherently, a team cannot progress unless every constituent has the same objective. Gujarat, or Maharashtra, having three teams does not help India because it dilutes the stream in which young talent bathes. Not even Barbados in its prime could have possessed 45 first class standard cricketers in a year. But three teams from a state means three votes, three grants. So what then is the primary objective? Producing tough cricketers for India or protecting the vote and the grant? Yes, everybody loves India but it is conditional and that condition is hurting Indian cricket badly. ?How much Test cricket?? Everything is measured by the amount of cricket you have played. Narayana Murthy hasn?t played international cricket but his piece in a national daily was a stinging reminder of the shortsightedness of that theory. But every time we seek progress, there is a colossal speed breaker in place. ?How much Test cricket have you played?? It is preventing us from finding good coaches, good selectors, good commentators. The fact that only cricketers can solve cricketing issues has been proven to be a myth years ago. Have we considered integrity, honesty, selflessness? If Indian cricket seeks to reorganise, it must look for the best people; anything else will be a compromise. ?Ego? Now, what?s that?? Found anyone lately about whom you can say that? Just a simple three letter word. It has brought Indian, and to be fair Pakistani, cricket to its knees. You can worry about Dravid and Chappell and Pawar and Vengsarkar. But unless you answer simple questions honestly, the names won?t matter, the issues won?t go away. We will continue pointing fingers. ------------------------------------------------------ So he is suggesting a revamp of the domestic system and advocating the involvement of non-players for jobs like coach, selection or other cricketing matters and a change in attitude. But is that all we need to do?

[gs]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself!

Narayana Murthy hasn?t played international cricket but his piece in a national daily was a stinging reminder of the shortsightedness of that theory.

Is BCCI a private company or is it a govt one? If its private, maybe Murthy should just buy it and revamp the whole damn thing. It would be a sound financial decision since BCCI is a cash cow. But it could use some professionalism and accountability that Murthy induced in Infosys. Keep politics out of the system and run it on a purely merit basis. :chin:

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! No one has given any plan or ideas. Anyway I think India will have to follow two plans: Long term and short term . Long term will be to improve the overall standard of our cricket and it'll obviously take time. This plan we can discuss later. Short term would be look into the immediate problems of the team and solve them as much as possible. This should be to rebuild our ODI team for WC 2011. IMO, 1.We should change the coach and the captain. 2. 4 players should be asked to leave the ODI cricket: Sachin, Saurav, Kumble and Dravid. We'd need fresh talent here. 3. Harbhajan should be given at least one years break to play the domestic cricket and rediscover his magic. 4. Youngsters will have to be given chance and be persisted with despite failure in the intial year.I'd like to have Manoj Tiwari, Rohit Sharma (though I still suspect his ability to play short pitch deliveries), Suresh Raina and few others along with Yuvi and Sehwag in the batting pool. 5. On the bowling front, rest Munaf from ODIs and save him for tests only. We can introduce Ishant Sharma and Abu Nacheem and keep YoMahesh in reserve along with Zaheer and Sree. 6.On allrounders front, play Pathan in every ODI. We have few bowlers who can bat in the domestic cricket too. They should be tested. Chawla should be given an ODI birth and a long run. He is our future spinner. 7. Who'll be the captain? This is the most tricky question. Can you suggest a name.

[chanakya]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! two teams one for ODIs and one for tests right? If we can have two different teams why shouldn't we have two different coaches for them. Chappel has failed in the ODIs but not the tests. We still have adecent record in the tests. Give the ODI side to someone like Robin Singh who can still run around like a hare and is also respected by the youngsters.

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! The problem with an coach, IMO is that he won't be able to rise above the system. That can again drag us down. And no Chappell please. His recent attitude about distancing himself from the failure has infuriated me. We want responsible men in charge not people who can't own responsibility of failure but will be the first one to pounce and take credit for any success. He can go home after failing big time in man-management yet again. Forget about the coach though. We need a good captain. Who will that be?

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Few former players do have a road-map for Indian cricket. But it is mostly for long-term planning. Here is what they have to suggest: ------------- Kapil even reproached board officials for their indiscretion. "The question is: should we sack the players without even talking to them? Or should we first get their side of the story? If that is the case, we should perhaps ask the board president and secretary to resign first," he wrote, defending the team. Bedi too demanded accountability from the board members. "Everywhere else in the world, they are all accountable?from the scoreboard operators to the chairman of the board. What is the contribution of these officials baying for the players? blood? They forget they are in their posts only because of the players. The players aren?t there because of them. We must know how to accept defeat just as we must know how to celebrate success. It?s a sad day when board officials join the bandwagon in driving the people against the players." Then again, Pawar lost no time in reminding us that such niceties are not known in Indian cricket. "Has anyone in the BCCI stepped down since the 1983 win...during which time Cup teams have faced many a debacle? Then why should we?" Pawar asked indignantly. To be fair, he did go on to say that the time had come to sit, discuss and decide a future course of action. "Let us concentrate from today on World Cup 2011 and start encouraging the younger players. The board has to give serious thought about player performances and how to take the game forward." He?s now called for a meeting of six former captains to discuss the Cup fallout. Wadekar feels it?s a good idea calling the captains but is wary that anything positive that comes out could go into "cold storage". Leaving the cynicism behind, let?s see what could emerge from this meeting of our top cricketing brains. Change the system, embrace professionalism: "How can an amateur system breed professionals?" asks Bedi, demanding that the administration be entrusted to professional hands. "The whole business of honorary officials must change." There are some players involved in running state associations but few have played at the highest level. They don?t understand some of the intricacies, warns Wadekar. "Some former players have to be nominated to run cricket because they cannot be contesting elections," he says. "The system needs to be changed but in a democracy like ours, it?s quite difficult, isn?t it?" Make domestic cricket more competitive: The clamour for restructuring domestic cricket so that it delivers quality rather than quantity is growing. "The numbers playing first-class cricket is huge...it should be designed to throw up players with qualities needed in international cricket. It?s time we looked at an improved Duleep Trophy as the only first-class tournament. All players must compete in this event," Bedi says. Wadekar agrees. "It?s a good idea but it must be mandatory for all to be playing domestic cricket," he says. "We learnt from playing in the Times Shield against players like Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar. Going forward, we must get all players?big and small?to play domestic cricket." Improve the quality of grounds: In Australia, South Africa and England, the grounds are lush green and smooth as a billiards table. Even schoolboys don?t hesitate to slide and dive to stop the ball. And that?s the biggest reason why fielding is our weakest link. And it will remain that way, Wadekar points out, if India doesn?t improve the quality of its cricket grounds even at the junior level. Work on the cricket nurseries: "Why do we have only such a small lot to choose from? Who will replace Sourav, Rahul or Sachin?" asks Wadekar. And answers the question himself. "Basically, we must start from the school, maidan and club levels. It?s only at the time of elections to state associations that people visit the maidans. We must also revive collegiate and university cricket. The jump from under-19 to first class or even the India team denies players the chance to arm themselves with the knowledge that can stand them in good stead when they play cricket." Coaching at the grassroots levels: In the match against Sri Lanka, it became apparent the islanders had outrun the Indians?first with their running between the wickets and then with the fielding. "There should be a proper machinery to check what these coaches at that (junior) level are doing. Are they instilling the right values, techniques among the young?" asks Wadekar, pointing out that these skills must be taught right in the early years itself. Meanwhile, in the immediate future... "The board must hear out the captain, players and coach before it makes any decision on who to retain or not," says Kapil Dev. Careful discussions must precede any judgements passed on Dravid or coach Greg Chappell. The same applies to any player being eased out of Team India. It?s time to draw up a roadmap that will make India a top cricket playing nation rather than one that invests emotions and oodles of cash in supporting world cricket with little benefit to itself. --------------------------------------------------- All that is okay. But how to start rebuilding the team for the next WC? I've given my ideas.

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Now Sambit Bal also suggests towards long-term plans: Indian cricket needs a revolution Why is no one saying that we need short term as well as long term plans? What should be done to the team in the near future and then what changes should be brought into the system?

[Vishwatma]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! in my opinion...first of all we need to take politics entirely out of the sport...(or as much as possible)...its rather obvious that regardless of what the team/coach/captain wants...selectors will only choose those what the "politics" demands...we've seen it b4...we'll see it again... now how do we do that? not hard tbh....one crucial step however is that the selectors are not connected to the politicians in any way...if pawar had nothing to do with politics...the selectors wld choose the team largely on the basis of performance...i.e. the best team on the pitch...and not the best team that the "people" want to see (people = politicans, etc etc) this shld allow for new entrants...india's u-19 team that reached the u-19 finals...shows a lot of potential...even if they r too young for now...atleast they wld be ready for the next wc...and hopefully they will get their chances too (but if politiics stays in...we can officially count them out - piyush chawla a prime e.g....failed twice, not tried again and prolly won't be played again either...till bhajji retires...regardless of his performance) in the end...we can cut the weed as many times as we want...but it will keep growing till we cleanly take the roots out...'coz its the roots that have the poison...not the weed itself...

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Politics is hard to be eliminated unless you hire professionals for selectors not honorary members and it should not be zone based as well. And potential of younger players? Against whom? Have they faced any formidable oppotion? The gulf between FC and international cricket is huge. And you expect an U-19 kid to be introduced to international cricket ? Why? On what grounds?

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Organising more A tours is the way forward Kadambari Murali New Delhi, April 1, 2007 Once upon a time, when the world of Indian cricket was a happier place, India A tours were the way ahead. And once upon a time wasn't so long ago either. For instance, in the time that Sandeep Patil became a more or less regular India A coach, after leading Kenya to the 2003 World Cup semifinals, 17 players from A tours went on to play for India, others played for India again. And most (see the box for the roster) did well enough. Suddenly, despite all the talk of "processes" and the "need to groom youngsters" that we have been hearing these past two years, India do not seem to have a proper, dependable bench strength. Why? For starters, the world?s richest Board doesn't seem to want to spend time and money on organising India A tours anymore. Strangely, in the year that the BCCI reportedly broke the billion-rupee barrier in revenue, India had just one A tour, to Australia, in July 2006. So how are fringe players supposed to prepare for the Indian team, or be ready to step in at a moment's notice if they are not being given the experience? "It is a serious problem," says a top BCCI official, who did not want to be named, as his views, if aired publicly, would not be appreciated within the BCCI. "There was an imbalance last year, when there were three under-19 tours (to England, Pakistan and New Zealand) and only A tour to Australia. This imbalance began when India won the u-19 World Cup in January 2000, but at 19, most boys are too raw and will suffer if thrown into international cricket." So why didn't the Board do more? "The problem is that the Board depends on reciprocal arrangements, so a five-year plan for A tours is the need of the hour. Somehow, that hasn't happened." Well, the planning has to start somewhere, so why not at the BCCI meet over April 6 and 7? "I think the BCCI has no choice but to organise as many A tours as possible if they want Indian cricket to succeed," said former India cap Ashok Malhotra, who has been both a National Selector and the India A coach."While three-four years in domestic cricket makes you street smart and gives you experience, you need to play outside India to be groomed for international games. So the real yardstick is India A tours. The likes of Gautam (Gambhir) and Aakash (Chopra), Irfan (Pathan) and others have come up through the ranks, that way. From u-19s to A tours to India." The Board official agreed. "All our focus is the India team. The training methods and physio are focussed on those 15. The other players are not in that system, so they suffer when thrown into it. There is a feeling within the Board that we should have a larger pool of players who will travel as much as the seniors and gain experience.? If it doesn't, then there's trouble ahead. "I'm really worried that Indian cricket will go the hockey way," said Malhotra. "We will stay obsessed with Pakistan and gradually be left behind by the others." --------------------------------------------------- I'm also worried that if even for once the passion for game will die in the country, it won't return!!

[Holysmoke]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! looks like we got an answer..

[kabira]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! this should be the criteria.. Player A performs well in zonal competition against strong 6-8 teams... He gets promoted to play for India A.. If he performs there for a year...he goes to Team India...

[gator]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Excellent thread, Chandan..... u filled it up pretty quick..... but good information digging..... seems like ONE of the solutions is more A tours.... some of Harsha's suggestions seem good.... especially reducing the number of teams and the dilution effects....

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself!

this should be the criteria.. Player A performs well in zonal competition against strong 6-8 teams... He gets promoted to play for India A.. If he performs there for a year...he goes to Team India...

I agree. No Indian player should be selected on the basis of just domestic cricket as we all know what its standard is. Hence without testing the players in Indias A tours, we should never never select him for the international team.

[jf1gp_1]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself!

And no Chappell please. His recent attitude about distancing himself from the failure has infuriated me.

hmm.. and where did you read Rahul Dravid take any kind of responsibility for the failure. All i keep hearing from players like rahul, saurav, sachin, kumble is team failed. Chappell said the same thing. Dravid should be a man come forward and say we lost because we look BD lightly. I didnt hear Sachin say we lost because i scored a duck if i had score 50+ against SL we would be in super 8 its my fault nor had Saurav taken any responsibility for low sr or bhaji for not taking wickets. So if players who have been around for 10+ yrs arent willing to take any responsibility how can you expect a contracted coach who's ideas werent followed, to take up any kind of responsibility. I am not defending coach if he couldnt control the team he should have quit long time back but why just point at him.

[Chandan]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! Dravid took the responsibilty right after the match that they played badly and didn't deserve to go into the second round. Kumble has said that they take the responsibility that they played badly and they were/are much more disappointed than anyone can think. Sachin said that they were shattered because the WC dream was a collective one for the players and they're broken after the defeat. But this thread is not for that mudslinging!! We are discussing here Indian cricket can reinvent itself! Any idea??

[King]

Re: Indian cricket must reinvent itself! I think the players should play quite a bit of domestic games. That will help in producing players that have performed against quality players. Unfortunately it is up to the BCCI to facilitate this by ensuring they don't accept any tours while the domestic cricket is at full swing. 'A' tours are good for developing bench strength. Also they could send exceptional domestic cricketers to tour overseas during the off season. I know there is not much domestic cricket being played during Indian summer. During this period they could possibly send the players to participate in say an Australian or a NZ domestic cricket. We had one of the imports from UK in our team and he was drafted to play for Wellington by Fleming. Fleming being the captain of Wellington desperately wanted these fellas to play for Wellington so that Wellington can do well. I'm sure the NZ cricket board or the Australian cricket board should be able to accommodate couple of players in the team. This will ensure the players don?t really get over whelmed when touring and also provides them a chance to show the selectors they are capable of performing every where.