Border: India should do a total 'rethink'

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http://sify.com/khel/wc_fullstory.php?id=14442950 India should do a 'total rethink' Allan Border Those of us who love Indian cricket adore Sachin Tendulkar. His future has been debated of late, and several people have called for his head. But I think that as long as he keeps saying to himself, "I am going to be the first to arrive and the last to leave," he still has a few more years of cricket left in him. Those younger to him will be only too glad to follow if he decides to lead Indian cricket out of the current situation. I am often reminded of the mid-1980s and the various crises that Australian cricket faced at the time. Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when things looked bleak for us. We had lost a substantial number of quality cricketers to a ?Rebel? tour of South Africa, and I was captaining a team of relative newcomers. We lost the Ashes twice and were steamrolled by New Zealand on our own pitches during this period. How did we pick ourselves up? Well, we did a ?total rethink.? The selection process was made more structured, and a core group of players identified. We decided to give them the time to develop at the highest level. The ?chop-and-change? approach was abandoned, as it does not do a team any good when its members are constantly looking over their shoulders. We assured the players that they would be given a good, solid trial, which meant that they could concentrate on their game without worrying about being axed. Under Bob Simpson, we worked very hard on basics like fielding and running. Our diligence was duly rewarded. India should think about doing something similar. I believe that ?character? should be given preference over ?skill.? Mental fragility will get you nowhere even if you are the most skilled player on the planet. Look at the great Indian sides of the past. Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were skilled no doubt, but what made them great was ?character.? They were never bullied by their opponents, they would always take the fight to the other camp, and they had a great work-ethic The Indian cricketers of today and tomorrow would do well to emulate them. It has often been claimed that ?character? is something that cannot be learnt. I disagree. The most straightforward of things, like ensuring that the wickets for junior-level tournaments assist pace and bounce, can make a difference. A player who is able to adjust and adapt to varying conditions will stand a better chance of success than a ?fair-weather? specialist. Make no mistake, India is a tough side to represent, given the gravity of expectations. I remember telling Mohammed Azharuddin about what I had to undergo as Australian captain. Azhar heard me out, smiled, and proceeded to awaken me to the fact that my job was a cakewalk compared to his. I could not help but agree with him. I don?t think we Australians will be villified if we lose a cricket match. Our supporters will be disappointed for sure, but that?s just about it. ?Character? will go a long way in helping Indian cricketers of the future cope with the expectations of their fans. It will be further enhanced if the long-overdue need to improve fitness and fielding standards is addressed. In modern times, there is absolutely no excuse for being a poor fielding side. It?s not rocket science, is it? Fitness is another priority. A regimented coaching system should be avoided. Every kid is born unique, and he should be encouraged to develop his own style and techniques. Biomechanics can be utilised to bring about some minor alterations. But what is god-given should not be discarded. It will help if all the private coaching academies set up by former international cricketers evolve some kind of a coordination mechanism. It?s always good to involve former players in any developmental venture, as they have all been there and done that. The academies should not be restricted to rich children. The richest cricket board in the world can also do its bit to help kids who don?t have financial resources to find a place in these schools. A glance at India?s cricketing structure reveals a distinct pathway for children to proceed from their school team to the senior national team. The junior-level tournaments are neatly streamlined (u-15, u-17, u-19), as are the domestic inter-state and zonal competitions. The base is broad, and it can be made more effective by a foolproof selection system and of course, the elimination of political interference. The ?give-and-take? nonsense has to done away with, and the best XI selected at every level. If the best eleven players in the country are from say Punjab, then let it be an all-Punjab team that represents India. There are two things that India can pick up from Australia. The first pertains to the huge ?business? that is Indian cricket. It should be run like one. ?Cricket Australia? for example has a CEO, and is divided into Finance, Business, Game Development and Legal Affairs departments. The operations are overseen by a Board of Directors. We have a proper ?business model,? and India could think of creating one. The second is the ?indispensability issue.? If I ask you what is common to Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, you will come up with several flattering answers. But a less-flattering reply is that all three individuals have been dropped at some stage of their careers. Performances should, and must count, not your record. Iconic players earn some latitude, but if their form continues to be dismal, then it is imperative that a hard decision be taken. No player should be allowed to consider himself indispensable. This is just the right time to get Indian cricket back on track, and ensure that it catches up with those who have already embraced professionalism. The fundamental structures are there. All they need is a kick up the backside. Points: 1. Sachin Tendulkar has some years of cricket left in him 2. Indian situation similar to Australia?s in 1985 3. Select core-group and stick to it 4. Prefer ?character? / ?fighting spirit? over mere ?skill? 5. Indian cricket has to be administered professionally

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Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Border makes some very good points. One of the best articles i have read post worldcup

[Holysmoke]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Brilliant article. Somebody please please forward it to the BCCI.

[Chaos]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Best Article since 2006 i have heard. But these bcci dogs dont care about talent.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Now this is what's called fair assessment. BTW was warne dropped ever after attaining iconic status.

[Gaurav]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Border baba :wtg:

[Lurker]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink'

2. Indian situation similar to Australia?s in 1985 3. Select core-group and stick to it 4. Prefer ?character? / ?fighting spirit? over mere ?skill?

Border is borrowing from his experience. After Kim Hughes tearful exit when Border was given the leadership he started out as a Rahul Dravid. A good human being and a superb fat. But slowly he became a very vitriolic one, to the extent that he would restart the Ian Chappell's era of sledging and earn the nickname "Captain Grumpy". When ACB decided to do something about Aussie team they selected a great coach in Bob Simpson. Bob sat down with Border and picked the core of team - Border, Boon, Dean Jones, Healy, McDermott, Steve Waugh - all of them a fighter, none of them pushovers. All of them strong characters and none exceptional talent. And as we can sit down and look back it was the right thing to do. The challenges for India would be - 1) Do we have a Bob Simpson(Indian or foreign)? 2) Who are the players with the heart of a Border, Boon or Waugh? xxxx

[veer]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' a brilliant article.. I agree with all those points in theory.. but we are at different situation.. we dont have core group to build our foundation on.. our border mr. dravid is 33+.. we could have applied his pointers when azhar left and when ganguly took over. . we had SRT, Dravid, Ganguly, kumble around 27.. frankly, India wasted those great talents.. imagine.. greatest batsman in Indian and world cricket history.. best captain in Indian history.. best test batsman of current time most wicket taker in Indian test history... played in same team for so long without any significant achievement.. it just painful to think about it.. we could have done what border is suggesting at that time.. unless we take drastic steps, we are not going anywhere..

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Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink'

The challenges for India would be - 1) Do we have a Bob Simpson(Indian or foreign)? 2) Who are the players with the heart of a Border, Boon or Waugh? xxxx

There is a lot of parallel between the Aussies of 80s & our current team. I guess Bob simpson himself may be available. Even if not, we can get a reasonable substitute for him given the money involved. But IMO, (2) is far more important than (1). Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Sreesanth, Munaf are our core. Except Sreesanth & Dhoni, the rest need to sort out their attitude. Dravid is our closest substitute to Border (tho lacks Border's assertive nature). We got all the raw materials, we need a process :hic: to produce the product.

[Dhondy]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' You guys obviously haven't learnt your lessons yet. :duh:

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Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink'

You guys obviously haven't learnt your lessons yet. :duh:

Are u saying we cannot even compare ourselves to the worst Aussie cricketing phase ever ? :hic:

[King]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Probably one of the best short article that has dealth with all the short comings in Indian cricket. I wish Border's article appear more than Sunil Gavaskar's.

A regimented coaching system should be avoided. Every kid is born unique, and he should be encouraged to develop his own style and techniques. Biomechanics can be utilised to bring about some minor alterations. But what is god-given should not be discarded. It will help if all the private coaching academies set up by former international cricketers evolve some kind of a coordination mechanism. It?s always good to involve former players in any developmental venture, as they have all been there and done that. The academies should not be restricted to rich children. The richest cricket board in the world can also do its bit to help kids who don?t have financial resources to find a place in these schools.

How very true. I've been saying this for a long time that training in India does hamper a lot of cricketing talents in the pursuit of technically correct bowling or batting.

If I ask you what is common to Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, you will come up with several flattering answers. But a less-flattering reply is that all three individuals have been dropped at some stage of their careers. Performances should, and must count, not your record. Iconic players earn some latitude, but if their form continues to be dismal, then it is imperative that a hard decision be taken. No player should be allowed to consider himself indispensable.

What a good point he makes here. From India include Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble were the first ones to be in the dropped group. Now recently Ganguly and Zaheer Khan also in this group. I don't know why they worry about the likes of Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and the rest though. If they are not performing for a longer period of time drop them. When they are dropped don't say they were "RESTED". There is nothing wrong dropping a non performing player as long as they are in the scheme of things.

[Predator_05]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Simpson is too old and will never take up another full-time coaching position. He writes a column for the Sportstar BTW, you all should give it a read - very insightful comments. The Indian situation is similar to what Australia went through back in the '80's, but unlike them - these Indian cricketers or the administration seem to show scant concern for the state of the team. Australian cricket shook up everything and blooded new players, and all their cricketers were whipped into shape by Simpson. They set goals for themselves and pledged to win the '87 World Cup no matter what. The Aussies took a good hard look at themselves, noticed that they were playing like crap and did something about it. Contrast this to the current Indian set-up, which is basically a bunch of primadonnas lulled into a false sense of security, who feel content to do just enough to remain in their comfort zone. The administrators who oversee Indian cricket have no reason to revamp the system or challenge the authority of seniors like Tendulkar and Ganguly because they are noticeably profit-oriented and don't care how the team does as long as long as the money is made. Dropping a cricketer in Australia is different from dropping a cricketer in India - the Indian takes the drop as a personal insult, whereas the Aussie interprets the drop as an opportunity to become a better player and come back stronger than ever before. Too many differences.

[yoda]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Fack, the title sounded like it was related to Kashmir.

[THX_1138]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Border has been honest, true and bit turgid in his article and everything he has said is well worth its weight in gold... i do feel that we need to intensify the domestic circuit and do away with the age restrictions... i.e. once you are past a certain age you are not worth a selection. i think that could go miles in providing the mental stiffness required.

[King]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' Foremost the players themselves need introspection. How many articles haven't I read Tendulkar saying there is nothing wrong with his batting/batting style, Ganguly about his shortcomings against short ball(not recently but before he was dropped), Laxman not acknowledging his shortcomings in fielding or running between wickets, Sehwag with his fitness, Harbhajan his ever lack of flight, the list can go on and on and on. The players never seem to think they have any short comings but they always sound as if they were dropped because of political reasons. Even the fans reckon there is nothing wrong with the players and all of us are guilty of producing stats to back it up when we all know there are only couple of players or three that are doing consistently well in both forms of cricket. The cleansing should start from the players and the rest will fall in place. I bet if you ask any player today they will say there's absolutely nothing wrong with their cricket and they are villified because of no mistake of theirs.

[veer]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' I agree with ravi.. our players lacking that spirit of "ohhh sheeeeeeeeet we lost to bangla .. or its a shame to drop out before super8 ".. just see what gilly said .. ''i tested selectors..... '' i remember what ganguly use to say something like.. i have ten thousand runs.. blah blah.. its matter of one inning blah blah.. critics need to shut up blahh.. they make me feel like a fool for spending so many hours on cricket ..

[gator]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink'

The challenges for India would be - 1) Do we have a Bob Simpson(Indian or foreign)? 2) Who are the players with the heart of a Border, Boon or Waugh?

Lurks, IMO, Whatmore or Moody can be as good as Bobby... secondly, we have some players who have got real heart, but are not being given a decent run... Sreesanth, if given a prolonged run will turn out better than mcdermott who won aussies quite a few series and a world cup... venu rao is another, who comes to mind... with his back to the wall, he single-handedly chased down 500+ in the 4th innings against a bowling attack comprising 2 90+ mph bowlers in simon jones and sajid.... KKD is another, who in his brief career has rescued india when it mattered most... be it 20-20, odi or a test match, and be it home or away against quality pace... I dont even have to talk about the heart of DRavid... he has balls the size of basketballs.... there are more, but u get the hint.... the problem is, can these guys be given a decent prolonged run...

[jf1gp_1]

Re: Border: India should do a total 'rethink' so how different are border suggestions and what chappel tried to implement ?? border - select player with character chappel - drop lazy player. border - run BCCI like business appoint pros chappel - To be like Australia, you can't work like Zimbabwe delete the author of the article and one could confuse it with something written by chappell.