LACK of Foresight, Clear Thought Process, Good Strategies, Effective Tactics, Proper Talent Identification and Backing those talents.

[express bowling]

This Team Management seems to lack Foresight, Clear Thought Process, Good Strategies, Effective Tactics, Proper Talent Identification and Backing those talents

 

•   In this 1st test, they have filled our batting line up with consolidators against pace bowling. Apart from Kohli ( and an out of form Shaw ) there were no other batters in the top 7 who can score fast against pace bowling. No one to counter-attack if needed, to put pressure back on Australia. In form Gill and Pant warmed the bench.

•   In the 1st test, they have not included any left handers in the top 7, to disrupt the lines and lengths of bowlers. Pant was there.

•   They have not shown the foresight to develop sufficient all-condition test players. They have wasted most home test series playing HTBs like Dhawan, Umesh, Rohit etc. And have kept Rahane in the team knowing he is poor in India.

•   They have not shown the foresight to debut new pacers against weak teams at home, to cover for injuries to top pacers. ( As injuries are very common to pace bowlers ). Siraj and Saini were not introduced even against weak teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the WI. Shardul was played when a spot opened up.

•   How they played around with the No.4 spot in ODIs before the ODI WC 2019, has become legendary. Iyer was dropped while averaging 40+ at a high SR and Rayudu was brought in for no solid reason. And then Rayudu was suddenly dropped a few matches before the WC.

•   Youngsters have often been dropped / not picked when in form. And given chances much later when they have lost form ... when criticism surfaced. Youngsters need to be played when in form ... Rahul was dropped for Dhawan when he scored those 6 fifties in 2017. But played regularly much later when had lost form. ... Siraj was in stupendous form in 2018 and I think he picked 40 wickets in 5 Unofficial tests. But did not get to play tests against even weaker teams ... Kuldeep has not played a test after his fifer in Australia in early 2019 ... Pant keeps getting dropped from the test team despite 61 dismissals from just 13 tests and an average of almost 39 with the bat, which is great for a keeper ... Gill keeps getting ignored in tests and ODIs despite looking like the best young batsman ... Karin Nair hardly got to play after his 303.

•   It has been a team strategy to bowl defensive lines and lengths in ODIs in the first 10 overs. While nowadays, taking regular wickets is the only way to stem the flow of runs in ODIs. Shami, our only genuine wicket taker in the first 10 overs in ODIs, have been repeatedly benched in crucial ODIs.

•   This same strategy of defensive bowling upfront is being followed in many test matches / series too, including the current test series in Australia. We have brilliant fast bowlers now, but don't want them to take wickets upfront, even in tests. Amazing !!

•   Most people connected to cricket can identify some obvious top talents. They want to somehow get these cricketers in their sides. Like Gill and Pant for test matches. ( Australia is treating Green like this and playing him ) But somehow, this TM has some complicated thinking by which they find it difficult to play these types of cricketers with any regularity.

•   Senior cricketers keep getting priority irrespective of their performances. This TM follows a policy of picking an youngster only when a senior player is not available for that role. Performances do not seem to matter. Is this a 1980s government office ??

•   Not a single 140 k+ pacer has been developed since Bumrah's debut almost 5 years back.

 

.   I keep hearing that that Saini has been included because he is a tall bowler. He is around 6'1", which is not tall by fast bowler standards. I like Saini as a skiddy quick bowler, but he cannot be selected in the tall, bouncy bowler's slot. Ishant, Prasidh and Tyagi would qualify.

•   Sufficient demarcation is not made between T20s and ODIs. A batsman like Dhawan, who is good in ODIs but poor in T20s, keeps getting picked for T20Is. Pandey keeps getting a T20 spot although he bats too slowly for this format.

•   Sufficient demarcation is not made between performers in home and away tests. Umesh Yadav keeps getting picked in away tests because he bowls well in home tests ... ignoring the fact that he is poor when bowling outside Asia. Same happened or happens with Dhawan, Rohit ( poor in tests outside Asia ) and Rahane ( poor in tests in Asia )

•   Smith has weakness against good short balls. But we have hardly seen any short balls bowled to him. Same with Maxwell in ODIs. Where is the player specific planning ??

•   Sufficient stress is not placed on high strike rate batting in LOIs, especially in the early power-play overs. Almost every batsman wants to start slowly till the 40th over / 15th over in T20Is.

•   Modern approach not adopted in LOIs. An example being ... We don't include sufficient big hitters in the team.

I can go on and on.

But a team can't remain a top one for long if it is so poor in terms of Foresight, Clear Thought Process, Good Strategies, Effective Tactics, Proper Talent Identification and Backing those talents.

We need to include some intelligent strategists and tacticians in our Team Management. 
 

Edited December 21, 2020 by express bowling

[Straight Drive]

Strategic planning is lacking.

 

Having a proper roadmap for those who excel in Ranji, SMA, IPL etc is not there. If at all they identify talents, then they get delayed chance by an year or two (like you mentioned when form is not same) and then dropped on first sign of bad patch.

 

Senior players are shown lot of bias even when they are out of form for more time than other youngsters.

 

The management lacks the guts to tell senior players that they have to play domestic cricket. Australian and English players play domestic FC matches. Hardly any Indian player will play Ranji cricket. It would do a lot of good to play it and get some runs or wickets to be in good form. Increases stamina as well as fitness. 

 

 

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

I have heard that BCCI has hired the best video analyst among all teams.  This team gets everything top of the shelf & still they suck at basic team plannings..  Like how on Earth you play 11 right hand batsmen in a same XI.  This is beyond re**d level genius sh**.   Also they were thinking about picking  Shreyas Iyer in Test squad as well..  I mean how on earth they can't see that dude just can't play short ball.  Playing out of form youngster Shaw when everyone knows his weakness from the IPl & now he is likely to be benched for MCG & it'll destroy him further.  Sometimes I think BCCI has accepted mediocrity when there is potential to be great.  A country of 1.3 bn people which spends so much resources on one sport is still satisfied with mediocrity.  No wonder bewda & lolli will keep making easy bucks out of this whole system. 

[express bowling]

14 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

  Also they were thinking about picking  Shreyas Iyer in Test squad as well..  I mean how on earth they can't see that dude just can't play short ball.  

 

 

This is another great example. Shreyas Iyer had major issues against short balls by Lord Unadkat in a Ranji match. Plus he has issues against hard length balls by tall pacers too.

 

And he is being considered as a test match backup batsman !!

 

Do these decision makers watch FC cricket even ?  Have the selectors got no power at all ?

 

 

 

 

[express bowling]

Not too long back, this TM had decided to introduce every young pacer / bowler via the T20I route.

 

Even if he is a test match prospect like Siraj.

 

Amazing !

[nevada]

Another area where this TM chose greed over long term thinking is in the area of #6 batsman. They dumped Vihari for Jaddu despite his impressive performance in a WI series which included a century. If he had been picked in home games, he could have helped himself to some runs and gained in confidence. Instead, he is in the unenviable position of only playing abroad in difficult conditions for batting. Unlike a Mayank Agarwal who has a 50 plus average and the record of the fastest opener to 1000 test runs, Vihari has no such cushion. He is just 1-2 failures away from being dumped for good. Now, whether Vihari is good or just a dud is not the point. Whether it is him or Gill or someone else picked for #6, they have to be treated fairly. 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Thats the problem with International cricket right now , very few good teams so we get these reality checks once in a year which is when they can give defense but we kept winning for whole year its just one bad game. 

 

Kohli+ Shastri + MSK + No board has dug a hole that will take time to fill but since we have enough talent it can be restored if done proper planning. 

 

Kohli - who is impulsive that if unadkat takes 5 wkts on a day and akram gets clobbered he ll think unadkat is better then Akram

Shastri- said to be smart brain doesnt look like using it as being a yes man is good for his lifestyle

MSK- got a position that he didnt deserve and Kohli was to big for him to have an opinion against

 

Before ganguly there was no board and now only god know what they are doing . Mumbai Indians have shown the way and BCCI cant even complain about lack of money. It all comes to down to taking hard calls .....remeber when we won 2007, 2011, 2013 our last Championships all had tough calls 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Ankit_sharma03

[express bowling]

28 minutes ago, nevada said:

Another area where this TM chose greed over long term thinking is in the area of #6 batsman. They dumped Vihari for Jaddu despite his impressive performance in a WI series which included a century. If he had been picked in home games, he could have helped himself to some runs and gained in confidence. Instead, he is in the unenviable position of only playing abroad in difficult conditions for batting. Unlike a Mayank Agarwal who has a 50 plus average and the record of the fastest opener to 1000 test runs, Vihari has no such cushion. He is just 1-2 failures away from being dumped for good. Now, whether Vihari is good or just a dud is not the point. Whether it is him or Gill or someone else picked for #6, they have to be treated fairly. 

 

 

Ideally, it should have been Vihari playing in place of Rahane at home.

 

When an Indian batsman averages below 40 in tests at home ( Rahane ), he does not deserve to play.

 

But in this team, seniority is the key Irrespective of quality.

[nevada]

20 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Ideally, it should have been Vihari playing in place of Rahane at home.

 

When an Indian batsman averages below 40 in tests at home ( Rahane ), he does not deserve to play.

 

But in this team, seniority is the key Irrespective of quality.

Yes, Rahane has-been enjoying a free ride for far too long. He should have been dropped for Vihari but his seniority saved him. And his seniority also kept out triple centurion Karin Nair out right after that 300. Kumble was coach then. He brought in Gambhir and Yuvi for a brief time as well. The seniority bug has been there since before Shastri's tenure and it's ridiculous!

[BacktoCricaddict]

10 minutes ago, nevada said:

Yes, Rahane has-been enjoying a free ride for far too long. He should have been dropped for Vihari but his seniority saved him. And his seniority also kept out triple centurion Karin Nair out right after that 300. Kumble was coach then. He brought in Gambhir and Yuvi for a brief time as well. The seniority bug has been there since before Shastri's tenure and it's ridiculous!

Yes. For all those who clamour to have Kumble as coach, please no.  This is not a Kumble vs. Shastri binary.  Neither choice is good, albeit for vastly different reasons.  

[BacktoCricaddict]

2 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

I have heard that BCCI has hired the best video analyst among all teams.  This team gets everything top of the shelf & still they suck at basic team plannings..  Like how on Earth you play 11 right hand batsmen in a same XI.  This is beyond re**d level genius sh**.   Also they were thinking about picking  Shreyas Iyer in Test squad as well..  I mean how on earth they can't see that dude just can't play short ball.  Playing out of form youngster Shaw when everyone knows his weakness from the IPl & now he is likely to be benched for MCG & it'll destroy him further.  Sometimes I think BCCI has accepted mediocrity when there is potential to be great.  A country of 1.3 bn people which spends so much resources on one sport is still satisfied with mediocrity.  No wonder bewda & lolli will keep making easy bucks out of this whole system. 

Not only that - even tactically, during the LOIs, Chahal was saying how he saw Zampa bowl in 3 matches before figuring out the correct trajectory/length to bowl.  WTF?  If you have the best video analyst, should Arun study tape and instruct bowlers beforehand how to bowl and have them practice that in nets?  

 

As for Shaw, if you really want to keep him because of his NZ performance, his aggressive intent and overall talent, Rathour could easily have used videos to identify this weakness and kept on peppering him with such deliveries in the nets until he straightened it out.  

[express bowling]

10 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

Not only that - even tactically, during the LOIs, Chahal was saying how he saw Zampa bowl in 3 matches before figuring out the correct trajectory/length to bowl.  WTF?  If you have the best video analyst, should Arun study tape and instruct bowlers beforehand how to bowl and have them practice that in nets?  

 

As for Shaw, if you really want to keep him because of his NZ performance, his aggressive intent and overall talent, Rathour could easily have used videos to identify this weakness and kept on peppering him with such deliveries in the nets until he straightened it out.  

 

 

Very good points.

 

Also, why are the Australian pacers bowling ideal lengths while we are not ?  We are not bowling inaccurately. We are just accurately bowling in slightly wrong areas for these pitches.

 

All this should have been sorted out before the test series.

[Vk1]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Ideally, it should have been Vihari playing in place of Rahane at home.

 

When an Indian batsman averages below 40 in tests at home ( Rahane ), he does not deserve to play.

 

But in this team, seniority is the key Irrespective of quality.

agree with all that you say except that Rahane is not only bad in India but also piss poor in SENA. 

[SK_IH]

This was the time to press the panic button & remove Rahane the supposed captain from the team. God forbid if that phoney flukes even a 50 in next match, he will cling onto the squad like a leech for another year.

[BacktoCricaddict]

13 minutes ago, Vk1 said:

agree with all that you say except that Rahane is not only bad in India but also piss poor in SENA. 

Problem is that he hits the one obligatory 40 or 50 in every series ... now, how do you drop someone who just scored a 50 in NZ when everyone is failing and now scored a 45 in Adelaide?

[SK_IH]

2 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

Problem is that he hits the one obligatory 40 or 50 in every series ... now, how do you drop someone who just scored a 50 in NZ when everyone is failing and now scored a 45 in Adelaide?

Konsi 50? If Indian cricket had even modicum of shame & accountability, he should have been dropped for the way he threw his wicket in the last test innings in NZ, literally guiding the short bowl to stumps.

[BacktoCricaddict]

3 minutes ago, SK_IH said:

Konsi 50? If Indian cricket had even modicum of shame & accountability, he should have been dropped for the way he threw his wicket in the last test innings in NZ, literally guiding the short bowl to stumps.

Theek hai yaar ... 46 hi sahi.  1st test 1st innings.  Then 29 in 2nd innings, 2nd highest score after Agarwal.  Job done :-)  

[zen]

Most problems stem from the simple fact that India does not understand team sports. It can be observed in factors such as a) lack of innovation (usually a laggard in adaption of new concepts), b) How Ranji Trophy is structured (most uncompetitive domestic tourney among countries with resources), c) Inability to understand sports related metrics in general (random use of stats), d) imagining that there is some kind of a pecking order to play for Ind, and e) etc 

[maniac]

Agree with most points except the consolidators part. Pujara is an important cog in the batting line up. 

 

Saha was played for his keeping skills 

 

Shaw over Gill, I am not sure who will qualify as a consolidator in this regard.

 

Aggarwal is an attacking player too.

 

A guy like Rahane is not technically a consolidator, he is a stroke player from a test perspective, let’s not confuse his LoI credentials with tests.

 

Now sure you can pigeon hole a guy like Vihari as a consolidator because we haven’t seen much from him.

 

It was a batting failure and some changes could have been made based on form but can’t question the entire batting line up as useless. Every batsman in this side is on merit and don’t think adding the perceived non-consilidator players like Pandya,Kishen,Sky,Samson in a pink ball test would have had different results.

 

I can see it from a Saha vs Pant debate though.

[Lone Wolf]

23 minutes ago, maniac said:

Agree with most points except the consolidators part. Pujara is an important cog in the batting line up. 

 

Saha was played for his keeping skills 

 

Shaw over Gill, I am not sure who will qualify as a consolidator in this regard.

 

Aggarwal is an attacking player too.

 

A guy like Rahane is not technically a consolidator, he is a stroke player from a test perspective, let’s not confuse his LoI credentials with tests.

 

Now sure you can pigeon hole a guy like Vihari as a consolidator because we haven’t seen much from him.

 

It was a batting failure and some changes could have been made based on form but can’t question the entire batting line up as useless. Every batsman in this side is on merit and don’t think adding the perceived non-consilidator players like Pandya,Kishen,Sky,Samson in a pink ball test would have had different results.

 

I can see it from a Saha vs Pant debate though.

This is not about who is on merit.  This is about ability.  Wade,  Travis Head,  Tim Paine & to a extent Smith labu are all stroke makers.  There is a reason why Australia picks these players.  Same goes for England as well. 

Rahane used to be a stroke maker & now he's washed up & can't do that anymore.  Pujara,  Vihari Saha again similar kind of players in too much numbers.  This is the definition of a one dimensional line up.