Why are India a poor fielding side?-->Harsha

[Duckworth&Lewis]

The biggest problem is that we don’t have a culture of sports. Our young children play a lot, meaning, they run around, play hide-and-seek, I-spy etc or mess around in the swing, but there is enough organized sports that is played at an young age. Consequently, the motor skills of our children never really get fully developed and this translates into some really awkward looking, badly co-ordinated adults. And that’s partly because of the utter lack of sporting infrastructure. Our schools/colleges system consider sporting facilities a luxury, not a necessity. We don’t have any real culture of youth sports - College rivalries, inter-state rivalries etc. Plus, the punishing Indian summer doesn’t really help as well. You try to go out and play during hot summer afternoon in May in Chennai and you’ll exactly know what I am talking about. Its not as though our kids want to play any lesser than any other kids. They’re just as enthusiastic, but they need help and encouragement to go out and play.

Your article is way better than that Bogalla's. :hysterical: If I add to that, subcontinent grounds are not the most encouraging when it comes to fielding.. specially, non-International grounds. Here is an example.. this clip is from a SL inter-provincial T20 match, you can see the glassless outfield where Randiv dived to take the catch. He wouldn't have done that if it wasn't a live telecast. You can't expect school cricketers to improve their fielding if they have to play in these type of conditions. :dontknow: kjZZrhd_eLw Edit: I have seen Indian domestic matches playing in similar looking grounds.

[Unbiased]

hey his job is to attract controversy - job done it appears

[f.b.m]

hey his job is to attract controversy - job done it appears

The controversy is on why he holds a column for his dreary, state the obvious drivel..

[thevortex]

The biggest problem is that we don’t have a culture of sports. Our young children play a lot, meaning, they run around, play hide-and-seek, I-spy etc or mess around in the swing, but there is enough organized sports that is played at an young age. Consequently, the motor skills of our children never really get fully developed and this translates into some really awkward looking, badly co-ordinated adults. And that’s partly because of the utter lack of sporting infrastructure. Our schools/colleges system consider sporting facilities a luxury, not a necessity. We don’t have any real culture of youth sports - College rivalries, inter-state rivalries etc. Plus, the punishing Indian summer doesn’t really help as well. You try to go out and play during hot summer afternoon in May in Chennai and you’ll exactly know what I am talking about. Its not as though our kids want to play any lesser than any other kids. They’re just as enthusiastic, but they need help and encouragement to go out and play.

Marris - I understand the spirit of your post, although I am not so sure I agree with the content. Yes, our kids are just as enthusiastic in playing as those of any other country. But I am not buying that they dont have well developed motor skills and all that. You go to any small town or village of Tamil Nadu (or for that matter other States, for all I know), you will see youngsters playing games such as Kabbadi, Gilli etc. etc. with wonderful exhibitions of athleticism and physical prowess. I would say that for all of cricket's wonderful reach, it has still not penetrated the hinterlands or the interiors of our country. Partly it is because of the various facilities and implements required for the sport. Come May in Chennai, try and see how many grounds are available in the city for renting for the purposes of a cricket game! If it is not raining, you would be hard pressed to obtain one for a game of cricket - even for a 3 hour T20 match! Our amateurs and enthusiasts are not ones to let small things such as the sun or an absolute horror of an outfield to deter them from indulging in their weekend pleasures. And any collegiate will tell you that there is a lot of rivalry during those years! Interdepartmental or Zonal - what not. Problem is that this is not built upon. Our college sports structure does not come out in the open. It is not popular. It does not earn. And that leads up to what is probably the core issue. Which is the prevailing fact that many of our talented kids choose other disciplines than cricket (or even sport) when it comes to their career. This all goes back to square one - social and financial security. When talking of countries such as England and Australia this is not a problem. If you are talented, you can definitely represent a county and even make a living out of it. In India, it is not enough if you are just talented. And that is a pity.

[thevortex]

Forgot to mention that Harsha's thoughts do not seem coherent in the least when it comes to cricketing basics. I thought somebody earlier put it very nicely when they said Harsha was fantastic when he was trying to bring that little cricketing something from a leading man. Problem is when he tries to be the leading man himself he falls a bit short.

[Ram]

Marris - I understand the spirit of your post, although I am not so sure I agree with the content. Yes, our kids are just as enthusiastic in playing as those of any other country. But I am not buying that they dont have well developed motor skills and all that. You go to any small town or village of Tamil Nadu (or for that matter other States, for all I know), you will see youngsters playing games such as Kabbadi, Gilli etc. etc. with wonderful exhibitions of athleticism and physical prowess. I would say that for all of cricket's wonderful reach, it has still not penetrated the hinterlands or the interiors of our country. Partly it is because of the various facilities and implements required for the sport. Come May in Chennai, try and see how many grounds are available in the city for renting for the purposes of a cricket game! If it is not raining, you would be hard pressed to obtain one for a game of cricket - even for a 3 hour T20 match! Our amateurs and enthusiasts are not ones to let small things such as the sun or an absolute horror of an outfield to deter them from indulging in their weekend pleasures. And any collegiate will tell you that there is a lot of rivalry during those years! Interdepartmental or Zonal - what not. Problem is that this is not built upon. Our college sports structure does not come out in the open. It is not popular. It does not earn. And that leads up to what is probably the core issue. Which is the prevailing fact that many of our talented kids choose other disciplines than cricket (or even sport) when it comes to their career. This all goes back to square one - social and financial security. When talking of countries such as England and Australia this is not a problem. If you are talented, you can definitely represent a county and even make a living out of it. In India, it is not enough if you are just talented. And that is a pity.

Dude, of course not ALL our kids end up playing too little sports, but the increasing trend, especially in the cites, is that more and more of our children are spending less and less of their leisure time on the playing grounds. And unfortunately, since our school/college systems have no meaningful sports infrastructure, they end up playing too little contact sports as a whole. By and large, I am in general agreement to what you’re saying. Our positions are pretty similar, we only disagree slightly on the extent of the problem.

[thevortex]

Dude, of course not ALL our kids end up playing too little sports, but the increasing trend, especially in the cites, is that more and more of our children are spending less and less of their leisure time on the playing grounds. And unfortunately, since our school/college systems have no meaningful sports infrastructure, they end up playing too little contact sports as a whole. By and large, I am in general agreement to what you’re saying. Our positions are pretty similar, we only disagree slightly on the extent of the problem.

My point was about the motor skills of our youngsters and children. I disagreed on that point with you. About contact sports - well, I would say Kabbadi is a contact sport. Cricket is not. About infrastructure, there can be no gainsaying that. That is just a fact.