Turning point of the modern Indian team

[Son of Pakistan]

What every india is right now is because of ganguly . My neutral point of view

[fineleg]

What every india is right now is because of ganguly . My neutral point of view

He had some part, but by NO MEANS he is the only or the most significant. Sorry.

[Nirvanam]

Turning Point was definitely Kolkata 2001. Since then we haven't looked back. As few others have mentioned, Eng 2002 was also significant...especially since the 3rd day of Nottingham Test. The sponsor-ICC tiff caused the Indian players to come together and made the bond which was forged at Kolkata 2001, much stronger. The way Rahul, Sachin, and Ganguly fought to save that Test underscores everything that an Indian team wasn't during the 90s. This time around Rahul and Ganguly stood up to be counted along with Sachin. Ganguly made 99 that night to save the Test and I must that it was on that day that I finally accepted Dada as our captain...till that time I was still feeling that Kumble should have become cap. Truly, that tour changed a lot of things...earlier on the tour we chased 326 in the final. Honestly, when Sachin was bowled by "gheun tak" Giles a friend and I switched off the game and started our booze session. Later we thought "let's see how badly we lost"...turned on the TV...Yuvi and Kaif took it to around 250. We didn't wanna jinx them so turned off the TV. Finally around the last 10 runs we couldn't hold it back and ended up watching those last runs scored by Kaifu! Amazing match that was.

[Nirvanam]

Thanks for the link, Andy Here is the story -

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain, has questioned Sachin Tendulkar's abilities as a match-winner after failing in the first Test against England at Lord's. Tendulkar scored 37 and 16 in a close draw. Kapil said that Tendulkar has not been able to perform under pressure and deliver in crunch situations. None of the four middle-order batsmen - Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly - managed a half century as India made 201 in the first innings and just managed to hang on in the second and save the game before bad light on the fifth day resulted in a draw. "Every time people hope big things from Sachin Tendulkar but often it is only disappointment that we are left with," Kapil told Aaj Tak, a Hindi news channel. "He is thought to be the backbone of the Indian team but many times he has not stood up to the occasion." Tendulkar found form in the three-match one-day series against South Africa in Ireland which preceded the England tour, winning the Man-of-the-Series award. He went on to score an exhilarating 171 in the tour game against England Lions at Chelmsford, before the Lord's Test. Kapil felt that Tendulkar was presented with the best opportunity to silence his critics and play a match-winning knock in the second innings with India set to chase 380. Tendulkar fell to Monty Panesar for 16 on the penultimate evening, struck leg before in front of offstump. "Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure," he said. "Sachin has big records to his name but until he wins matches for India in these conditions, people will raise fingers at him." Kapil praised Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten 76 in the second innings, an under-pressure knock which rescued India from a certain defeat. "He has the ability to win matches for India on his own. He was tentative on the last day of the Test match and was not able to play freely."

From the context of the thread I feel Kapil is talking about his own expectations of Sachin and that others will point a finger at him. If he was dissing Sachin then he wouldn't have made the last statement. He clearly has his facts wrong about Sachin's performance when he says "Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure,"...factual data will correct this misunderstanding...if it even was a misunderstanding. More than anything it looks like someone from Aaj Tak having needled Kapil with some stupid questions, and cricinfo managed to quote those statements which could possibly sensationalize the whole incident for more hits on their site. Aaj Tak...that's enough...don't need to know any more about it...lol

[maniac]

Kapil has a proven track record to perform under extreme pressure situations and often lived up to his expectations. My point of view is so has Sachin.If someone like me who hasn't played beyond school cricket can express an opinion why not a legend of the game who played with him and was an icon of the previous era.

[maniac]

"Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure," he said. "Sachin has big records to his name but until he wins matches for India in these conditions, people will raise fingers at him."

This statement only implies that Sachin has to raise his game in crunch situations.He was taking in relevance with that game.Let's be honest Wasn't there never a situation when Sachin failed in a crunch game???We would express the same dissapointment too if that happeened.Why are people taking his words out of context???

[Ranjha]

TESTS: 2001 EDEN TEST ODIS: 2002 NATWEST SERIES SO YEAR 2001-2002. You cant argue with this. The common factor: GANGULY DADA Worthy mentions TESTS: VVS, BHAJJI, DRAVID, SACHIN Worth mentions ODIS: Yuvraj, Sehwag, Kaif only for natwest final

[maniac]

The biggest turning point was the match fixing scandal.Despite India being a major center for this somehow we managed to become bigger out of this.Both from an administrative standpoint as well as a team stand point.

[Andy]

What every india is right now is because of ganguly . My neutral point of view

He had Major Part to Play, Not "every" IMO. Batsmen had to contribute with the bat and bowlers with the ball.

[saneindian]

One major factor in our turnaround was the appointment of John Wright as the coach and then he got some professionls as the physio and trainers. Earlier the ganja Ali Irani used to be the doctor cum physio cum trainer of the team. From then on the focus shifted to fielding, fitness etc in our cricket which were taken for granted earlier.

[Sachin=GOD]

One major factor in our turnaround was the appointment of John Wright as the coach and then he got some professionls as the physio and trainers. Earlier the ganja Ali Irani used to be the doctor cum physio cum trainer of the team. From then on the focus shifted to fielding' date= fitness etc in our cricket which were taken for granted earlier.

good point. Now that he's no longer the coach, people tend to forget his contribution to Indian cricket.

[Nirvanam]

good point. Now that he's no longer the coach' date=' people tend to forget his contribution to Indian cricket.[/quote']Yeah, I still rate him as our best coach ahead of Kirsten. If we win in SA and the WC then I'll probably put Kirsten ahead. John Wright built a very good partnership with Ganguly...he paced himself well with the Indian team. He backed Dada's decisions on players and overall was a good enabler unlike Chappell who was trying to be a controller.