Identifying talent and having a vision.

[rkt.india]

The England debacle now has raised voices for changing and chopping in Indian team. A lot has been written in English newspapers about how this Indian team has looked clueless in every outing on a cricket ground. India has become a laughing stock for them as I read this somewhere and there is nothing in it that we should shout against. But remember, this is not the first time a team has lost like this. There are ample examples to prove it. Having said that, we had come here as a number one test team and now it looks like we have just given test status by ICC before this series. Though criticising team management and players is an easy thing to do for everyone, but we also need to look at why we are criticizing them, then we will find out because we had a lot of expectations from this team. This team had achieved something extraordinary in the last 3 years, but while creating a road of success, they left several loop holes, which are haunting them now. They overlooked their weaknesses and forgot to work on them or I should say they did not have the will to work on them. We too had closed our eyes as we won the world cup even after knowing that we played and won world cup with just one bowler who we could depend upon. Team management including captain and coach never did anything to strengthen our bowling department. Cricket is a game where a team has to cover 3 aspects well to be really successful batting, bowling, and fielding, but in our case fall was inevitable which happened here when a highly batting-dependent team crumbled against some top class bowling by English bowlers and our bowling could not really bother the opposition. Now, we are seeing even our batting is not getting any better, so what's next for us in store? Will our cricket be doomed, in terns of test cricket? Among Indian cricket fans, this question has risen more forcefully than the rise of machines in Terminator because how England are terminating our team match after match is not giving any hope even for ODI series now. Can these guys come back in ODIs? Hope so and pray they will be back. But the biggest question is what to do to cover the cricketing aspects we are lacking in. We need to consider our team composition and the kind of players we have and how we can improve on them and bring new talent and nurture them. All these things need vision and foresight to identify right talent who has right ingredients to success at test cricket. After seeing the lollipops served by Amit Mishra to English batsman and flighted deliveries bowled by FAST bowler RP Singh, I do believe that this happened because people responsible for taking these decisions lacked vision and foresight to identify right talent or they were not really interested in thinking what is right. Sometimes, after seeing this farce, I am forced to think was that a joke or something or I was watching a dream sequence? But not really, it is a harsh reality which is still out of our acceptance that we were crashed down so badly from the top. Identifying a talent is not something you read and learn through cricket books or is hypothesized by astrophysicists. It is the ability to analyze a player according to his weaknesses which can be worked upon and consider what are the qualities a player has. Like if some one is a spinner, how he can ask questions with his spin bowling from the batsman? Does he have variations, enough turn, bounce, guile, or consistency to keep the batsman in check or take wickets? What we saw from Mishra, there was nothing. He was bowling like he was serving underarm to his kids in the lawn of his house while playing with bat and ball made of light plastic. Most of us can certainly remember this when our parents or elder brothers used to play and enjoy with us in this manner when we were under 10 years old kids. Though, I will not do much in-depth analysis about the bowling of these two guys as we all saw what they served and how we felt seeing them because some others were also there who have not really amazed anyone. I am sorry if someone broke his television in a cruel process of watching these guys serving to English batsmen like caterers in a wedding. I am only raising a point how to identify a talent. Can we select a player who is successful at first class level with blind eyes, like in case of Amit Mishra? Though I must say he is not the first example in our cricket history. However, I must say Mishra was not our first choice spinner but when our legend spinner found it out tough to perform well whose craft of spin bowling is now a distant memory as he has now resorted to a new sport called dart throwing and then he also got injured while carrying the burden of tons of expectations, we replaced him with another spinner thinking that the one player, who has come in, will automatically fill the boots without realizing that does the player we are bringing in have it in him to make any impact or was it just a false hope or to fill a place in eleven? It again takes us to the same question which is how to identify the right talent? Vision, foresight, and identifying talent, these are a few words which have been spoken up a lot, but never really exist when we try to connect them to Board of Control for Cricket in India. Realization plays an important role in this regard. Sometimes, we make our favorites and whatever happens those favorites usually appear out of the dark clouds even after insipid past like a rising sun, but then we realize that sun was not rising, it was actually setting and clouds were just helping us realize that it is a night now and we need to sleep to see some new dreams. Similarly, we can realize that some guy is not worth wasting our time and it is the time to try a new talent and I am not talking only about Amit Mishra here. There are quite a few. Cheers!

[Blue Panther]

:two_thumbs_up::hatsoff:Excellent write up.

[Sooda]

Yes, and maybe there is no other real talent there!!!! Therein lies the problem, so if not Mishra then who? Ashwin does not have the potencyto be a wicket taking test bowler IMO, though he might create pressure from one end, similarly with Ojha. Chawla does not have the control. And that about sums up our options.

[rkt.india]

Yes' date=' and maybe there is no other real talent there!!!! Therein lies the problem, so if not Mishra then who? Ashwin does not have the potencyto be a wicket taking test bowler IMO, [b']though he might create pressure from one end, similarly with Ojha. Chawla does not have the control. And that about sums up our options.

how do you know Ashiwn does not have potency? has he played in tests yet. he has good variations and can easily trouble with his flight. he gives flight even in t20s, you are talking about test. Spinners job is also to hold down. he is not one who will give four ball every over. he can certainly keep batsmen tied. Though Rahul Sharma does not have a very good FC record and we only saw him in IPL, but yiou cannot deny he bowled well. he troubled every batsman whether he is Indian or foreigner. I feel he can be groomed into a very good spinner and the kind of bounce he gets could have troubled any batsman on this Oval pitch which is now turning and bouncing and he is accurate. I hope he does well this ranji season and also board takes a bit of initiative to groom these kind of young talents at NCA in guidance of our spin legends who better than Sir Anil Kumble:hatsoff:. Like Ganguly said if spinner is not getting purchase from the wicket, then his work is to tie down the batsman and not give any freebies.

[rkt.india]

piyush chawla is certainly a better option than Mishra, but he lacks control and control comes with practice.

[Jayaram_IND]

piyush chawla is certainly a better option than Mishra' date=' but he lacks control and control comes with practice.[/quote'] Piush too fast,Mishra too slow.They need to find an optimum pace.

[FreakazoiD]

Alongside players, we should never forget the importance of strong backroom staff, especially physios and coaching staff familiar with technology. England have a very professional team that manages all these aspects of the game, and the results are there for everyone to see. Cricketing talent is important, yes, but talent alone will not make you #1

[anotherhawkeye]

piyush chawla is certainly a better option than Mishra' date=' but he lacks control and control comes with practice.[/quote'] Piyush no-confidence Chawla.. **** no. Let's try Ashwin.