Blame Game | Retirement | BCCI | IPL | BIG 3 etc thread

[ananthd]

Now Ive changed my mind again. I agree. Read my post #83. What do you think of that team?

It's a decent team, except that I'm leery of Viru's prospects. Sehwag, unlike a Tendulkar or Dravid, won't age gracefully. The guy relies a whole lot on his eye and instincts. Once the eye goes down(even infinitesimally), he won't have the fall back Plan B game. The other guy I'd like to see out is Dhoni. MSD is a great ODI/T20 player where his strengths lie. He's better served playing there. The biggest issue I see with Dhoni is that he's more of tactician than a strategic thinker. This results in decent results in the shorter forms of the game, but in Tests as captain, he's frequently at a loss for session-session adjustments. Besides, his batting is plain ugly in Tests and ineffective when there is even moderate movement in the wicket...

[someone]

I do not how anyone did not mention this. But for me the worst thing was when Dhoni already expects defeat in the first test match by saying we are slow starters. This is very wrong on many levels. Firstly any bad performances can be attributed to the fact it is a new country. Then, it automatically assumes that the performances will improve gradually. And look how it turned out, we played our best in the first test match. So much more rest and adaptability and yet we did best in our first test.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

ppl in the media and in the public have finally started focusing on the right issues, but its a shame that it took 8 losses in a row for that to happen

[India-KXIP fan]

It's a decent team, except that I'm leery of Viru's prospects. Sehwag, unlike a Tendulkar or Dravid, won't age gracefully. The guy relies a whole lot on his eye and instincts. Once the eye goes down(even infinitesimally), he won't have the fall back Plan B game. The other guy I'd like to see out is Dhoni. MSD is a great ODI/T20 player where his strengths lie. He's better served playing there. The biggest issue I see with Dhoni is that he's more of tactician than a strategic thinker. This results in decent results in the shorter forms of the game, but in Tests as captain, he's frequently at a loss for session-session adjustments. Besides, his batting is plain ugly in Tests and ineffective when there is even moderate movement in the wicket...

Thats a really good point, I know Sehwag does rely on hand eye coordination with limited foot work. Maybe its starting to go a little and he definitely cant play any other way. I think he needs to stay for another year though. At home he can perform (west indies ODI good example). At 4 the swinging new ball is also not as deadly. We cannot afford to get humiliated by England again. Trying all youngsters might be like like Arsenal in football if you follow. They promise alot but dont deliver. There is no youngster I can think of other than those in that team I listed in post #83 who can perform in tests. Maybe in a year we will have an able replacement, then Sehwag can retire. Although trying a youngster is good for the future we cannot risk losing badly again. I agree with your point on MSD. I cant think of many good innings from him overseas. He played well for his 90 in SA and I think a innings in lords and two fifties in a test this year. Apart from that its been dreadful. But who can replace him is the question? Uday Kaul should be tried out. We also need an agressive captain like Clarke in tests, Dhonis tactics are good for ODIs though.

[Ponka]

Furstrated and extremely disappointed - FAB 3 should go! Enough is enough. Time to get young blood in the team. No need for pensioners. Youngsters would have fared better at least they would not have been that poor than these giants! Ponka doesn't give a damn about 100th 100 of tendulkar, 75th 50 of dravid and 50th match saving hundred of laxman anymore. All 3 should hang their boots. For the last 50 matches every game is affected by Tendulkar's 100th 100. He should have retired at the World Cup, the pinnacle point of Indian Cricket but no, he wanted to add to his records.Team strategy is affected by his 100th 100 talk. A captain cant declare an innings, batsman at the other end has to be careful not to run him out and tendulkar himself feeling the pressure and getting out on vital moments of the game. He has served all he could have and he has been a great ambassador of indian cricket but time has arrived for him to retire.Please no more in tests. Dravid, the great wall has been out of form. He played well the moving ball in England but in Australia he was ordinary and his lack of form in Australia has hurt India a lot. He is 39 too so there should not be any reprieve for him. So much for the wall when the ball is going through the defences way too much. You've been a great, fair enuff. Please retire or get sacked. Laxman, best batsman of second innings but unfortunately his first innings failure were crucial in last 7 embarrassing losses. You've achieved maximum you could have. Now let somebody else take the grave responsibility you held for so many years of second innings. Maybe the new guy would take the pressure in the first innings as well. Please go, dont wanna see you again playing Tests. No matter how the response of this forum gonna be. Pretty sure not many people will like Ponka's post but Ponka would say what he has on his mind. Extremly frustrated and disappointed on this poor performance by these greats. Youngsters would not have been this poor at least!

[Lord]

so whats the prediction about them going?

[adi B]

Guys please don't run to kill me but for Sachin in my opinion' date= Most Ideal time to take retirement was right after '11 WC Final... @highest moment of his career...

kick this old midget out

[adi B]

go where? shopping?

[nsareen]

Horrendous Attitude of BCCI Rajiv Shukla Statement to me is the last thing i wanted after this humiliation. -- : "We admit that their performance has not been up to expectations. But it happens with all the teams. Recently former World champions Sri Lanka were all out for just 47," Shukla told reporters while reacting to India's defeat in the Perth Test by an innings and 37 runs. : Taking an example of the defeat to Sri Lanka's 47 is horrendous, why din't anybody ask him Sri Lanka turned won a match in the same series, India could not, Sangakkara scored a century , no indian has done that. It looks clearly like he and his Team in BCCI is not hurt, these are not words coming out of somebody who is hurt by what has happened, and that to me is pathetic, i wish he pays dearly for the irresponsible comments he has made. --:"We have also won on foreign soil. No one talked then, and all this controversy has been raked up due to defeats in England and Australia. Taking examples from past to cover the consecutive losses shows the Attitude, it's pathetic to even consider this as an excuse. --: "The corrective measures will be taken by the team management so that the team does better in the final Test and the triangular series," : What utter non-sense, they f u c kin are so short sighted, just looking to correct the next match and the One-Day Series, this Bas tar d surely cannot represent an Organization, wonder how he reached this position ?????? A leadership teams always looks for the big picture and not the short success. --:"It is wrong to blame IPL for everything. The Australian players such as David Warner and Shane Watson also play in IPL, how are they performing well? Yes they have done well but this goose doesnt know they represent Australia and not India, Indians do not get to play IPL in non-home conditions , to groom their skills, moreover they have quite a lot of Off Period as opposed to Indians, who play like machines, round the clock. --:"It is also wrong to say that the players are tired. IPL ended in May and so many series have passed. There is no compulsion on any player to play all matches," he said. yeah surely there is no compulsion, but there isnt any governance or process or discipline or vision for Team India or else these statements would have cost him his job, Cricket Australia can force aussies to not play in IPL / Big Bash and concentrate on a format, why cant these feckers do the same.

[Cricket Tragic]

[adi B]

chewtiya shukla, laddoo kha mote saandh :finger:

[Ultimate_Game]

Typical desi attitude, especially BCCI's where there's no accountability and just a few players will be kicked out of the team and everything will go on as usual.

[Needforspeed]

Saala Politician MC...What else do u expect. Sri Lanka uska sasural hai kya?

[Needforspeed]

Check out this article in Yahoo Cricket http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/a-system-in-denial.html

A system in denial Four months ago, when Indian cricket should have been introspecting for its failures in England, the BCCI had two clear options one, to bite the bullet, conduct a thoroughly honest review of everything wrong with Indian cricket and introduce correctives to fix the inherent systemic flaws; or two, to remain firmly in denial as if they never happened. Indubitably, they chose the latter. It was the easier choice sit back and avoid a redressal of glaring issues staring at Indian cricket today. Also, in that same meeting where the proposal of a review was mooted, the BCCI suits discussed the fate of a now-terminated IPL franchise. If you still wonder where their priorities actually lie, your question pretty much has an answer. The embarrassment of the England series would have been the perfect backdrop to conduct a review, which if happened, would have asked some of the toughest questions facing our administrators their own failures as those responsible for the game in the country. It would have meant that some of their heads were on the line, and quite possibly, for the first time their authority or incompetence could have been both questioned and addressed (whichever side you're on). Instead, they chose the easy way out. Even if they didn't want to put the hard yakka by conducting this review, the BCCI officials should have blindly gone the way Cricket Australia did with the Argus Review. Instead, they just stated the obvious: we just won the World Cup and were World no.1 in Tests before this tour music to the ears of Indian fans, they hoped and prayed. It worked up to a point, it must be said for as a people, we have always been about results and nothing else. Then England came to India to be whitewashed in the ODIs. Then followed a convincing win over West Indies, and Indian cricket was back. Or so they exclaimed. It was business as usual for the BCCI, the Indian fans and the cricketing ecosystem in general, until disaster struck twice in Australia, rather shamefully at that. If India's tour of England was a bad dream gone wrong? this was quite the nightmare that should have awoken Indian cricket from this slumber of denial. Instead, two hours after they succumbed to the raging Australians in Sydney, the BCCI quite oblivious to the events down under, released the fixtures of their pet priority the Indian Premier League. Sadly, batting collapses and field positions arenÃÕ quite ruining Indian cricket, but the lack of vision on the part of the BCCI is surely taking the game downwards. CAN INDIA REVERSE OR ARREST THIS SLIDE? To put it bluntly, the answer is no. A sense of cluelessness comes over every BCCI member who is asked about the teamÃÔ performances. There are excuses aplenty, ranging from the passable to the absurd that somehow seem to justify and attest some credibility to everything that happens, be it defeats or wins. Ask them about systemic flaws and youÃÅ get answers like, ŵhe system worked brilliantly when we won the World Cup. You didnÃÕ have to write anything about it then?? and when you tell them that you did write about it pat comes the reply, Å£ut we were also World no.1 then? This is the cocoon of deniability that weÃÓe faced with, the belief that any and every decision that the BCCI takes is in the best interest of Indian cricket, when on the contrary, it isnÃÕ. When England happened, the common rage on the street was poor planning. What was this planning about? Presumably, scheduling, injury management and player burn-out. Sure, issues that need urgent correctives and remedies. Not just all of that, but planning also involves a certain degree of preparedness and to some extent prophecy. It involves sending several bunch of players to a country to get a decent amount of exposure in those conditions before heÃÔ deemed to be considered for the national side. But importantly, the process also involves the detailed identification of such players. The BCCI, post-Sydney has come up with statements where it intends to arrange for more A tours to England, Australia and South Africa. Finally, better late than never and all that. But personnel? In the last two-three years, these â tours have become quick reward trips to players who excelled in the IPL, or in some cases, with deep familial relations to those involved in the selection process. In the next selection for the Emerging Nations Tournament in Australia, pick a side you believe will emerge as the core of a future visiting national team to Australia, not sloggers and bowlers who canÃÕ bowl beyond four overs. And this isnÃÕ too difficult to implement straight away, is it? ..BETTER SELECTION Which is where IÃÅ like to know what the selectors are up to in the first place, handsomely paid by the BCCI to do what? Watch as much age-group and domestic (not IPL) cricket as possible, scout for talent they believe would make the Indian setup and just keep doing that. Instead, I am happy to inform you that selectors often call up journalists and opposition players to find out about a player theyÃÓe interested in. Are they doing their job? Not to my mind, till you hear statements like Å£ut under this selection committee, we won the World Cup. You didnÃÕ write about this then? Surely, the fact that they pick IPL performers for overseas A-tours is pretty much an indicator of the lethargy that weÃÓe up against. If youÃÓe paid to watch matches, jolly well watch it. If you canÃÕ, quit job. IÃ×e written about this before, and donÃÕ feel shy of stressing this again, but please for flipÃÔ sake, identify a bunch of bowlers and dispatch them to play county cricket in England. At the cost of repetition, itÃÔ not just the skill that they get to improve there, but learn life as a professional, the burden of being an overseas pro and most importantly, learn to enjoy the game they love playing. Bowling close to 70-80 overs a week is perhaps the best way to get better, and thereÃÔ no better example than Zaheer Khan to prove that point. So, why not give this a try? Indian pacers must follow Zaheer Khan into playing county cricket. The likes of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav and all those identified could just learn that much more by playing more cricket than just sit back and watch reality shows on their telly screens, isnÃÕ it? If the concern against sending them is really fitness and injuries as you claim, to quote your officials, Ūnjuries are a part and parcel of the game? NOT SO FIRST CLASS Closer home, and this is where all the rot is, for your domestic first-class cricket is quite on the verge of redundancy. A points system, archaic at best, dull at worst is more in favour of negative (intent-less) teams than ones who prefer taking the game forward. An incentive of two points more for a win (from a draw) is all you could come up with. Worse, there are pitches out there which either account for 40 wickets in two days of cricket or close to 1500 runs in two unfinished innings. ThereÃÔ no punitive action, no accountability for this pathetic state of wickets. On the contrary, thereÃÔ no reward for some of the better wickets you see. You donÃÕ have a world-class academy in place, where your next generation of cricketers could benefit from. Instead, the National Cricket Academy that your officials go gaga about are nothing but a glorified sick-bay/rehabilitation centre for your contracted cricketers. Also, can you please give Test cricket the priority it deserves? And one doesnÃÕ even have to get to the toilets in your stadiums. Why canÃÕ you give them the best possible system to get better and succeed? Why this high tolerance level for mediocrity, O! BCCI? As opposed to say the IPL, where everything is hunky-dory, a thirty-day long facade of professionalism and perfectness that the BCCI chooses to display. And this is where IÃÅ like to confront them and ask why canÃÕ this streak of professionalism continue on an annual basis? Why this lack of enthusiasm and neglect towards first class cricket? Surely, itÃÔ not pumping in the cash for your coffers, but hey, your Test cricketers quite clearly emerge from the runs and wickets they take in four-day matches. Lastly and more importantly, I hope that India gets whitewashed in Australia. Call me unpatriotic (and IÃ×e defended a lot of that tripe in the past), but quite honestly, that could be the best possible result for Indian cricketÃÔ long-term interest, in my view. Unless of course, they win the tri-nation ODI series and the Asia Cup to follow and weÃÓe given the same old, Å£ut we just won the ODI series and the Asia Cup, so I donÃÕ think we should take knee-jerk decisions rubbish by the BCCI. And given that IndiaÃÔ schedule in the next 18 months is filled with one home series after the other, we might well be knocking on the World #1 door for the second time. Everything will be back to normal (if an ODI series win can hint at normalcy, imagine a home series-run) till the next away tour in 2013 and in denial, shall Indian cricket still remain.

[Ultimate_Game]

I can't think of any intl team who wouldn't have had a comprehensive review and some serious introspection post Eng tour after being blanked 4-0 and that too when the team was ranked 1. But surprisingly our board was more occupied with IPL and disbanding Kochi from IPL to worry about Test cricket :haha:

[koolkarts]

IPL is a lazy excuse for the low IQ folk. There are more serious problems with Indian cricket than the IPL. We were still performing in Tests when the first 3/4 IPLs took place. Why blame it now?

[Old guy]

IPL is a lazy excuse for the low IQ folk. There are more serious problems with Indian cricket than the IPL. We were still performing in Tests when the first 3/4 IPLs took place. Why blame it now?

all the oldies are failing who were playing cricket much before ipl but we can blame ipl for destroying murali vijay..

[vvvslaxman]

I really got pissed off when i read that line "srilanka also got all out for 47". It is not freaking politics where you can say dumb things and get away.

[Ultimate_Game]

IPL is a lazy excuse for the low IQ folk. There are more serious problems with Indian cricket than the IPL. We were still performing in Tests when the first 3/4 IPLs took place. Why blame it now?

You have to look at the issue at hand holistically. It's not as simple as "players were performing earlier as well". There's intrinsically something very wrong and IPL has certainly muddied up the water and probably muddled the priorities. Here are a few examples :- 1. Players/Batsmen - You simply have to look at regression of Murali Vijay as a player to see what's wrong with IPL. The guy looked like one of the youngsters India could lean on in the future but look where he is now. And IPL is to fault coz his technique has changed for the worse post IPL. 2. Money - IPL rewards T20 players inordinately where players make more money in 6 weeks playing domestically than they would playing Tests the whole year. There are 2 issues with that. A younger player can get sated with the IPL and not even bother with the Tests. Secondly, when players like Rahane, Pujara see the likes of Saurabh Tiwaru make more money they will want to follow suit and they can't be blamed for that either. After all we would do the exact same thing. And too much focus on IPL will harm the likes of Kohli and Rohit as well. 3. Selection - We have already seen some left field selections with players selected in Tests based on IPL performances. E.g., Raina moving to the front of the queue ahead of the likes of Pujara and Rahane. Wouldn't have happened in the pre-IPL days. 4. BCCI's priorities - Can you believe that BCCI actually spent more time discussing the next IPL and disbanding Kochi from IPL than introspecting India's colossal failure in England or planning for transition post seniors. Apparently BCCI only cares about the money and it will harm Indian cricket in the longer run.

[Marut]

Why is the WC cup win being brought into the equation, when we were white washed in test matches? India is still a good ODI side, no one questions that. The question is, is test cricket a priority for BCCI and if yes, what steps are being taken to address the situation? The answer is no, BCCI board members want to make some quick bucks through IPL and quit at the right time, and leave Indian cricket in a total mess. Srilanka got bowled out for 43 in an ODI match, not a test match. Infact, they won one of their test matches convincingly. It seems impossible for the present Indian team to dream of an overseas draw, much less a victory over a top test side. Australia, who got bowled out for 47, also bowled out SA for 91 and then put the whole thing behind and won the next test. India can do neither at present. The comparison is utterly dumb.