Prem Panicker's "In anonymity, veritas"

[The Outsider]

http://www.prempanicker.com/index.php?/site/in_anonymity_veritas/

A member of the Indian cricket team, sufficiently senior, who has been there, done that often enough to have opinions that matter, sent me this email on the back of the recent contretemps regarding on-field aggression, and in light of the Gavin Robertson column. Before I share that email, a brief note on why. Players sometimes talk to you, in person or through email. Since I never do interviews anyway (What is the point? You only get canned responses, sanitized for public consumption), it is understood at my end, and the players, that any conversations we have are totally off record. Sometimes, that sucks—shortly after returning to Bombay, for instance, I spent the better part of four hours having dinner with a player; the talk was wide-ranging and extremely informative and when it was done and I was driving back home, I realized that it was probably one of the best interviews I could never do. But then again, you understand where these players are coming from—when talking on record, they are so aware of how every word can, and often is, twisted out of context that they never speak from the heart; from what one player told me, it comes as a relief to them to know they can speak what they really think, without fear of a blow back. This email is on those lines, sent for my private edification—but on reading it, I realized that the points being made merit wider dissemination. I’ve lightly edited a couple of things, to disguise the identity of the sender; otherwise, what follows is faithful to the original. Think about this:

Thanks, it is a good article and pretty true about what they do, I agree. I have found in my career that if you ignore the chat for a while and more importantly, score runs or take wickets, nobody bothers you. I figured out early that the best way for me to perform was to not get involved in the chat, but stay in my own cocoon and focus on the things and thoughts that are important to me. Others may need a different stimulus - to each his own. I figured that out through trial and error, early on in first class cricket, but what works for me does not have to work for everyone. McEnroe was different from Borg, wasn’t he? What worries me however is that in the “new India”, not showing emotion or talking back is seen as a sign of weakness, and we want to show people that we can be tough. No problem with that; as I said earlier, if you have thought it thru and are doing it to improve performances—but not because you want to be seen as tough. Toughness and the respect of your opponents is not earned by talking to them but by performing. But I think its not a good time to be saying this, because we are all looking at a “new India”, and everything is about how we should be tough and give it back verbally. One merely has to listen to the roar from the crowd that greets the inane attempt by one of our bowlers to pretend to fling the ball back at a batsman after fielding a defensive push. What does that kid think he is doing? Unfortunately, he will not learn different. He is being told that this is the behavior expected of him, so he repeats that; the media applauds all this stuff about abusing a batsman after you have got him out, pumping your fists and all that, and makes much of him. Those things are what signify aggression, in the mind of the media and through the media, the crowds have also begun applauding such things. I know not all media people do this, there are some sensible ones around as well, but increasingly, the young kids forget that the true test of mental strength is to bat, bowl and field to the best of your ability. The problem is, how do you convince kids of that? They get more applause for “showing aggression” than they do for scoring runs or taking wickets; it is aggression that the crowds are applauding, and therefore reinforcing. Someone once told me, be careful what you ask for as you may actually get it. We have been asking for a “new India”, an “aggressive India”, and now we are getting what we asked for, so there is no point complaining. Maybe if we asked for different things, we would get different results.

In passing, guys, don’t flood the comments field with questions and speculations on who said this; the identity does not matter, the point this player is making however does.

Well worth a read. Coming from an insider kind of mirrors the points some of us have been trying to make regarding aggression and what it truly means in the context of cricket. Thanks to Chandan for bringing it up to notice here.

[head coach]

Looks like from Srinath

[Anakin]

Excellent, and agree with it completely. Said it before, I'd rather have a "weak" SS taking wickets rather than making a fool of himself on the ground.

[coffee_rules]

Looks like Tendulkar or Dravid. Again, I concur with this attitude. Show the bloody performance and then earn the right to abuse on ground.

[Anakin]

Looks like Tendulkar or Dravid. Again' date=' I concur with this attitude. Show the bloody performance and then earn the right to abuse on ground.[/quote']Yeah, I thought of those 2 too, doesn't matter though.

[Chandan]

Don't think Sachin e-mails anyone. Prem himself said that 2-3 years back. Don't think it it is Dravid either because of:

A member of the Indian cricket team, sufficiently senior, who has been there, done that often enough to have opinions that matter, sent me this email on the back of the recent contretemps regarding on-field aggression

These guys are the seniormost, not sufficiently senior. So is it Zaheer? Well, it hardly matters because we are interested in the message not the messanger! Anyone read the comments column? It is equally interesting. Read that too.

[coffee_rules]

Zaheer is never seen silent while bowling. May be Kumble...sufficiently senior.

[Gambit]

Thanks for sharing this Chandan. Without performance, over the top Brett Lee type pumping fist aggression after taking a wicket when India have crossed 700 is useless and rather humourous.

[Gambit]

I think it's Sivaramakrishnan.

[The Outsider]

Thanks for sharing this Chandan. Without performance' date=' over the top Brett Lee type pumping fist aggression after taking a wicket when India have crossed 700 is useless and rather humourous.[/quote'] That was one of the most hilarious sights I've witnessed. Lee's celebration after dismissing Ganguly with the score 600 odd for 5!! Sreesanth's antics against Symonds come mighty close though and switching over to the other side of the fence one can imagine how funny and ridiculous the opposition would have found it.

[Bumper]

I think the guy who wrote the email is likely Dravid. Thanks chandan for the pointer.

Unfortunately, he will not learn different. He is being told that this is the behavior expected of him, so he repeats that; the media applauds all this stuff about abusing a batsman after you have got him out, pumping your fists and all that, and makes much of him.

This is exactly what i said a few days back. Sreesanth is doing it with the blessings of the babus

[yoda]

Sree definitely needs to tone it down. He does look like a total idiot with his current behavior.

[fineleg]

good article...hope SS will learn to shut up and bowl well first and foremost.

[novpj]

Its amazing how the media hype can impact behavior. We have seen in the recent past examples of how performance is the best answer to chatter - a) Yuvraj's 6 sizes after being goaded by Flintoff b) Zaheer in the second test which actually led to an English media backlash against Prior. This is the way to shut people up - perform and put the pressure back on them.

[beetle]

Good article.....I hope srisaanth reads stuff like this....

[Lurker]

As the saying goes when it rains it pours! I am sure the same "player" had little to say when SS smashed Nel straight over his head for six. I remember distinctly the appreciation that I heard in Sunil Gavaskar's voice (as also Harsha Bhogle) as they were covering the incident LIVE. I am sure you can find it on the web some place. No smarta$$ back then came out with a "New India..aggressive India" claptrap. Funny thing is I did not read PP(or the player) commenting how media had made SS "do" that act back then. My point being simply that SS aggression comes by himself and it would be foolish and downright stupid to tame it or worse to assume he does it cos media brings it to fore. The player in question does not seem to have that aggression and beleives to let his bat(or ball) talk. Fair enough. But for heaven sake stop criticizing others who are aggressive either. xxx

[coffee_rules]

As the saying goes when it rains it pours! I am sure the same "player" had little to say when SS smashed Nel straight over his head for six. I remember distinctly the appreciation that I heard in Sunil Gavaskar's voice (as also Harsha Bhogle) as they were covering the incident LIVE. I am sure you can find it on the web some place. No smarta$$ back then came out with a "New India..aggressive India" claptrap. Funny thing is I did not read PP(or the player) commenting how media had made SS "do" that act back then. My point being simply that SS aggression comes by himself and it would be foolish and downright stupid to tame it or worse to assume he does it cos media brings it to fore. The player in question does not seem to have that aggression and beleives to let his bat(or ball) talk. Fair enough. But for heaven sake stop criticizing others who are aggressive either. xxx

As they say in Hindi, "Choti Mooh aur badi baat'. If the performances are bad and all motor mouthing will make one look stupid (case in point, Lee in Sydney '04). If done at the back of performances, it will be even more effective. Just point the scoreboard to shut off all the motor-mouths.

[Lurker]

As they say in Hindi' date=' "Choti Mooh aur badi baat'. If the performances are bad and all motor mouthing will make one look stupid (case in point, Lee in Sydney '04). If done at the back of performances, it will be even more effective. Just point the scoreboard to shut off all the motor-mouths.[/quote'] CA respectfully disagreed. 1) Till the time of writing this post SS has taken 9 LOI wickets in 4 games(in this series), still the most by an Indian bowler by far! The second in line is Zaheer with 7 wickets off 6 games. 2) SS's average of 27 per wickets is a good 20 better than the next best one(Zaheer with 47) 3) SS's strike rate of a wicket per 24 deliveries is better than ANYONE from India or Australia. 4) SS's economy, while certainly on the higher side, is no different than say a RP Singh. http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/bowling/most_wickets_career.html?id=3250;type=series So all this criticism is nothing but BS. I would much rather side with the bowler who has most wickets, best SR and best average than all those holier-than-thou batsmen(or bowler) who have nothing to show for. xxx

[sachin_fan]

I say, with these things be natural...if its ur instinct to be agressive, then do so. If right from a kid, you glare at batsmen and have some banter, go ahead. Its when ppl pretend, do they look foolish. Most importantly, at the end of the game, you should learn to smile and shake hands...Hope indians learn that

[Lurker]

I say' date=' with these things be natural...if its ur instinct to be agressive, then do so. If right from a kid, you glare at batsmen and have some banter, go ahead. Its when ppl pretend, do they look foolish. Most importantly, at the end of the game, you should learn to smile and shake hands...Hope indians learn that[/quote'] He is quite like that, naturally aggressive as was amply clear when he sledged Sachin and Sehwag in Challengers last year. If it is wrong to fake aggression then surely it is equally wrong to curb it too. The problem is that the aggression of SS comes as a shift from the behavioral skills of the geriatric brigade, as also by a vast majority of Indians who are more than happy to bend over backwards. All these talk of "perform first and then talk" holds little water simply because if you go by performance SS is heads and shoulders above others in this series(checks stats above). A SR of 24 and an economy of 6.77 means(hypothetically) that SS can by himself dismiss Aussie team in 240 deliveries for a score of 270. Thats Aussies 270/10 in 40 overs. I would take that anyday over all these sulky "we minding our own business" that are routinely leaving Aussies with 300 plus off 50 for 6 wickets. xxx