Of one man armies

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An analysis into the root of the problem: This is one problem that we keep on dishing out as an excuse for our poor performance abroad. Like every problem, there has to be a solution to it. We have tried out several alternatives. But are these alternatives attacking the root of the issue? Ever since we played in the gully, every player just wants to bat. 'Mere ko batting de na' - Thats perhaps the most often spoken statement in gully cricket - the breeding ground for Indian cricketers. How many people actually volunteer to bowl?

People do so just because you can not bat unless someone else bowls. Then how the hell can we expect a world-class pace bowler.

We talk about having cricket academies, which we do. But to what extent does it address the problem stated above. We talk about having fast pitches, but this problem is even before players get to that stage. Which gully cricket match is actually played on a pitch? It's only the exclusive few who are found by mere accident that get into an institution, where cricket is played on the pitch.

So how can such an issue be addressed? The last occasion when this mentality was marginally altered, was when Kapil Dev established himself as a world-class bowler. But then that was merely an accident. There has to be some institutionalized process by which this mentality can be changed.

I do not have a solution to offer, but then the argument still stands. Has the BCCI ever tried to attack this issue?

We need to start thinking of attacking this 'batting' syndrome upfront.

The media can play an important role in this process. They need to bring more glamour to the business of bowling.

Also, the cricket format played at the domestic level can be altered to encourage bowlers, although I can not instantaneously think of one.

Well, so the point I am trying to make is that the problem is not unsolvable, the way it has been made to look. Just that you need to have some scratching of the head to be done. Infact, ideas could be invited from readers for a format which would be more encouraging for bowlers.

Guess I have made my point. Any ideas?

--Nimish Adani

Prem Panicker responds: I am not sure there is much the BCCI can do about how gully cricket is played, frankly. Having said that, there is plenty the board can actually do. Firstly, it can start an academy.

No, I am not forgetting one already exists -- merely, I remember the background, as well. When the BCCI was told by then sports minister Dhindsa to shape up or ship out, it produced what it called a vision document. Enshrined in it, was the concept of a cricket academy. It then started one, in Bangalore, borrowing on the facilities of the KSCA and the Sports Authority of India. It held ONE camp -- of 14 days duration, during which it did its damndest to ruin the careers of both Murali Karthik and Harbhajan Singh. Then it went into limbo.

In September of 2001, Mr Dalmiya defeated Mr Muthaiah in the board elections and became president. Within 24 hours, he had sacked the head of the academy, and the coaches, and installed Sunil Gavaskar as the new chief of the academy. For one entire year, the academy did nothing -- no camp, no coaching, no nothing. Then, Gavaskar resigned as academy chief, citing pressure of other work as the reason for his inability to do the job. The BCCI has not even appointed a replacement. So, on paper, we have an academy, which satisfies the government. In actual fact, we have nothing.

Meanwhile, other countries use our facilities to produce bowlers, and to fine tune them -- interestingly, McGrath, Gillespie and others from Australia; Ntini and Klusener from South Africa; and the entire lot of seam bowlers from Sri Lanka, to mention just a few examples, have at various times come down to Chennai, to the MRF Pace Academy, for practise. All of them were sponsored by their respective boards.

Till date, our own board has not bothered to send its pace bowlers, budding or practising, to the academy under its aegis -- those who do go, go on their own steam.

There was an era when cricket was largely amateur -- people came up on their own, with little or no help from the system. Today, it is all system. Nations like South Africa and Australia, that have well-defined systems in place to take talent when young and develop it, do consistently well. Other nations, like England, which haven't been doing so well but are now keen to improve, have been increasingly adopting this model. Meanwhile, nations like the West Indies, Pakistan, and India are now struggling to replace their ageing stars.

As you say, it is not impossible. But it does require commitment from the administrators of the game -- and sadly, that commitment is nowhere in evidence.

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Is it possible to prepare and maintain pitches with good bounce and pace on climatic conditions that prevail in places like Chennai etc....? And did Gavaskar get to play on fast bouncy tracks to have such a record against West Indian fast bowlers?

--Sunder

Prem Panicker responds: About preparing fast pitches in places like Chennai, yes, certainly. I'd judge from your name that you are from that part of the world. If yes, next time you are there you should check out the MRF Academy. Without importing either soil or soil experts, without any kind of fuss at all, they prepared, and possess, three tracks -- a dead one, a decent Test type track with pace and bounce, and a lightning quick track of the kind you would find in Perth. Again, I remember when I was in college, Guru Nanak College, which was close to my home and where I occasionally went to practise (incidentally, that was when a young Robin Singh had just landed on the scene) was extremely quick. You could also check out the groundsman at the MAC -- a man with close to 30 years experience, an institution in himself, and a guy who can (and has) produce, on that ground, any kind of track you care to name.

As to the other, the comparison doesn't apply, for two reasons. Firstly, Gavaskar learnt his art at a time when matting wickets -- with their accelerated pace and bounce -- were prevalent at the college and university levels. Secondly, the players of his generation went through a more leisurely schedule -- they had time, thus, to go back to domestic cricket, to work on shortcomings as they came up. The classic example is Mohinder Amarnath, actually -- made to look a complete dummy  by the West Indian quicks, he then went on to be rated the best player of pace of his generation.

And that brings up one further point -- then, if you didn't spend time and effort on your game, you were out -- and since matches and tours were not as frequent as they are today, a bad trot could have a huge impact on your privy purse. Today, one tour follows another in such bewildering succession, that it no longer matters -- players keep telling themselves that sooner or later something will click, and they will get a decent score, and can live off it for the next few failures.

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I cant help but agree with what Theuns Botha says. This problem dates back in time when we were struck by the 'developing team' syndrome. There are absolutely noplayers in India with attitude. (infact, you still have those gentlemen pace bowlers who will were full-sleeve shirts, all buttoned up, ready to serve the opposition with a full meal.) At that point of time, had the Mumbai team been made the national side, I am sure they would have performed better. Because, they have a sense of pride. They may not be superstars but that zeal is there.

But the issue still remains. Indians lack the guts to experiment. We will still have the 11 best players in the middle, rather than the best team. And we will continue to lose. After all we are a 'developing' nation.

--Nimish Adani

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Firstly, let me tell you that, myself, like most of cricket-loving Indians are extremely sick of the sponsorship fight going on between BCCI and ICC. A bit of relief this time that the players are relieved from intervening now.. That the BCCI has decided to back the players completely is indeed a really heartening news. Too much of money flow in any system would lead to so much corruption and confusion... which is what is happening in cricket also. It all happened after India hosted the 1996 World Cup and almost all the magazines wrote with so much awe how much money India made out of it. People of no other country are so mad on cricket like Indians, that, even ticket sales in Indian grounds can be comparable to a first-day Shah Rukh Khan movie ticket sales.. Not many tickets are sold in the counter!! Beyond a point, no product can be sold just because it is being endorsed by a cricketer. I remember some opinion poll, in which less than 20% people said that they buy a product because of a cricketer endorsing it.. This would mean that, immaterial of whether a cricketer endorses a product.. its selling value would be based on the most important criterion: Its performance, as heard from friends and relatives, and the company's credibility in general. Apart from that, the advertising money that a company decides to spend would anyway be spent, using movie stars or handsome/beautiful models. So, everyone has been hugely caught in a virtual net.. thinking that Indians buy a lot of product watching TV during World Cup and other important tournament (like ICC Championship). The only beneficiaries were cricketers.. now ICC wants a huge share of it, directly or indirectly, to fill its coffin. Even though I am an ardent cricket fan, liking to watch even Pak Vs Zim matches, I never go by the stars who endorse the products.

In my opinion, most cricketers are very bad while they appear on TV endorsing products.. They look very funny... I seriously wish someone say all the sponsors to spend some money on doing surveys as to whether it is really worth to spend so much on cricketers and cricket and sometimes getting a very negative feeling from the Indian public (e.g, South African Airlines... it had no business with India, spoilt whatever future ties possible, when it created furore over Sahara, thereby jeopardising India's participation in ICC C T). Already cricket is messed up by selectors, board members, ICC's policies, umpires, referees and spectators. Let the corporate world, who, if they want, can do a professional messing around, not enter into the chaos.

--Padmanaban G.

Prem Panicker responds: Would you say the syndrome is typical of a country that lacks heroes in other fields? I don't know, top sportsmen endorse products everywhere, in every country. In India it happens to be cricketers because they are the most visible; in the US you have the superstar athletes, and the likes of Tiger Woods; in Australia, 'Thorpedo' is doing fair to middling... I think it's always been this way, that products chose beautiful women and superstar sportsmen to be their public face, perhaps because from the days of ancient Greece on, we have worshipped female beauty and male athletic prowess.

Actually, a friend of mine, sometime back, did come up with an interesting thought. We were driving along a stretch of Mumbai which was ugly, to say the least. On both sides of the road -- and right in the middle of that ugliness -- were these enormous hoardings, featuring various film stars and cricketers.

That was when my friend got to thinking -- and her argument was, if visibility is the name of the game, why does a company assume that sticking a star's face is the only means to that end? Why, she asked, can't a company take up say a stretch of road, clean it up, and beautify it, provide amenities like say restrooms, benches, little parks, et al, and stick its brand name all over that stretch? People passing by, and people using those amenities, were far more likely, she argued, to remember that brand. And ultimately, everyone benefits.

She has a point. But sponsors have multi-million ad budgets to get rid of -- and sticking star faces on billboards is the easier, if less imaginative, way of spending that money I guess.

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I was reading your discussions. I have something to say about the World Cup team. Regarding Kumble, he doesnt have good overseas records and moreover he has not been match winner for quite sometime in ODIs. He is no good with bat also. So he can be dropped from World Cup 15. Even Srinath doesnt have good overseas records in ODIs. But nowadays he seems to be bowling well . He deserves to be in the 15 in spite of his fielding and running between the wickets, because we need 4 seamers in SA.

The other seamers would be Zaheer Khan, Agarkar. I dont prefer Nehra, because he is not a good fielder and he is also not consistent with his bowling. We have to go for Rakesh Patel, Youhanan or Mohanty ( who can swing the ball a little bit). Actually we need 4 seamers in the playing 11 itself. Harbhajan Singh or Murali Karthik for spinners. Pathiv Patel for wicket keeping. Laxman has to be dropped because he is not a one day player. Yuvaraj and Kaif in the squad but only one of them in the playing 11. We need not take Yuvaraj and Kaif for granted for all matches in spite of their good fielding. Dinesh mongia can be considered, because he is a good batter with reasonable fielding abilities. Bangar has to be in the 15, because he can be the 4th seamer. Is Murali Karthik in the squad of 30 ?

So the playing 15 would be:

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Kaif, Yuvaraj, Mongia, Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan, Murali Karthik, new comer (rakesh patel or gambhir etc).

A typical playing 11 would be

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Kaif, Bangar, Parthiv, Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer, Harbhajan or Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Kaif, Bangar, Parthiv, Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer, Murali Karthik or Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvaraj, Bangar, Parthiv, Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer, Harbhajan or Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvaraj, Bangar, Parthiv, Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer, Murali Karthik

Of course when there are injuries then some sacrifice has to be made regarding seamers or batsmen. Similarily on some occasions one seamer can be removed and an additional batsman can come in. In matches with lesser teams (Zimbabwe, Holland) Dravid himself can keep wickets though I prefer Parthiv Patel keeping for all matches instead of Dravid. Also I prefer 4 seamers and one spinner for all matches.

If Murali Karthik is not picked up then I dont know who we can put in his place.

--Seetharamakrishnan

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It is time for Indian fans to give up on cricket  and take up on some other sports. Don't they get tired of this over-rated, overpaid and under achieving gods who don't have any accountability and responsibility. Like everything else in this country, the sports is also ruled by corrupt administrators and corrupt players. Generally the players who get picked up to play in the national level or state level are either those who have political influence or sons of rich people. More talented players from lower classes hardly get picked up unless they have talent matching to the levels ofl of Tendulkars or Kamblis.

  Even for me it is hard to give up on cricket because our country is sport starved. That is because there is encouragement only for cricket. They destroyed our hockey. Here is the real team that should be picked up for cricket for their grittiness and dedication:
    1. Milkha Singh
    2. P.T.Usha
    3. Sunil Gavaskar
    4. Kapil Dev
    5. Leander Paes
    6. Mahesh Bhupathi
    7. Narayana Murthy (yes Infosys)
    8. Kiran Bedi
    9. Shabana Azmi
    10.Medha Patkar
    11.Baba Amte

These are the few. But there are so many of such people.It does not matter that they are old or know the game but they have the spirit. By looking at the way the Indian team is performing, I realized that any one can play.

Regds,

--Praveen

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