Ineffective BCCI

Pointing Fingers Indian Cricket Style

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Indian cricket is at it again!!! They are back to doing what they do best when faced with a crisis; pass the buck to someone else. And there has been a lot of that in the past few days and fingers have been pointed at all and sundry. In the midst of all this nonsense there is a former captain’s meeting with the board due next week. Hopefully at least these former greats will be able to knock some sense into some brainless cricket authorities.

The BCCI has always been a divided body, what with politics and power mongering always taking more importance than the welfare of the game itself. The new regime however brought with them a lot of hope and there was a genuine feeling that things would be different. One gets the feeling that the new regime is more interested in the balance sheet than the well being of the game in the country.

Right now everyone from the players to the selectors to the coach is being blamed for the debacle. The board president indulges in grand posturing and says that changes would be made to the team. But will that solve the problems afflicting Indian Cricket? The answer is a resounding no!!!

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Indian cricket’s problems are much deeper than what changing the team or even the captain and the coach could solve. The system itself is rotting. The number of teams in the domestic league is a joke. You can’t have tough competition and a true test of a player’s ability if you have 30 teams in a league. First class players score tons of runs and pick up buckets of wickets in domestic circuit but come up cropper when pitted against tough international opponents.

One can argue that the two tire system has brought about a change but it is only marginal. And the fact of the matter remains that the international players rarely come back and play in the domestic circuit. You can’t blame them too considering the amount of workload they are under in the international circuit.

The saddest part in all this is that even though we have 30 teams in the circuit the BCCI is not represented by the whole nation. There are no cricket associations in some of the states in the east like Sikkim. While a state like Maharashtra has 4 associations. This proves that even after becoming the richest sporting body in the world the BCCI has fallen woefully short in spreading the game to every nook and corner of this nation. Unless they do that we will miss out on talent and the opportunity to tap the country’s full potential.

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The selection policy is also flawed. When you pick selectors based on their zones there is bound to be parochialism, and the quota system will always be a hindrance to selecting the best possible team for the country. Why can’t we pick 5 bale selectors, irrespective of their place of origin, and assign each zone to them. The zones allotted to each should be rotated at regular intervals of time so as to avoid any one selector getting too attached to the zone assigned to him.

The pitches in this country do not provide anything to the bowlers. If at all they do provide some assistance it is to the spin bowlers. But they are made ineffective because the boundary of grounds across the nation is becoming shorter and shorter everyday. The logic behind this is that people love to see runs being scored. So in an effort to avoid being pulverized by the batsmen on flat batting tracks the spinner bowls flat and quick which quickly makes them ineffective as potent wicket taking bowlers. Add to that the short boundaries and the spinner has no other option but to bowl flat and quick. And we lament that India is not producing young spinners anymore.

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Young talent in this country is not properly groomed. Opening up a plethora of cricket academies alone is not the solution to this. They should be given enough opportunities to hone their skills. They should be playing against tougher opponents to gain the necessary temperament needed to survive at the big stage. Above all they should have an exposure to as many different kinds of conditions as they possibly can. Right now they are reared on flat tracks which serve no one. Bowlers get disheartened. The batsmen are found wanting if there is even the slightest of movement or pace in the pitch. If India is to improve on their away record then they have to learn to play on fast bouncy pitches that are found around the world.

What the BCCI, before making all round changes to the team, has to do is to take a look at itself in the mirror and be honest about what they see. If they are to shake up anything then it is the system itself that should be shaken up first. I am not saying that the players, coach and the selectors are not to be blamed. But they will only be as good as the system allows them to be. So if the BCCI genuinely has an interest in the welfare of the game then they should start the drastic changes from within themselves. Otherwise cricket might go the hockey way and then they wont have anything left even in the balance sheet to talk about.

Who can topple the Australian Applecart? – III

Countdown To ICC Cricket World Cup 2007

India

Presently India to cricket is what Brazil is to Football (Soccer in US). But unfortunately this is only in terms of passion and fan following. We still have a long way to go before we can claim that in terms of results. So as always a whole nation is slowly but surely going to be in the grips of World Cup mania. But what about the team they are supporting? Are they worthy of such adulation? Only time will tell.

The Indian team is just back from the tough tour of South Africa where they received a drubbing in the one dayers played there. Probably because of this there isn’t much anticipation for the world cup unlike in earlier years.

India has a very talented and experienced team as far as batting is concerned. The Holy trinity (Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly) of Indian cricket are back. With the experience of having played almost 1000 one dayers between them and having scored a combined tally of more than 33000 runs they are sure to give nightmares any bowling attack in the world. They are supported by an explosive MS Dhoni and Sehwag and the batting does look ominous.

Impressive though the batting line up might be on paper, it is not without chink. The main core of the lineup is ageing. Sehwag’s form is questionable. And even when he is in his best form he is not very reliable. He is like this lottery ticket that when it hits it will always give you jackpots or go bust. More than any other batsmen in the Indian team, his would be the performance that everyone will be watching with great interest. Robin Uthappa is still to find his feet in international cricket. It would be unfair to expect too much from someone so early in his career. Yuvraj is just recovered from an injury and will take time to get back into his groove.

The weakest link in Indian cricket would be the bowling attack. Even with the presence of Kumble and Harbhajan it would be surprising if any team where to be intimidated by our bowling attack. Barring an ageing Kumble there is no other bowler whom we can term as a genuine match winner. Even though Zheer Khan has been on god form lately he is supported by a higly inconsistent Agarkar. With Sreeanth and Munaf not coming up the ranks in ODI as they were expected, India will surely miss Pathan and his abitliy to take early wickets. India desperately needs Pathan to get the balance of their right.

However it is not all gloom for the Indian prospects. The pitches would not be fast and bouncy and hence the batsmen’s techniques will not be exposed unlike the ones in South Africa or Australia. This will be a big help for players like Sehwag who can then just thrust their front foot forward and bludgeon through the line of the ball. The pitch would be assisting the slower bowlers rather than the pace bowlers, and since India has plenty of options when it comes to slow bowling this would not be too much of concern. Yuvraj, Sehwag, and Tendulkar can all turn their arms over if need arise and can provide additional options to Dravid.

Personally I would love nothing more than seeing India win the tournament. Even though my heart desires this, I must say that we would be hard pressed to even get into the Semi-Finals. There are other teams far better than us whom we will have to overcome if we are to reach there. Based on their current form no sane person would bet on that happening. By hey, stranger things are known to have happened in cricket. Remember 1983?

So how can Australia be beaten?

So far we have been looking at the various teams other than Australia who has a chance of winning the world cup. Let’s now see what should be the best way to beat Australia.

The first thing to do would be to go into the field with the belief that you can beat Australia. You have to be aggressive all the time and come hard at them. This Australian team’s bowling can collapse when subjected to adequate pressure. The only way to beat Australia would be to out-bat them. Since their bowling is their weak point you have to get after them in a sensible manner all through the innings to make them suffer.

The second thing to do would be to take all your chances and not take the foot off the gas pedal at any point. A team like Australia will never give you a second chance and will make you pay for any lapses that may happen. Remember Gibbs dropped catch of Steve Waugh in the 1999 edition of the tournament?
Readers are welcome to add their own suggestions.

It would take a tremendous effort for any team to stop the Australian juggernaut and prevent them from winning the title for a third consecutive time. That team will have to really play out of their skins to beat the champions. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it? For what greater joy is there in sport than to see Goliath felled by David.