From: XSNAIK@FULLERTON.EDU (Sanjay Naik)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: (none)
Date: 16 Dec 1992 23:17:21 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

aantur@na.novell.com (Anand Antur) writes:

	< Depressing statistics deleted.. >

> Gavaskar, though not a very shrewd skipper IMHO, was very successful in 
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> motivating the team. A few netters may skin me for the above statement,
> however I think that Gavaskar is a very defensive captain.
> 

	A few netters are probably going to skin me for saying the following.

I think you've been reading too many of Kapil's books. BTW, have you seen his
latest ? It's the same as his original autobiography, full of complaints 
against the selectors for stripping him of the captaincy and his refusal to
acknowledge Gavaskar as a good captain. Kapil's philosophy is to be attacking
which is fine if you blend it with some tactics. I've said this before, IMHO
he's not a good skipper and replacing Azhar with Kapil will make little
difference. Gavaskar *WAS* a very shrewd captain. We certainly didn't receive
repeated humiliating defeats under his captaincy. Many Indians saw his safety
first approach as being too defensive. Anyway, that's all in the past but I bet
he could still show some of the present players how to bat :)

 
> Back from digressing, If we are to win test matches and one-day internationals
> abroad, we need GOOD, LIVELY wickets back in India.
> 
 
	Hmm. I'm not sure about that anymore. We've always had dead pitches
at home but rarely have we played as badly as this. Our current OD 
performances remind me of the 79 WC, when we had a totally inept OD side.
Remember those days ? The days when we would just about total 160 and once
in a blue mooon we'd get somewhere like 230 (and still lose).

What we need back home are wickets that suit our type of players, especially
our spinners. We haven't got any speedsters so lively wickets could be harmful.
Back in '83 we were gracious enough to prepare nice quick wickets for the 
visiting WIndians. Remember the Kanpur wicket? Nice and lively. Ask Gavaskar, 
ask Marshall. But I agree that we need GOOD wickets. Preparing minefields,
ala Chandigarh, Bangalore are not necessarily the right answers. That's going 
too much in the other direction. If we prepare the type of wickets we had in 
the 70's (wickets which turn and produce lots of runs) then we'll win a few 
games which will result in some much needed confidence. 

> Captaincy is not a major issue in the poor performance of the Indian Team.
> I frankly feel that replacing Azhar with Kapil will not solve the problem.
> The root of the problem is elsewhere.

	Couldn't agree more. This brings me to why I responded to your message.
Here's a few more flames coming my way. Now firstly let me state that despite
my criticism of Kapil's captaincy, I'm a big fan of his as a player and his
service to India. However, he's now a spent force, which is one of the major
reasons why India is going through this rather too-long bad patch. I found it
ironic reading the zillion articles on his four consecutive sixes. It seems
to me that if you're a big hitter then you're a hero in India. No wonder, 
there's still a call for Srikkanth's return! 

	Every player except Kapil has come in for some major criticism for our
recent performances. Our batting line-up has benn analysed backwards and 
forwards and every which way and poor Shastri has come close to having his 
life threatened on this net! There's a few fools out there who think that 
both Kapil and Prabhakar should open our batting as well as the bowling. 
Maybe they're not so foolish, since Prabhakar virtually did just that in the 
4th ODI. A sorry state of affairs when our opening bowler has to come in one 
down. They'll probably ask him to keep the wickets too, which will please all 
the anti-More nettors. Obviously, he doesn't hit enough sixes. Maybe someone
can tell me what's so great about Yadav because I gotta admit I've never seen 
him play but I confess to liking More. 
	
	Back to kapil. When he removed Cook early in the first test, I thought
he'd got back the knack of making early breakthroughs. But it's back to square
one. He's not making the early breakthroughs and this is especially evident in 
the OD games. He had the same problem in the WC. The opposition always gets off
to a good start in the OD games. I've always viewed his batting as a bonus 
since he's so unpredictable. I must say his batting run rate is phenomenal, 
averaging something around 95 runs per 100 deliveries over his entire career, 
easily the highest in the world. His statistics for the current SA tour are 
dismal. I'm afraid his best days are over (and they were over before the 
SA tour began). Kapil's ineffectiveness together with the retirement of SMG,
Amarnath, Vengy and our inability (understandable) to replace them are major
factors for our current state.

> 
> Anand Antur
> 

Bye,

Sanjay Naik.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket