From: kumaran@iastate.edu (K Kalyanasundaram)
Subject: Re: Captain & V.Captain (Indian Team)
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 16:52:03 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.160011.13554@infonode.ingr.com> tittu@tittu.b23b.ingr.com (Tittu Mathew) writes:
>Hello guys,
>
>	There have been a lot of discussions going on about captaincy of 
>	the Indian team. These are my views on the same topic.
>
>	1. The loss of the Indian team in the Aus series, B&H and WC series
>	   can't be blamed totally on Azhar's captaincy. ie. there is no
>	   point in making his captaincy the scape goat for all these
losses.

	Agreed.
>
>	2. The lack of coherence between players is to be blamed on Azhar's
>	   captaincy. Similarly his inability to motivate and bring the best
>	   out of them, were limitations of his captaincy.

	Two things should motivate you: 1) you are playing for your
country 2) You are making money. 

>
>	3. Azhar was too adamant on many issues, for example he was so 
>	   adamant in not to receive advice from senior players. This was 
>	   very well pointed out by Ian Chappell in one of his articles 
>	   in India Today. 

	Ian Chappell makes his money by writing stuff people will be
pleased to read.

In the latest News India there is an article which
>	   say he use to take most of his advice from Tendulkar and he use to
>	   ignore seniors completely. 

Azhar need not approach you for advise. You can give it. He can be
accused for not taking it. Whether if he had followed it, India would
have won the test series, WSC, and WC is debatable.

Baig himself, in a interview given at
>	   New Delhi said Azhar needs to learn a lot about captaincy. He said
>	   the seniors should have adviced him on the field atleast.

Surprise! Now we know why we lost. Baig has as good a chance as any to
be the manager for the SA tour.

>
>	4. If there is a basic resentment among players about the captain, it
>	   will be better to change him, otherwise it will affect team-spirit.
>	   If such a resentment exists, each player will play for his own 
>	   good than for the team.

Resentment will exist as long as just one person is the captain. Make
the leading player from every zone the captain. Five captains that is.

>
>	5. The worst thing to happen during the world cup was the day to day
>	   interference of BCCI in running the show. A friend of mine has an
>	   article from a leading Indian news paper which says, the board 
>	   members used to call the Indian manager before every world cup
>	   match and demand that he needs such and such player to be
>	   played for this match. This sort of behaviour from the board
>	   members were unfortunate. Even if you have the worlds best captain
>	   and manager in the Indian side, it is not going to do any good if
>	   the board interferes like this. Then, why is the team managment 
>	   for ?.
>
>	6. Azhar may not be a great captain, may be he doesn't have the stuff
>	   to be a great captain, a lot of things necessary to be a good
>	   captain comes through experience, some people have leadership
>	   qualities born with-in them, some develops these traits as they
>	   move along. Azhar to me is not one of those born with leadership
>	   qualities, but I think he is one of those who is developing those
>	   traits as he moves along. But things he should know is, not to 
>	   develop that resentment among player, give senior players the
>	   respect they owe, try to get as much advice from them (because
>	   none of them are going to give to him unless and until he 
>	   approaches them). He should learn to earn respect and not to 
>	   command respect.

Lets say if Imran and Brearley haven't won all those matches, would we be
calling them good captains. There is a tendency to just look at the
records! Azhar as I can see is the first Indian captain to have used
four fast bowlers in a test match. He did look very positive defending
the 125 in WSC and chasing fourth inning totals in test matches. Maybe
we need captains who can win the first test at Bombay and draw all the
rest five.

>	   
>	7. In my personal opinion, not because of the losses, but because he
>	   has developed that resentment and has lost that faith in his 
>	   fellow players, it is time to give him a break. I think it will
>	   be a good idea to bring Kapil back as the captain and make Azhar
>	   his v.captain. Shastri because of so many obvious reasons, doesn't
>	   think to be a good candidate for these positions. Let us say 
>	   Kapil plays for another 3-4 years, by that time he can mould the
>	   present young Indian team and by making Azhar his deputy
>	   can learn a few tricks from that veteran. So by the time Kapil
>	   retires Azhar will be much more ready than he is now. By 
>	   bringing Kapil back we are not repeating the same mistake we did 
>	   in 87. Instead, if they bring a new guy(for agrument sake let us 
>	   say Manjerekar) as the captain then we are repeating the same 
>	   mistake. In that case we will be better off retaining Azhar himself.
>
>
Kapil has had enough chances, including the chance to set the field
for Malik in the Calcutta one day game. Kapil's captaincy can be seen
best by not watching the WC 83, but the Bangalore test match against
Pakistan. 

>Tittu Mathew	
>

kk