From: karnik@cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik)
Subject: Re: Some thoughts...
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 23:17:33 GMT

In <CSa=gp-@engin.umich.edu> sudhama@engin.umich.edu (Sudhama Gopalan) writes:


> Well, what about the captaincy issue? For a start, it was never a good idea to
>have Azhar as captain. For one reason - if your captain is suspect against 
>genuine pace and hops around like Azhar does against short-pitched stuff, it
>does'nt do much for the morale of the other batsmen. To top it off, if your
>captain tries to hit his way out of a tough spot, that puts a premium on
>application- which is an absolute must for a Test batsman. The choice seems to 
>be Kapil for a couple of years.

	When Azhar was first appointed captain, I, and I suppose just
about everyone else, was extremely surprised. Azhar had never been
groomed to lead the team, in the way Shastri for example, had.  This
was also, as you said, before Azhar's weakness against short-pitched
bowling was exposed. There definitely was hope, that beneath the cool,
gentlemanly exterior, there might lurk an efficient man-manager, but I
think by now, most have conceded that those hopes have been belied. The
batting has simply been unable to click together, as a team, and the
results over the last two years speak volumes.

	One thing is, I hope, clear, the batting line up has ample
talent, and there need not be ay doubts about the abilities of Azhar,
SRT and Manjrekar as batsmen. What is missing is perhaps the
motivation, the application and the leadership. A year or so ago, when
people called for Azhar's blood after the rout in Australia, I recall
having stood up for him, and asked for another chance. That, he has
been given, and he's failed again to produce results.  It may well be
time now to move on to another experiment with the captaincy. (Yo Bharat,
any more arguments left ? :->)


>For a start, it's time we got ourselves some real openers. And some middle/upper
>order bats who don't carry the tag of strokeplayer on them. Suggestions - recall
>Navjot Siddhu, try out people like Surendra Bhave, Shantanu Sugwekar,          
>K. P. Bhasker, etc - some of those dependable types. Pick totally different
>batting lineups for the Test and one-dayers for the games against England (after
>all the luxury of a series at home is rare)


	I agree, the England series will be an ideal opportunity for
experimentation, with no 16-man restriction after a long time. However,
I think that the core of the batting should not be disturbed, i.e.
Azhar, SRT and Manjrekar. I would like to include Amre too in that
core, but he's not yet done enough to be a certainty in the team. The
opening slots are up for grabs, and Surendra Bhave should be one of the
prospects. Kambli is almost certain to make the team, and one hopes he
can live upto the expectations. And yes, Sidhu should definitely be one
of the openers. But he'll have to show his wares in the Ranji matches
to impress the selectors, and so far, I don't think he's done anything
big. Sugwekar has been impressive, and may well be in the Board
President's side, on trial against the English in a few days time. And
how about Srikkanth ? He appears to be in good form too, but age is not
on his side.

	However, the thorny issue of captaincy will remain... There is
a lot of support for Kapil Dev, and it may well be him leading the team
on to the field next time. However, this will naturally be a short term
solution. They need to groom someone for the job for a couple of years,
and the candidates aren't obvious. Manjrekar is mentioned often, as is
Shastri, but while Shastri's place isn't safe, I have my doubts about
Manjrekar being any different from Azhar.... Tendulkar is definitely a
prospect for the future, but unless the selectors desperately want to
erase Pataudi's name from the record books, :-> he won't be asked to
lead in the near future. Hmmm... no easy answers here...

	Oh well, the first ODI against England is on the 16th of
January, so we don't have much of a wait before the 'jokers' show their
hand :-) Here's wishing y'all (and the beleagured Indian team) a happy
1993!

>Sudhama


     +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
     | Neeran M. Karnik | #2 fan of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on r.s.c.  :-> |
     | Dept. of CompSci.| "Welcome to r.s.c.,                              |
     | U of Minnesota   |  where jingoism rules the netwaves" - McBean :-> |
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