From: faraz.rabbani@canrem.com (faraz rabbani)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: re: some thoughts...
Date: 3 Jan 93 18:35:11 GMT
Reply-To: "faraz rabbani" <faraz.rabbani@canrem.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Canada Remote Systems


 sudhama@engin.umich.edu (Sudhama Gopalan) writes:
 SG> So here's another dismal performance by India's frontline batsmen. As
 SG> someone said it's time the long knives were unsheathed. On performance
 SG> alone, I don't think any of the Indian frontline batsmen would make it
 SG> to any of the better Test sides of today. But, of course, they are "on
 SG> paper" a batting side with tremendous potential. So what does one do
 SG> when faced with a collective "loss of form". The main problem seems to
 SG> be a score-card which looks like 0,2,12,1, 105,8,23,8,9,12,2. Look at
 SG> any of the frontline batsmen's performance in the last n games - you'll
 SG> find a trend of x,x,x,x,x,x,109,x,x (repeat cycle where x is
 SG> insignificant). So this way everyone manages an average which does'nt
 SG> look that dismal - moral of the story, do what Shastri is famous for -
 SG> get a big score when your place looks to be at stake.
 SG> Well I don't think anyone who has more than one cycle (as illustrated
 SG> above) deserves a place in the Test side - you can't lose form that
 SG> often. However, sadly this would mean axing each and every one of the
 SG> frontline batsmen who are on duty in South Africa. Following the
 SG> principle that you give everybody a long rope, the first to be axed
 SG> should be Shastri, Manjrekar and Azharuddin. That's the only way to
 SG> keep them on their toes - ie if they ever come back (which they
 SG> should). Well, what about the captaincy issue? For a start, it was
 SG> never a good idea to have Azhar as captain. For one reason - if your
 SG> captain is suspect against genuine pace and hops around like Azhar does
 SG> against short-pitched stuff, it does'nt do much for the morale of the
 SG> other batsmen. To top it off, if your captain tries to hit his way out
 SG> of a tough spot, that puts a premium on application - which is an
 SG> absolute must for a Test batsman. The choice seems to be Kapil for a
 SG> couple of years. The saving grace, so far, has been the bowling. A
 SG> veritable pop-gun attack, probably #9 among Test bowling sides (on
 SG> paper), has consistently stuck to it's task and bowled it's heart out -
 SG> and come up with performances away from home which they can justifiably
 SG> take pride in. No Sir, the problem is definitely not whether Raju is
 SG> pathetic, or Srinath has been given too much rope or Kapil is waning or
 SG> whatever ..... The thing that needs immediate sorting out (before the
 SG> England tour starts) is the batting. For a start, it's time we got
 SG> ourselves some real openers. And some middle/upper order bats who don't
 SG> carry the tag of strokeplayer on them. Suggestions - recall Navjot
 SG> Siddhu, try out people like Surendra Bhave, Shantanu Sugwekar, K. P.
 SG> Bhasker, etc - some of those dependable types. Pick totally different
 SG> batting lineups for the Test and one-dayers for the games against
 SG> England (after all the luxury of a series at home is rare)
 SG> Or maybe I'm over reacting - maybe you have to lower your
 SG> expectations of a team which has'nt played a Test at home for ages
 SG> now???! 
 SG> Any comments?

I think that you *are* over-reacting by suggesting that they drop
Shastri, Manjrekar and Azharuddin all at once. 

The Indian team (rather like the English in the lates '80s) makes
too many changes.  You should have a core of people that you trust
and fine-tune as necessary. 

And the madness of changing skipper upon every defeat is
unexplainable.  How can a team perform under ANYONE when half the
players are past, recent, or potential future captains?  At times,
you guys had teams with 4 to 5 ex-captains (Gavaskar, Kapil,
Shastri, Srikkanth, Vengsarkar, etc.) all playing...

I think that stability is very important -- changes should be made
when *necessary* and not just for the sake of change.

The classic Indian example is when Shrikkanth got sacked as captain
after tying a series with Pakistan (late '80s or 1990)...  too much
politics...

Faraz Rabbani
Toronto, Canada

faraz.rabbani@canrem.com

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