From: tittu@tittu.b23b.ingr.com (Tittu Mathew)
Subject: Captain & V.Captain (Indian Team)
Followup-To: tittu@tittu.b23b.ingr.com
Reply-To: tittu@tittu.b23b.ingr.com (Tittu Mathew)
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 16:00:11 GMT

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.

	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.

	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. 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. 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.

	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.

	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.
	   
	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.


Tittu Mathew	

From: venky@hpcupt3.cup.hp.com (Venkataramann R)
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 23:31:17 GMT
Subject: Re: Booing of Richardson
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino