The Hindu : Sport : Home captains must have a say on pitches

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 04, 2004

Sport

Sport

Home captains must have a say on pitches

Defeat has no fathers; the old adage reasserts itself too often in Indian cricket. The recent results by the Indian cricket team surely have made a small dent in the confidence of the huge number of Indians who follow the game religiously and passionately. These ardent followers, even after a series of mediocre performances by India, flock again and again in front of the television sets with renewed hopes.

So, it's natural for the entire Indian cricket fraternity and the media to express their views rather harshly when the home team plays badly. Some attribute the defeat to the players' commercial outlook, some to the poor skills and the latest is about the wickets.

It is the prerogative of the home captain representing the team management to have a say on the type of wickets to be prepared. Any home captain evaluates his team's capabilities and that of the opponents before deciding on the nature of the wicket to be prepared. This is one advantage every home team enjoys throughout the world.

Being a fast bowler myself, even I have quietly endorsed the need for turning tracks, keeping in mind the team's interest. The groundsmen or the local association deciding on the type of wicket sounds absurd. All that the groundsmen did at Nagpur was to suit the wicket to the strengths of the opponents. Not that our batsmen cannot play fast bowling at all, but our proven strengths are with our spinners in Anil and Harbhajan.

Let's prepare wickets for Anil and Harbhajan. We don't have to test the opponents' strength by giving them green a wicket. We don't get such wickets at any level of Indian cricket and its foolhardy to have such wickets, that too against Australia.

The problem lies somewhere else. Our domestic first-class wickets need a re-look. An honest attempt has to be made to change the strips where the youngsters get the taste of first class cricket. Usually it is batsmen who become captains in most of the states. So, it is hard to believe that these captains will make an honest request for a sportive wicket.

BCCI can bring change

A sporting wicket not only breeds batsmen with good skills but also produces fast bowlers with strong belief. The National Cricket Academy in Bangalore which deals with these first class cricketers comes to their help a little too late in their career. Only the BCCI can bring about the desired change for a permanent solution. The local bodies have no interest whatsoever to think so deep about the development of Indian cricket. This is just the time where fast wickets will be discussed for a while but the reality is that nothing would be done in the passage of time.

The time of entry is so important for the youngsters to make their debut at the international level. Australia's policy to balance youth and energy along with age and experience has paid rich dividends.

The very well calculated exit of Ian Healy and Steve Waugh to make way for players with long future are farsighted ideas. Players like Gilchrist, Clarke, Symonds and Mathew Hayden were all inducted to replace the greats of Australian cricket. They have all imbibed the winning values from the team very quickly.

The four new faces roped into the Indian side and one in the Australian squad would seem appropriate at this point of time. Even these batsmen are the products of the same Indian cricketing school. These players have come at a time where even the great exponents of the game are struggling. Only the strong-minded resolute players will survive. We only hope that the debutants come good.

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