The Hindu : Sport : Unnecessary compromises cost India

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Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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Unnecessary compromises cost India

India needs to stop picking players on reputations, writes Makarand Waingankar

No sport cares for the reputations of the players. The rules and laws govern every sport, and the players are expected to perform within those rules. The superstars are no exceptions.

The Melbourne Test between India and Australia clearly indicated the difference in the level of skills between both the teams, and evidence enough that India’s attachment to protecting the superstar status of some of its players will not take In dia anywhere in the series.

In the process of protecting the big names that are not willing to sacrifice their secure standing in the team, the selectors and team-management have dented the confidence of Rahul Dravid, who seems to be the only person to be making all the adjustments his team demands to accommodate someone else. He is partly to be blamed for acceding to the grossly unjustifiable and unfair requests. Earlier to accommodate an extra batsman, he was asked to keep wickets.

One compromise led to another, and when the selectors and team-management identify a cricketer who can be used as a tool as he is willing to compromise on his own interests for the team’s, the player is not allowed to focus on his priorities.

Dilip Sardesai and Ashok Mankad were top quality middle order batsmen till they accepted a role to open the innings. They failed miserably not only in the opening slot but also later in the middle order.

Pressure to perform

Dravid, having been used as an opener to create a slot for Yuvraj Singh, has struggled to score. Yuvraj Singh, knowing well that he has to perform, has failed. And Virender Sehwag, who got the nod though he was not in the 24 probables a week before the final selection, was made to sit out. So when he gets in the middle, he too would be short of confidence.

In cricket, confidence is vital. In a pressurised international game, if the player concerned is lacking in confidence, it affects the morale of the team. A sense of insecurity creeps into the team and when that happens, results are not encouraging.

There has to be a rapport between the selection committee and the key members of the team. Ideally, one of the selectors has to be with the team all the time to understand the thinking and the approach of the team.

Australians don’t believe in this theory mainly because they pick high quality players and not reputed players. In India, we go by the reputations of the players, otherwise Sehwag wouldn’t have been selected.

Take the case of Mumbai. The 37-time Ranji Trophy Champions were thrown out of the tournament even before the New Year began. They relied on the reputation of Ramesh Powar, and in the crucial last game, of Nilesh Kulkarni.

They picked a young medium pacer who has been getting warnings for running on the wicket for the past two seasons in the local games.

The selection committee chaired by Dilip Vengsarkar gave all the support that the coach Pravin Amre and captain Amol Muzumdar needed, but the combination that they picked never clicked.

The problem with the coach-captain combination in India is they get far too proactive for the job which requires patience and observation. Cricketers just out of their teens are excited at having been chosen, and they set unrealistic goals that can’t be achieved. It is the job of the coach to get them to set realistically feasible goals that, going by the performances of the Mumbai players, was not done.

The contribution of Mumbai batsmen to Indian cricket is immense, but the present lot has not applied themselves nor has the coach been able to get them to perform.

he newly built Indoor Cricket Centre of seven pitches may be a boon to Mumbai cricketers, but traditionally a Mumbai cricketer likes to be match-prepared.

To an average cricket-crazy Mumbaikar, the loss was a shock. Three of the teams in the West Zone — Gujarat, Baroda and Saurashtra — have done exceedingly well to enter the knock out rounds, and Gujarat is in the plate final. It is the muddled thinking that has to change in Indian and Mumbai cricket.

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