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Wednesday, 28 March 2007

IMMEDIATE STEPS TO REVAMP INDIAN CRICKET



ADMINISTRATION
a) Any one in India can write a huge book on improving cricketing administration. There is much to offer. I think BCCI is greedy. Because of their greediness they are killing cricket as well as players careers. Volume of one-day cricket played should be reduced. What is the use of playing 7 one-dayers in a bilateral series? It is boring for fans and draining for cricketers. Then our leading cricketers can play more domestic cricket and domestic cricket is strengthened.
b) Conduct regular clinics for local coaches in India. They must be equipped with latest methods and training. They must have interaction with leading coaches in the world. (Also conduct regular clinics for umpires)
c) Every time our player is seriously injured he is flying to Australia for rehabilitation. With so much money under the coffer we can build world-class medical rehabilitation centre for sports persons.
d) Similar to MRF Pace Academy in Chennai we can also constitute Spin Academy. It can be managed by a prominent ex-spinner.
e) Competitiveness in domestic cricket and accustoming to tough pitch conditions are the two major factors affecting Indian players. These issues must be addressed: Duleep trophy must be made premier first-class tournament instead of Ranji Trophy. Each zone must play each other twice instead of once. We must have regular junior tours to countries like Australia, South Africa and England where pitches are unfamiliar. Pitches for domestic cricket must be sporting. (Sporting means not hard and bouncy. It means it should be conducive for batsmen, pacers and spinners alike)

CAPTAINCY
a) Persist with Dravid as Captain.
b) Appoint Yuvraj Singh as Vice-Captain. For Test Cricket VVS Laxman may be the Vice-Captain till Yuvraj establish himself in that format. Hopefully Yuvraj will establish himself in Test Cricket sooner.

COACHING
a) In hindsight I feel that most successful & great cricketers don’t make great coaches. Past records are enough proof for that. Sir Vivian Richards, Kapil Dev, Javed Miandad, Malcom Marshall and Greg Chappell were great players but not successful coaches. There must be some psychology and other reasons for that. Chappell can be better utilized as professional consultant to cricket board if they are willing. If we want an Indian then likes of Pataudi and Gavaskar are there.
b) Appoint Robin Singh as chief coach. (Recently coached Indian ‘A’ team). Other choices may be Tom Moody, Sandeep Patil and Dav Whatmore.
c) Appoint Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach. (Recently coached Indian under-19 team). Other choices may be Bruce Reid and Troy Cooley.

SACHIN TENDULKAR & ANIL KUMBLE
a) Sachin must emulate Lara. Should retire from one-day internationals. This great man should concentrate on Test Cricket alone. This would prolong his career and his effectiveness.
b) Kumble has already indicated he would retire from shorter version and concentrate on Test Cricket only.

ATTITUDE
a) Wicket keepers are the ones who cheer and encourage other team members in tough moments of play. Kiran More, Nayan Mongia, Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthick are very good at it. But I never found Mr. Dhoni cheering and encouraging his team members while keeping. He must change his attitude and also improves his wicket keeping skills.
b) Get rid of conservatism in our system. Not selecting Romesh Pawar ahead of Kumble and Harbhajan was a sign of conservatism. It clearly affected our fortunes in the world cup.

SELECTION ISSUES
a) Romesh Pawar must be the first choice spinner in shorter version of the game. Harbhajan is only restrictive not wicket taking in shorter version. So drop Harbhajan from one-day squad.
b) Groom Piyush Chawla, the young leg-spinner.
c) Young batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Chetshwara Pujara, Badrinath and Manoj Tiwary must be given opportunities. Not all at one go, one by one must be slowly drifted into the team.
d) Ganguly is a liability to the team in both forms of the game. Drop him. Don’t be fooled by his recent scores. When you score it must be counted and team must win.

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