enjoying myself

Is it the time for Ganguly to move on

i hv written a lot abt abt IIM Ahmedabad in my last posts, but its the time now to move over something else which i like........ something which most of indians like to profess their love abt ......... catch any indian n one of the top 3 things which wud be running across in his minds wud be certainly cricket.......... want any gyan abt cricket n u need to just ask an indian to speak over it......n i wont be amazed if u hv to really beg him to stop.......this is one of the things which hurts the most whenever the performance is bad.




Last week another dirty game was played . It was a spat between the captain and coach. n wht made it interesting was the opinion of the coach tht captain was incapable of securing a position in the regular XI based on his performance. For near on two weeks now, everyone -- the media, the pundits, the fan blowing his hard-earned cash on beer to fuel his arguments -- has been analysing the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly standoff. The problem, some said, is a clash of cultures -- Chappell is the quintessentially abrasive Aussie, who does not know how to sugar coat his messages. Nope, said others, the problem is Sourav Ganguly, who is in the midst of a form slump and desperately keen on holding on to his position.


Lets start with a SWOT analysis of the captain.....i know its a bit technical, but being an MBA student i cant resist giving this a shot.......mentioning the name of the captain draws extreme reactions from this nation full of cricket fanatics. its like George bush saying 'us' vs 'them'. either u r on captain's side or u r against him. no wonder the captain has been a great cricketer........he has been one of the top scorers in one day matches scoring more than 10000 runs...one of the most stylish batsmen to watch.......he built the current team from the stretch.......which looked once next only next only to the might aussies.........ready to take the throne which belonged to the ponting's side.... brought new young blood to this side......backed younsters like kaif, yuvraj n harbhajan to the hilt.......who can forget his 'shirtless' show on Natwest finals which marked the arrival of new agggressive indian team.....in short a man who took india to new heights in the cricketing arena

but the captain's own performance has really dipped........his weakness against the short-pitch balls hv been over-exposed.even the 'medium-paced' bowlers from 'test' teams like Zimbabwe hv started fancying their chances against him n are trying to intimidate him with short-pitch deliveries........the deluge of sixes he used to hit against spinners hv reduced to a level which can at best referred as a trickle......he seems to be scoring only against weak teams like kenya n Bangladesh........n he recently scored a painstaking century against Zimbabwe......scoring a 101 in 263 balls against a mediocre bowling attack on a rather dead, flat pitch............earlier no body noticed as the team was winning.....but with the team now on the losing spree the daggers are out.......the column writers hv started exploring the options of replacing him...... n his position in the team which he has assiduously built is being questioned.


coming to the options who r capable or at least seem capable of replacing him-dravid,tendulkar, any of the fresh blooded player like kaif. dravid is hotly projected today as an inherent n implicit successor.....but i dont feel Dravid is gud enuf to take the fight to the opposition camp as ganguly took in the aussie tour.....making steve waugh waiting at the toss........matching sledging comments delivered by the aussies .......... dravid is more seen as a player who can make runs by staying on the field but probably not as a captain who can match aggression of the competitors ........... he is a wonderful player, no doubt..... but a captaincy material ? i doubt.......... sachin has burnt his fingers in the past by taking this onerous task of shouldering the expectations of one billion dollar people. n i dont think he wud like to repeat it. moreover with the number of injuries plaguing him, it wud be better for him as well as the indian cricket fr him to focus more on his recovery.......... now after senior players seem incapable to take the lead, the onus is on the junior players like sehwag, kaif etc......... take the example of south africa who banked on the new talent Graham Smith to lead the team.... this is a long term decision n wud help the team in long run.....similarly i wud prefer to select a younger captain who can build a team of future rather than making a ageing team....look at wht happened to the aussies in ashes......the age factor of their players went against them.


the major problem with indian cricket has been the laid back attitude of the stakeholders- the selectors, players n the general public.....the selectors r afraid to make changes, not ready to pick the players on their current forms ...... rather they choose the safe way of picking 'big' names based on the past reputation........... lot of factionalism also comes into the place.....this allows the players to develop a comfort zone.... so a player has to deliver in just one match n he wud be assured of his place in the side fr next ten matches.......... this all has to be shrugged off if we want to make a gud team or even think of getting closer to wht the aussies hv achieved.


this post may draw extreme reactions...... but remember tht its my blog......... its my birth right to explore to express my feelings abt the issues tht concern me on this web log...... u hv been given the comments section to evince ur feelings ...... so make a judicious use of tht section on whatever u may think over the issue

posted by amit @ 3:14 AM