Leadership of Indian cricket

[Spetsnatz]

As India look to move forward following their loss of the Border Gavaskar trophy, there's been some talk about change in both the coaching and captaincy departments.

Firstly, re: the coaching, John Wright's contract is scheduled to end circa March 2005. Unquestionably Indian cricket has seen some major improvements under Wright but it also clear that some pretty significant holes remain. Some commentators e.g. Boycott, Greg Chappell have suggested that
it would probably be in India's interest to look at a fresh face at the helm -- someone who can bring an influx of new ideas and build on the work of Wright. Others have favoured continuity such as Peter Roebuck and veteran Indian broadcaster Bhogle.

Secondly, re: the captaincy, Dravid has been touted in some quarters as the man to take over from Ganguly whose test batting/captaincy/fielding/advocacy of certain players have all been questioned;
with perhaps young Mohammad Kaif to be groomed as the future captain.

What do you guys think on both counts ?

 

[Tim]

There's only so much a coach can do. I still feel there are major managment & structual problems within Indian cricket.

There appears to be progress with selecting players based on skill rather than their educational or parental background but it's not as simple as sacking the Coach & Captain IMO.

 

[GermanShepherd]

There's only so much a coach can do. I still feel there are major managment & structual problems within Indian cricket.

There appears to be progress with selecting players based on skill rather than their educational or parental background but it's not as simple as sacking the Coach & Captain IMO.

True, something needs to be done about the coaching/support facilities offered by Indian domestic cricket.

As amit Verma of Wisden said in his recent article, the national side gets a fairly good level of coaching but what about at state level ?
Where are the mechanisms in place to rectify problems like Partiv's wicketkeeping, Yuvraj's technique, Munaf Patel's fitness and action ?

Those are the fundamental problems that need to be solved.

 

[deeps]

the last test match for me saw a great improvement in selection via skill and not other influences. From the reports we get in the media, it seems that ganguly tends to favour some players (patel, yuvraj etc.) and he will go in and try his 100% to make sure that his players are on the team. Now it is good to show faith in your players, but there is a limit. Parthiv patel is an example, of where they had too much faith in him, and it ended up POSSIBLY costing india a number of victories. Now, ppl are saying that india are grooming a young keeper for the future. Now, dinesh karthik is younger than patel, and is definatley a more natural keeper. why on earth didn't he get the chance until noW? Gambhir, Sriram and many other indian openers have been performing brilliantly in the state comp,and have barely got a look in to the indian team until now

sriram was selected aginst the presidents XI, and gambhir played in the final test. they are getting chances......


wlel done on the improvement!

 

[age_master]

they were saying the other day on TV that Tendulkar wants another go at captaincy

 

[masterblaster]

I don't want captaincy affecting Dravid's batting though, he is too good a player for that.

But yeah, Mohammad Kaif is definitely one of the future candidates for Indian Captain after the likes of Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar have retired.

 

[GermanShepherd]

Does Ganguly deserve to be in the Indian test squad as a middle order batsman ahead of Kaifu ?

 

[Tim]

John Wright has remained relatively quiet about the management of Indian Cricket since he began in 2000.
It would be interesting to see what he has to say should he resign or be sacked.

 

[marc71178]

Does Ganguly deserve to be in the Indian test squad as a middle order batsman ahead of Kaifu ?

Possibly, possibly not - but whilst still skipper, definitely IMO.

 

[honestbharani]

I still think Laxman would make a better captain than Dravid. But having said that, I cannot see anyone better than Sourav to lead India at the moment.

 

[Shounak]

One person who I think could be a great potential future captain is Pathan. We're definitely going to be hearing about his batting in the future. His bowling will also improve, at the age of 19, he got up to 143km/h, it'll only get faster and more accurate as he gets older. He's got the ability to work under pressure and always deliver for his team.

Dravid and Tendulkar are not aggressive enough to be captains. You need someone who stands up for themselves and the team. Much of the reason why Ganguly made such a good Indian captain. The indian captaincy needs to go to someone aggressive, with fire running through his heart, like Pathan.

India should work to groom him as a future captain. Brightens the future considerably...

 

[Jono]

with perhaps young Mohammad Kaif to be groomed as the future captain.

I like that idea, and I think it will occur. Kaif's definitely the future of Indian cricket.

Regarding current captaincy, I think Dravid's batting is more valuable than Ganguly's and this if captaincy is indeed affecting Ganguly's batting, who's to say it won't affect Dravid's too? I want Ganguly to stick as captain.

 

[SJS]

I like that idea, and I think it will occur. Kaif's definitely the future of Indian cricket.

Regarding current captaincy, I think Dravid's batting is more valuable than Ganguly's and this if captaincy is indeed affecting Ganguly's batting, who's to say it won't affect Dravid's too? I want Ganguly to stick as captain.

It has to be someone whose place in the side is not 'iffy'. Kaif has some way to go for that.

The people who are firmly in the team are Dravid and Tendulkar(first), Sehwag and Kumble (second) Laxman and Ganguly (third). I have taken those more likely to be chosen as skipper and left out someone like Harbhajan.

Clearly the choice falls first on Dravid and then on Tendulkar.

Sehwag may not be such a bad choice but he will find it difficult to give instructions to batsmen if he has just thrown away his wicket with a nowhere shot.

If at all there has to be a change, I think Dravid has to put up his hand and I am sure his batting will be okay over time.

 

[deeps]

looking at just this series, zaheer khan seems to have some agression and fire running through him

 

[TendulkarFan]

It's a difficult one. The captain has to be a natural leader because if he has to work at being the leader, that will take time away from his game. Also, a player has to be a permanent fixture on the team before he can be considered for captaincy, which disqualifies Kumble and Kaif.

Tendulkar, as he showed in the past, is NOT a natural leader. A natural leader understands the weaknesses of other players and tries to get the best out of them for the benefit of the team. Tendulkar, because of the level he consistently performs at, didn't do that the last time around. Was it because he was only in his mid-20's? Is he mature enough now (and perhaps more importantly, has failed enough) to be more tolerant of his mates' weaknesses and understand how to get the best out of the individuals on his team?

Dravid has been good in the tests he has captained in; he certainly gets the guys to perform at their best but his batting has gone to pieces in those games. He averages in the 10-15 range; clearly not something that indicates that captaincy won't affect his batting. If his batting stats as a captain looked even close to good, he would be a slam dunk choice to take over from Saurav.

Sehwag doesn't think much about his game and there's no point in giving him the captaincy. He's a freewheeler who shouldn't be burdened with making others perform.

Laxman seems like an intelligent individual and I'm not quite sure how he would make out as a captain. I would love to see him captain a few games to see how he thinks.

Harbhajan has too much energy, and not enough maturity, to be a captain right now. Maybe 5-8 years from now, he would be perfect. The guy will go through a wall to win for India. You need a perfect blend of that type of enthusiasm and maturity. Enthusiasm he has but maturity will come with time.

Pathan is the same as Harbhajan only less expressive and seems like a bit more intelligent as a cricketer.

For now, I think the best policy is to stick with Ganguly and a few years down the road, pass it onto either Harbhajan or Pathan (or Kaif if he ends up replacing either of the middle-order batsmen).

 

[deeps]

a few years down the track, if dinesh kaarthick is still in the side, he seems to have the composure and cricket brain (i noticed on a few occasions he ran the entire pitch, and was telling the bowler something (probably what he noticed in the batsman's technique or something)). Once a wicket resulted in the very next delivery. of course, he might have just been offering encouragement, but to run all the way to the bowler must be something else.

he didn't seem over-awed by the occasion showing his calmness.

 

[viktor]

Even if Kaarthick becomes a permanent member of the side, a keeper also captaining ...Gilly did the job this series and he is happy that its over...
I would say in the long term Kaif, if he establishes himself in the side would make a good captain. In the short/middle term, Dravid has to be the guy. I agree, he hasn't performed when captaining, so far, but once he settles in to the job, he should do alright

 

[honestbharani]

Perhaps, Kaarthick could make a very good vice-captain to someone like Kaif or Sehwag in the future.

 

[SJS]

Perhaps, Kaarthick could make a very good vice-captain to someone like Kaif or Sehwag in the future.

Isnt it a bit early to talk of him as captain ???????

BTW, he needs to tone down his appealing at every delivery. Its going to do him no good.

 

[honestbharani]

He will tone it down, I am sure. But I was just referring to the general idea that wicket keepers make very good vice captains, but yes, asking a keeper to be the captain doesn't seem the best idea.