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Kirsten questions fitness and commitment

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Kirsten questions fitness and commitment


Gary Kirsten, India's coach, has come down hard on some of the Indian players' "fitness and commitment" after his side failed to win a single game in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20, a repeat performance from last year.

Before addressing the team and handing them a dressing-down in the West Indies, Kirsten had a one-on-one interaction with senior players - MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. Team sources said that Kirsten told the group he was angry to see that even he - a 42-year-old - was fitter than some of the players. Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma got special mention with regards to fitness, the sources said. Kirsten demanded better fitness from the players and gave them one month to show results on that front.

Kirsten also said in the meeting that the players seemed content with the No. 1 ranking in Tests and the No. 2 in ODIs, and were not committed to the team cause in the World Twenty20. It is worth noting that only four of the 15 players present there are sure starters in Test matches: Dhoni, Gambhir, Harbhajan and Zaheer.

While it is not the first time that a coach has lashed out at a team, the timing and the harshness of this dressing-down suggest the severity of the problem, especially coming from a man usually content with the back seat. India's early exit from the World Twenty20, their third such effort in last three global events, has drawn harsh criticism from various quarters, but this coming from the coach is the most damning of all. After last year's debacle too, Kirsten had raised similar fitness and intensity questions. He had blamed IPL fatigue then.

His plea bore little result this year. After a six-week-long IPL, India got a five-day break before their first match in the world Twenty20. Yuvraj, coming back from a wrist injury, played all 14 of Kings XI Punjab's matches. Zaheer sat out of two of India's five matches in the World Twenty20. Zaheer, Gambhir and Nehra missed matches at various stages of the IPL, and Nehra was picked for India even before he had returned to full fitness for Delhi Daredevils.


Kirsten questions fitness and commitment | Cricket News | ICC World Twenty20 2010 | Cricinfo.com
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Can you think of any other players who have put on weight like that whilst being part of a national program? It's pretty astonishing that, whilst playing pretty regular national cricket, that Rohit and Yuvraj's fitness could deteriorate.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Can you think of any other players who have put on weight like that whilst being part of a national program? It's pretty astonishing that, whilst playing pretty regular national cricket, that Rohit and Yuvraj's fitness could deteriorate.
Samit Patel springs to mind. Was told he had to lose weight to stay in the setup and ended up gaining it instead.
 

Sir Alex

Banned
Can you think of any other players who have put on weight like that whilst being part of a national program? It's pretty astonishing that, whilst playing pretty regular national cricket, that Rohit and Yuvraj's fitness could deteriorate.
Yeah post 2000 it is hard to find such players. But pre 90s you can find some. Aravinda, Ranatunga, Boon (?), Tendulkar (for brief time around late 90s) etc. Yuvraj's deterioration is unbelievable. He has gone from Jontyesque to Nehraesque in a matter of few years.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
guys like Yuvraj and Afridi are cancer to Pakistan-India.Both are talented but unwilling workers who prefer to stay in their comfort zones and have no intentions to improve.The worst thing is both are highly charismatic and have looks which attracts the female fanbase with their attitude and hence many upcoming cricketers make the mistake of taking take them as their inspirations .Imran Nazir made this fatal mistake and could see Rohit following the same pattern.
 

masterblaster

International Captain
guys like Yuvraj and Afridi are cancer to Pakistan-India.Both are talented but unwilling workers who prefer to stay in their comfort zones and have no intentions to improve.The worst thing is both are highly charismatic and have looks which attracts the female fanbase with their attitude and hence many upcoming cricketers make the mistake of taking take them as their inspirations .Imran Nazir made this fatal mistake and could see Rohit following the same pattern.
Agree with this. That's why I've never been a fan of Yuvraj. His arrogance and nonchalance is frustrating and he is one of those guys who is happier in socialising and fraternising with Bollywood rather than putting in the hard work required to be an elite player. It's frustrating because he's an extremely talented cricketer but he will never achieve the status that a Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman have attained thanks to their dedication, commitment and hard work over the years.
 
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Himannv

International Coach
Hope this sort of thing doesn't get Kirsten fired. Seems like he's a very good coach and I dont think Yuvraj or Sharma are particularly deserving of a spot in that squad. India have so much more talent to fall back on.
 

Sir Alex

Banned
Hope this sort of thing doesn't get Kirsten fired. Seems like he's a very good coach and I dont think Yuvraj or Sharma are particularly deserving of a spot in that squad. India have so much more talent to fall back on.
He won't. There are two things he did right, he spoke to the players regarding this, and secondly he never made his thoughts public (by directly communicating to the BCCI top mgmt). BCCI has already said it will come down on party animals so that's a plus for Kirsten.
 

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
BCCI to act against players for nightclub brawl

The BCCI is to issue show-cause notices to some Indian players over their alleged involvement in an altercation at a nightclub in St Lucia following the team's last game of the World Twenty20 on May 11. India exited the tournament after failing to win a single match in the second stage.

"The BCCI president has asked the secretary to issue the show-cause notice tomorrow [Tuesday]", Ratnakar Shetty, the board's chief administrative officer, said.

The move comes after the tour manager, Ranjib Biswal, submitted his report on the tour to the board on Monday. The report is believed to have indicted eight players who were at the nightclub - Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla. Five of them will be touring Zimbabwe for India's next international assignment, but the pull-up is expected to have no impact on their participation in the tour.

"Biswal met the president and secretary and had a discussion on the tour and the report he submitted," Shetty said. "He gave the information about the incident to both. The board also probed into the incident on its own. After considering all the information gathered, the president has decided to issue a show-cause notice to the concerned players."

This is the first instance of the board pulling up so many players in public. But Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has always had a reputation for being a strict administrator and on this occasion he felt the board was left with little option but to give a warning to the players considering the World Cup is nine months away. And to tolerate such indiscipline, especially after India's exit from the Super Eights in the World Twenty20 for the second year in a row, was inappropriate.

As of now there is no clear punishment the players have to bear, but they will be informed about being kept under constant surveillance in every tournament in the future and that any further breach of conduct would only prompt a stricter action from the board.

The notices - which have been sent solely on the basis of the nightclub incident - must be replied to within 15 days.

The incident took place on the evening of May 11, after India lost to Sri Lanka to ensure their elimination from the tournament. The players, who had been placed under restricted movement till then, were allowed to go out. A few - including some named in the report - went to a local nightclub where some Indian fans were also present. It is believed the fans, upset by the team's performance, taunted the players, following which the situation escalated.

Incidentally, Biswal denied reports of the brawl when he returned to India. "There is no truth at all about the brawl. It is all media creation that is doing the rounds,'' he said last week.



BCCI to act against players for nightclub brawl | Cricket News | ICC World Twenty20 2010 | Cricinfo.com
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
"Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla"

Why the hell would those guys want to be seen in public with Ashish Nehra? Surely reduces your chances of picking up.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
I would be willing to bet that they were 0/8. Especially if they went to a bar where there are Indian cricket fans.
 

R_D

International Debutant
Angry with Jadeja, drunk Indians hurled abuses at players, Times of India

NEW DELHI: The altercation between some Indian cricketers and fans at a nightclub in the West Indies - which has put some players in the dock - was instigated by a drunk gang of expats who were incensed with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's performance.

According to sources, the gang, comprising six or seven individuals, unleashed a torrent of abuse at Jadeja, leading to an altercation with players which has snowballed into a huge controversy in the wake of India's poor performance in the World T20. The incident happened after India had lost to Sri Lanka in their last Super Eight match and been ousted from the tournament. Jadeja, it seems, was the fall guy as he had performed badly both with bat and ball.

"It wasn't a nightclub as some sections of the media have reported. It so happened that Ravindra Jadeja was having food when some drunk Indian fans arrived and used four-letter words. They asked the cricketer to find some other corner in the restaurant. This was vehemently protested by Murali Vijay, who was also abused," a source who witnessed the fracas told TOI.



"Soon, Ashish Nehra intervened and even he was abused. Seeing this, Yuvraj Singh took Nehra aside and called for the security guards. Zaheer Khan too protested as the 'fans' keep hurling abuses. But the situation was brought under control in the next couple of minutes. The drunk Indian fans were taken aside by security," the source added.

Sources also insisted that no 'brawl' had taken place, even though the cricketers - Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla - have received show cause notices from the BCCI. They are expected to furnish an explanation within seven days. It could not be ascertained, however, if those showcause notices had been dispatched.

"The players did nothing wrong," the source said, "It was an issue blown out of proportion. Rohit and Piyush Chawla were not even involved in the argument. They were standing right behind the senior cricketers who chose to protest after being abused. Even Suresh Raina was present there to have his dinner. New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris was also there with some members of the Kiwi support staff, as were some Australian players."
 
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Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
The showcause notices have not been only issued for the brwawl,i think.
Otherwise they would have been issued to all the players involved ,not only these players.

I think this has more to do with Gary Kirsten complaining specifically about these players discipline and about the fitness,specially of yuvraj and Rohit.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Kirsten questions fitness and commitment
Why question the fitness/commitment after the loss ? Why not raise it before the tournament started. I am sick of coaches who rake up millions and take credit for victories but when the time comes to take responsibility for the poor performance they start looking for excuses.

Gary Kirsten and MS Dhoni are responsible for poor performance of India in the T20 tournament.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Yuvraj Singh is an a****, who is there only because his Daddy is a powerful man and keep a lot of big shots in his pocket.
 

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