its really surprising that shrinath is saying the same. i think when he was in the team as a bower, he also faced the same situation n no. of times and sitting at the box he is just writing. this is not good. what india need now is to create a good bench strength so our cricketers (those who normally play for breaking records) will always afred of loosing their place...may be they will play better....just like ausis...
i do agree with your view. but, don't u think so we need to look into other serious problems too. Imagination, innovativeness, frequent chat with cricketing greats for tips and inspiration, country cricket and utmost fitness too matters, right Javagal.
secondly, the BCCI has to come out of its shell in and manage itself and the team in a professional manner and the coach has to add a new dimension in terms of competitive STRATEGY, discipline, team spirit, mental toughness and concentration.
well, for the long run results we need think about our exclusive coach working on Fielding, Bowling and also on physcial fitness and mental toughness. Make optimum utilization of technology and indegenous arts (yoga, meditation - it worked wonders, as explored by australians)
finally, working on the final eleven and harnessing and getting most out of them, changes interms of batting slots, selection of 11 and grooming young and talented.
but, i agree with u that, county exposure and county experience would make bowler rich.
When will India have professional cricket along the lines of that of the Brits, Aussies, and NZ? As amatter of fact when will they have professional sports period? Isn't it time to let sport associations govern themselves, totally free from govt control or interference?
I have been reading your columns for a long time now, and everytime you talk about fast bowlers India have, you NEVER even mention the name of a certain Mr. Ajit Agarkar.
There is no doubt that Agarkar is expensive & inconsistent. But then which Indian quickie isn't?
Agarkar is the fifth fastest bowler in ODI history to get to 200 wickets. He has taken the same number of games as McGrath.
I dug up some stats of all Indian quickies...and his career average, economy and strike rate are better than Balaji and Nehra. In the last 25 games played by each quickie, he is the BEST. Better than even Zaheer and Pathan. And between his inconsistent performances, Agarkar has won more games for India than any Indian fast bowler. Even more than you, Mr.Srinath.
And this guy does not get even a mention in your columns. This can't be coincidence. Please Mr.Srinath, leave personal issues aside when writing a column.
I live in Chicago for last 25 years, originally from Karachi Pakistan. At the age of 50, still love cricket very much so.
Being in US for so long and watching the basket ball game and their system, sometime I wish, we should implement the same system in Pakistan and India. How unfair it is to millions and millions youngsters in India and pakistan, who want to become cricket professional one day and yet we pick only team of fourteen or fifteen out of millions and rest are lost completely. We need to commercialize cricket where a player from Karachi can play for a club in dehli or player from calcutta working for a club in lahore, so that we can have the real competition among the teams and thousands of player can have the professional carrier rather than just 15 or 20 players from a lot of millions
well it seems that like all persons who play cricket and then start writing columns sinath is no expection offering unrealsitic solutions to problems latest being this bizzare one consider this english players themsleves say that compared to australia shield cricket the bowlers in county circuit are all too pampered by green tops with movement where the skill of bowler is not tested at all just pitch the ball ball will swing seam everything even the recent success of england like Harmison flintoff and hoggard has been not due to county cricket but their academy and improved fitness comon Mr srinath such a thing wont go from your attetion or did it???
I am surprised that Srinath suggests this. What is it that can help any player if he lacks in discipline, basics, imagination/innovativeness? Absolutely nothing. So why the suggestion of playing county?
Secondly, it is not only the bowlers who need to be blamed but the batsmen as well. Where was the world famous batting lineup? Still asleep? The team management lacke imagination. I guess they thought that cricket was a set piece game and no imagination is required to play the game. The captain has to be the most innovative amongst the lot and a quick learner too. He should be able to think on his feet and adapt himself to the situation. But does this team have such a person? Does the selection committee has the guts to shy away from REGIONAL quotas and take a fair stand based on merit alone?
The opener is expected to take advantage of the first 15 overs. If he is unable to do that, he should be playing down the order, if he cannot be sacked.
Your suggestion is well taken. But where is the time for them. They play in between the advertisement shootings and shoot in between the playing for the country. If they are not doing above they are injured.
I am surprised that people are blaming bowlers for the loss of the Pakistan series. We have to analyse the situation considering a few other facts. I believe its batsman who have under perform more than the bowlers. We boast of having one of the strongest batting line up in the world. With sachin, sehwag, dravid and sourabh and their records says that we do really have great potential in batting. Yet we fail to reach the target of 300 runs. We include extra batsman despite having stalwart on the top. This shows how inconsistent we are. If we have these players on top orders why do we compromise place of one bowler for an extra batsman. And one day cricket cannot be won without five specialist bowlers and among them two should be allrounders. We play with four bowlers despite knowing the fact that our bowlers and their records proves that we have one of the weakest bowling side among to top playing countries. We play two spinners in Austrailia and South Africa whereas we play only one spinner in our own flat tracks which assist spinners. the think tank sometimes leave their brains at some media company office when they play three same type left arm pacers and one spinners.
