Arjuna makes some good points BUT I don't think he can lecture anyone about fielding. Even in his heydays you could see him struggling to get from one side of the wicket to another during batting let alone being a competent fielder.
Arjuna Ranatunga provided a very interesting analysis of India's loss in Tuesday's IOC Cup final. Rather than beat around the bush or dwell on the unimportant details, he made some pointed comments - not only about what went wrong, but also about where we need to focus given our resources. His clarity of thought and the no-nonsense advice are a mark of his ability of thinking on his feet, and of his habit of winning as a captain!
This is in response to your article.I think you have made a clumsy remark by stating that India could be the worst fielding side at the moment. You must have a look at the batting performance of the Sri Lankans against the debilitated West Indian neophytes.Any one could tell that none of them inthe Sri Lankan team cant play pace.Its just the start of the season for India and they looked sluggish.So were the lankans at the start of their season against West Indians.Lankans were lucky to have cricket matches before the tournament started. The remark is pretty unfair without looking into all dimensions.
India could perhaps take a tip from team Australia and have a very distinct or specialised approach when it comes to ODIs. The current modus operandi of using the test side with a few minor changes is certainly not prudent. It may help to analyse all our current problems - batting, bowling and fielding - from the one-day context only and see if some specific solutions can be arrived at given our current limitations. And these solutions may turn out to be be applicable only to the one-day format. It certainly sounds logical for instance that the presence of a few chameleons makes a vital difference.
What Indians lack in discipline, cohesiveness and stamina, they more than make up for in empty boasting. So it's no surprise the SL team showed them the meaning of the word "mettle" by giving them a thorough flogging - seems ominous of things to come.
Ranatunga may have been the captain of the Sri Lanka team when it won the world cup, but does that make him God? His comments reek of an attitude that says that Sri Lanka is the best team the world has ever seen and everything around was, is and will be mediocre, all this with a chucker in the side who is supposedly the best bowler in the world. Don't forget Mr. Ranatunga your so called GREAT team was in the same doldrums a few years back, when in the whole cricketing season Sri Lanka's highest score was a measly 226.
Perfectly said Arjuna In all seriousness you should have been selected as India's coach rather than someone providing thinking hats. Both Greg and Rahul Dravid need to write a book on management and leave cricket for players to play cricket. Disgusting-this loss and usual our country's cricket meories are so short that very soon we will see Dravid and Sehwag and Dhoni getting more ads to do and Greg Chappel replacing Mr Bachchan asking "Yeh Naya Rang Kaunsa Hai" The answer-"Yeh Naya Rang Haar Ka Hai" Indian Cricket is Dead R.I.P Indian Cricket
Just one series most of them r crying against indian team.Before doing this everyone should bear in maind that
1>India is having a new coach 2>NEw captain 3>Playing after a long gap 4>Without Sachin 5>playing in srilanka against srilanka(Like india they r also strong in their ground)
Rearding the Runatugna's comment reagrding the indian allrounder slot,i don't know how he calls Arnold and dilshan allrounders.If they r successful against one time they can't be allrounders.Never think of them bowling to Australian batsman or for that matter against indain batsman when they r settled.
