When Greg Chappell became the coach of the Indian team, he brought a vision with him. That vision involved creating a team of youngsters; players who were eager to learn and experiment; players uncluttered with their own importance; fit and athletic players who ran well and fielded better; players who played for each other rather than for themselves; players that were multi-dimensional. That was what would win them the World Cup, he said, and people sneered at his ignorance of preferring the Rainas and Sreesanths to the Gangulys and Zaheers.
Worse still, he lost no time in taking out the Gangulys and the Zaheers from the team equation itself. He found himself none too impressed with the Tendulkars. He tried to persuade the nation to accept his vision; a nation that was more obsessed with whether Tendulkar got his 40th ton than whether or not India won its next match; a nation that wanted their 'Dada' to be in the team even if every bowler, including domestic ones, were queuing up to take a shot at him. Simply put, the nation thought Indian cricket had been handed over to wrong - even dangerous - hands.
The usual Indian politics followed that has kept our nation back for so long in cricket and other fields, and India went into the World Cup of 2007 with what the nation wanted, rather than what the man hired to chalk out the World Cup strategy wanted. The result was a first-round exit.
RE:Chappell would be having a hearty laugh.
by Prasad Manokaran on Nov 13, 2007 10:53 AM
Some six months later, a new team is formed for what is the latest form of cricket - a slam-bang format known as Twenty20. The big 3 decide (???) to make themselves unavailable for the format, the team gets a huge dose of unknown, untested "fresh blood" cricketers; multi-dimensional, fit and athletic (most of them), who run well and field better, non-celebrities (most of them), a team eager to prove themselves, led by another of those younger breed of players uncluttered with his own importance. The result - India wins the Twenty20 World Cup, beating teams they looked nowhere near matching six months ago.
It is not about winning the Twenty20 cup. It is about the attitude, the fearlessness, the team work, the work ethic that Chappell spoke about, which seemed to be in abundance in the Twenty20 winning team.
Could this team have won the 50-50 World Cup, 2007? Maybe, maybe not! Even this team could have lost in any of those tightly contested matches against England, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in the just-concluded Twenty20 cup. It is not about that! It is the nation showering accolades on the players who fit the vision Chappell had for Indian cricket, except that when Chappell was here, the same nation was busy putting obstacles everywhere. Our egos wouldn't let a white man win against our heroes, our Gangulys and our Tendulkars; when they "opted" out themselves, it was ok.
RE:Chappell would be having a hearty laugh.
by buzzer on Nov 13, 2007 11:38 AM
Deepa baby
He is not a Ganguly hater or Sachin hater. Don't bring north south crap into this. Take me - I love chicks - whether north or south ( you still doubt me? Give me your number babe and tell me which night yo're free ). HAHAHA
All said and done...one has to acknowledge the fact that the four senior most players (tendulkar,dravid,ganguly and kumble) in the team share an amazing amount of respect for eachother. I mean...its been 12-15 yrs since these guys came together and one can never hear these guys throwing tantrums on each other...Its amazing and heart warming to see such humbleness towards each other...infact...i wont be surprised if sachin refused the captaincy to give a chance to Anil to lead the team before he retired.and guys...stop blaming these guys...they have been great ambassadors of the game.give them a break for once.
Kumble can emerge as a thinking captain in the Richie Benaud mould.To be a good captain he has first to deliver on his bowling.Batsmen are now familiar with his bowling and handle him easily.So to be a good captain he has to hold his place as a bowler first.To do so he has to develop some new weapons ,a ball which turns a bit on flat pitches,a slower ball,an off cutter and so on.I hope he does that.Otherwise like Ganguly who lost his batting rhythm as captain he could be in trouble.Leadership comes from carrying his place on his merit.Otherwise Kumble is aggressive ,Tough,Plays with good spirit and has commanded respect.So the key will be his own bowling.Also if he bats well as in England he could truly be a Test captain in the Richie Benaud mould.
Pravin Kumar and Rohit Sharma has been included in 15 member squad for serving drinks and bringing gloves, bats on the field. Why the hell they were included in 15 members squad if they r not getting any chance to play?? Sehwag can do the job of drinks serving n all since he is the BEST suitable for this. I really feel very bad as these youngsters dont get chances and later on will dropped as Badrinath was dropped without playing a single match. But, people like Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik (in past), the great Ajit Agarkar Sir and the only PERFECT allrounder in the entire world RAMESH POWAR would get tonnes of chances. Guys, please join ICL since BCCI is not going to give u chances. May be u will be tried in 1 or 2 matches at unfamiliar ground conditions in Australia where even our great Ganguly and Sachin will struggle. Once u fail in 1-2 matches, u'll be dropped. I really feel bad for Rohit and Praveen.
RE:Pravven Kumar & Rohit Sharma
by Lotiya Pathan on Nov 13, 2007 06:58 AM
Simliar message i posted soem days ago. Once they have included tiwari in bangaldesh tour and after that he has never considered. then they selected badrinath in home series agnts aus, after that he was not considered. Now they selected parween kumar and sure, he wont get a single chance and again he wont be considerd for enxt series. very tough to know the bcci selection policy.
RE:Pravven Kumar & Rohit Sharma
by Ravishankar None on Nov 13, 2007 10:27 AM
- Even if they are not playing, the experience of interacting with more experience players will help the team - Next time when they are called up to play, they would have overcome their awe of their idols (like sachin, yuvraj and such) - So, even if they dont play immediately it is certainly helpful - Now imagine what it will be like when they go back and play Ranji Trophy, the other players will seek their company and experience with seniors. It certainly will have a cascading effect and will probably be beneficial - Only thing is these guys should not loose confindence since they were not played - It is of course hard on them, but in whose place will Praveen Kumar Play (Irfan Pathan?) and Rohit Sharma (R Uthappa?)
RE:RE:Pravven Kumar & Rohit Sharma
by Emperor Ashoka on Nov 13, 2007 12:49 PM
You are echoing the statements of people like Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar but unfotunately that doesn't add any credence.
What youngsters need is not sharing the dressing room, but playing out in the middle facing the international opponents like Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Lee......
You think you have posed smart questions like will Praveen Kumar replace Pathan and Rohit Sharma replace Uthappa? Why should you fix these choices? Praveen Kumar can jolly well replace Zaheer Khan and Rohit Sharma must replace Tendulkar. Gambhir has been practically opening the innings in ODIs (at Guwahati Tendya was out for 4 and at Mohali Gangs was out for 6) and did well scoring near fifties. So Gambhir should open with Ganguly or Sehwag and Rohit Sharma can bat down the order (at 4 or 5 or 6) depending on team's needs.
The inclusion of youngsters on a consistent and continuous basis will definitely improve the fielding standards, thereby reducing the opponents' scores by 20-40 runs in each match!
RE:Pravven Kumar & Rohit Sharma
by Karunakar Patil on Nov 13, 2007 12:48 PM
Rohit & Pravin are sharing pavilion with Sachin , Ganguly And other seniors . It is great experiance. It is good to watch seniors closely playing in different pressure situations, different bowling attacks & different pitches. Dinesh has proved his metal when he succesfully opened with Jaffer in English conditions.Agarkar is by any standard best wicket taking bowler with 288 wickets and 4 wickets 12 times which is the record by Indian bowler . Others Srinath & Kumble 10 times, Zaheer -7 times, Sachin -6 times,Kapil ,Prasad, Pathan & Bhajii-4 times each. So Agarkar was there on MERIT. Rohit & Paveen has to grab opportunity when somebody is not fit or out of form. They should not be begging for place. It is team India Cap it has to be earned. RAMESH POWAR delivered whenever he got chance. On last tour (ENGLAND) , he was beat bowler, still he could not get enough chances after that as Bhaji showed better form.
RE:dravid fan`s are ganguly hater
by Arman on Nov 13, 2007 06:48 AM
Include me in Ganguly hater. The list increases to 17. Good Cricket should always be appreciated as someone said earlier.
RE:dravid fan`s are ganguly hater
by Mithil on Nov 13, 2007 06:42 AM
Thanks lotiya. I m proud to be associated as Ganguly hater. Because I appreciate quality cricket and quality cricketers. And even a KG student can say that Dravid is better cricketer than Ganguly.
RE:dravid fan`s are ganguly hater
by Akhil on Nov 13, 2007 06:44 AM
Ur name is not there. But anyways welcome to the Ganguly hater's club. No doubt Dravid is one of the best cricketers than Ganguly in terms of fielding, batting and running between the wickets. The only advantage is that Ganguly bowls and Dravid doesnt. But that ahrdly makes 1% difference since Ganguly goes for 11 or 12 per over without any wicket.
RE:RE:dravid fan`s are ganguly hater
by Lotiya Pathan on Nov 13, 2007 06:48 AM
Ok, Mithil. I will put ur name in that list too. welcome to ganguly hater group. but always healthy discussion makes forum more interesting rather than abusing each other. regards, lotiya
Kumble has just been made captain. Why should we even discuss whether he would be successful. As such, I think that India will easily win over Pakistan since this is the weakest Team to tour India.
sourav should have been the onvious choice even before tendulkar, in fact he would hv been made the captain if he was born in karnataka/maharastra. if kumble is so great player then why can he not find a place in one day? leave alone unsure of test team, he is unfit for one day, not even in reserve bench, how can be he a test captain?
RE:captain sourav
by Ricky Thukral on Nov 13, 2007 08:45 AM
I think Gambhir has performed well so far at number 3...so if india wins 4-1...it will be really hard for Dravid to come back.
RE:captain sourav
by Chaddi cricketer on Nov 13, 2007 12:58 PM | Hide message
Umm..um... I am not selected as captain... all are against Bengali. north south west all against us... we won freedom for India... we are running gouvernment including Sonia... We will stop parliament working... I can fix matchess... My brother is director in Lux Chaddi factory.... all Bangali buy Lux Chaddi... do agitation... call Lee and Tait in Kolkata and fix them so that I can score runs against them.... I will make politics in team and show this shit Idly eater Kumble Down... all my fan swarm all boards ang blogs. It is duty of all Bengol Journos to support me....I will be king of Kolkata....
RE:captain sourav
by G Prem on Nov 13, 2007 09:06 AM
ya...sure... As far as concerned, Gambir is not eating balls as much as Dravid... So, best time 4 Dravid to retire from ODIs...
RE:captain sourav
by Mark on Nov 13, 2007 09:10 AM
folks, let's c how gambhir bats at no.3 in australia facing clark,lee ,johnson etc etc on bouncy wickets.... then fix the position of dravid accordingly...
RE:captain sourav
by Ravindra Joshi on Nov 13, 2007 10:44 AM
Yes... U r right Mark... Let us see how these new guys play in Aus.. Then let the selectors to think which position Dravid should play...
RE:captain sourav
by ajay bhathire on Nov 13, 2007 10:13 AM
i think you don know about cricket. Kumble has retired from ODI after the world cup. You guys don have any other work but to blame these 4 great seniors who have done so much for Indian cricket in the past 15 yrs.
RE:captain sourav
by sudhir dhar on Nov 13, 2007 04:41 AM
sama record, what the f man. Dada is batting, let him bat..he already gave first ball catch, last match....dont rake this captaincy thing now, he was offered captaincy but he and SRT refused, because they want to bat freely.
RE:captain sourav
by hindublogger on Nov 13, 2007 10:10 AM
Mr Bong ..wake up dude. Dada became captain just coz of Dalmiya; it was Kumble's turn then ..Dada was successful ..thatz a different story.And finally he back stabbed Dalmiya by ruining his married daughters life. :-).Dada ..he shd retire from test rather than blocking Yuvi.
It is another worst decision by the selectors. Although Kumble is a lovable cricketing brain. But this time belongs to Dhoni and company. Not KUMBLE, may be four uears ago, but Not now. Why the powers of Dhoni were diluted? May be they never wanted it to be part of selection process. Unbelievevably bad decision.
RE:Kumble cptain?
by on Nov 13, 2007 05:12 AM
GuruJi, Dhoni has not even played a single Test match against Australia and you expect him to captain India against Australia, in Australia?? Give me a break...He will fried in two days and his career will be over...The Selectors did the right thing in giving the captaincy to Kumble. He can withstand pressure and perform at the same time..
RE:Kumble cptain?
by janmejay tanwar on Nov 13, 2007 06:33 AM
My take on the captaincy issue is simple, Selectors want a Yes man, Dhoni for now is filling the task in ODI's, he gets a team and then builds on it unlike Ganguly who used to fight to get in players, and probably thats why we see Yuvraj, Sehwag, Bhajji playing so long even after they were dropped for good some time back(1998, 2002 ....). Dhoni does not yet complain about who is in the team he takes over with whatever selectors give to him and tries to do with what he has got. Kumble will also be like that, first he is stop gap Captain he as such is about to retire in a year or at max two, and second, since his shoulder operation his life as a bowler is limited. Everyone is playing safe but the point is to be a captain you either have it or not, whats the bullshit idea of grooming Dhoni, that perplexes me, and i guess thats an indication to Dhoni that even his place in test side is not guaranteed since there is Dinesh Karthik in the team.
Going to back to Ganguly would have been better option if a senior had to lead, since probably he still has 1-2 years more than Kumble. Now that would have really been some grooming time for someone like Dhoni. But as Sachin said its time for youngsters to pull their socks and take some responsibility before the big 5 retire.
RE:Kumble cptain?
by on Nov 13, 2007 07:08 AM
GuruJi..When was the last time Ganguly hit a century?? Take a guess..way back in 2001 in Australia(No MaCgrath)..guess how many centuries he has scored against Pakistan?? Zero..how many against South Africa..Zero and wait a minute how many against West Indies another big ZERO..you know why?? because he can't play quality fast bowling..Ganguly is fit only to play One days...He can't play 5 day match as it is too stressful both mentally and physically..Forget about Ganguly being the captain..he won't be in the side either..Yuvraj should play instead..
RE:Kumble cptain?
by Ricky Thukral on Nov 13, 2007 09:14 AM
well on current form..."FORM IS THE CRITERIA AND NOT EXPERIENCE....CHECK WHO AVERAGES BETTER IN TEST...DRAVID OR GANGULY...SINCE GANGULY'S RETURN IN SOUTH AFRICA." The one who averages better should play along with Yuvraj and the other should sit out.
RE:RE:Kumble cptain?
by James Baker on Nov 13, 2007 09:38 AM
GuruJi..Averages are for Average players..How many matches has Ganguly won for India?? How many centuries has he cracked for India in tests?? I think Yuvraj has waited enough. He is in great form and will contribute better than Ganguly. Now that Dravid is back in form with a double century..Indian batting will become stronger with Yuvi and Laxman making the middle order..
RE:Kumble cptain?
by hindublogger on Nov 13, 2007 10:16 AM
Dude ..Dhoni is yet to cement his test place.Forget the media hype ..the fact is in terms of Wicket Keeping he is No.3 in India after Karthik n Parthiv.
RE:RE:Kumble cptain?
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 02:43 AM
Dont worry he will get his due very soon. Its okay for him to wait for 6 months to year. I am sure even Dhoni is not bothered as much as his fans are.
RE:RE:RE:Kumble cptain?
by ACS on Nov 13, 2007 03:48 AM
Question is not about getting dues. The decision which are made creat history and precedences. The ability of selectors is questionable. What point it is to deprive DHONI or any captian of captaincy at the realm of things when they are going fine. What...? Can you explain?
RE:Kumble cptain?
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 04:42 AM
Non one is depriving DHONI of Captaincy, here.If thats what the selectors wanted, then they would have done it for the other 2 forms also. First try to find out the reason behind 'not making him the Captain'. The same reason is causing Kumble to get the Captaincy. Its not that Dhoni and Kumble wrote the Captaincy test for the Selectors and Kumble got more points.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by janmejay tanwar on Nov 13, 2007 06:35 AM
I wish he does that, thats how he has won so many matches for India, and i pray that his shoulder holds good for long.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 12:13 AM
Take any match thats not lead by Kumble and check who has 'over bowled'.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by uncle shame on Nov 13, 2007 12:14 AM
that is the reasoning given against all bolrs who r tipped to become captain of a side.
RE:RE:RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 12:58 AM
Has any bowler been a succesful Captain Ever??!! In Test matches, lot of overs are bowled and its the spinners that usually over bowl anyways.If a fast bowler does it, we all know what happens. If not dial in Freddie Flintoff.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by srikanth on Nov 13, 2007 01:11 AM
Yes, Imran Khan was a successful captain and it is a fact that he is a good bowler.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 01:22 AM
thats my point. There are many bowlers who have been succesfful as captains and it should not hinder Kumble to become one.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Bharani on Nov 13, 2007 02:30 AM
my point is not that a bowler cannot become a successful captain.A captain should be someone who will definitely be in the side and I dont think Kumble falls in that category
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 02:39 AM
well, he has been in the side for all these years without being dropped atleast for the past few years! Well, if you are worried how many more years before he retires? Nobody knows it including probably himself. He has been made the Captain for only one series against Pak and he will be playing that series for sure(hoping nothing unfortunate related to his cricket happens).
Who did you want to be made the Captain, anyways? Dhoni? Dont worry he will get his due very soon.If not him, whoelse?
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Rahul on Nov 13, 2007 02:38 AM
Kumble can walk into any cricket team in the world, I don't see what category r u talking abt..do u mean Mumbai category
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Bharani on Nov 13, 2007 01:03 AM
when the situation arise, where only one spinner can be in the team, kumble will now be the default spinner. not good for performing players like harbajan,murali,powar,piyush and co.
RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 01:34 AM
Ask Bhajji who is his favorite to play as a lone spinner for India Team and he will 'Kumble Bhai'. Its the same with Murali and others, too.
RE:RE:Kumble will over bowl himself
by Suresh Chamarajanagar on Nov 13, 2007 01:36 AM
I beleive that none of the 4 bowlers you have mentioned are as bitter as you are about Kumble becoming the Captain.
