The problem is mainly with players. Every single player in the national team plays for his personal glory. Can you rely on a single player to perform consistently in a series ? A batsman scores a century and after that he does not care or starts relaxing thinking he has made sure of his place for next few matches. If you look at statistics , you will find many batsmen get out soon after scoring a century. Very few go on to dominate the innings by playing a prolonged innings. Once that batsman, who has scored a century, gets out , batting collapses. Having settled down and seen enough of the bowling to score , the batsman should concentrate more and prolong his innings possible for the sake of the team. That's what the batsmen in the other teams like Australia do. Only indian batsmen talk about being ready to bat in any place in the batting order. The aim is to get into the team, not specialize in anything. Team can not rely on anybody because everybody is playing for his personal glory. BCCI is "law unto themselves ". Why should they be exempted from the normal laws of the land?
Aakar is a great columnist when it comes to political and social issues. But here he has come a cropper. Neither knowledgeable, not good presenter of cricket issues
Re: cropper
by zorbbalone on Nov 02, 2015 02:21 PM
I have personally always held that an average Indian cricket fans expectations from our Indian team has never been based on past performance or ability. These are the numbers which I had found useful when talking to more fanatic friends. If you feel Aakar's opinions are well founded, please counter it with factual data and not by generalized dismissal as if you know better
Re: cropper
by Vikram on Nov 02, 2015 07:26 PM
I am afraid you are wrong, Mr Bist. I dont know much about Aakar's writing skills of whether he is a greate columnist, but I will absolutely agree with him on this topic, and say that he is spot on.
I was wondering about the same for quiet sometime now. There are hardly 9 or 10 cricket playing countries in the world (may be little more) , and we cannot dominate even with in these nation. What would have been our position if cricketing nations were as large as Football playing countries , we would have been some where on 85th or even more than that. Perhaps even have to qualify for WC every year. But we have the richest Board and mind blowing riches with the cricketers.It hurts me deeply that I have begun to hate this sport.
Re: Well said Mr. Aakar Patel.
by ASHKO KUMAR on Nov 02, 2015 02:47 PM
The main reason or the real problem is--our all sports bodies grabbed up by politicians & rich businessmen who have no knowledge of the game,are here to only make money by unfair means theu the sport eventhough if it amounts to betting or speculating...once our sports are free from such people & deserving ex-sports-persons manage these boards our teams can make significant improvrments,and atleast in cricket we can become word champions by merit & not thru fixing route.Can our present govt.sanitize all these sports bodies.
reasons are many.. 1) we are a weak race compared to westerners who are stong 2) we do not have th flexibility of chinese or japanese. 3) we do not have good leaders at all levels who spot and nurture talent. They are slefish and do a lot of nepotism for short term gains. 4) Though we have large populaion which should be a boon provided we have good administrators, the same population is to our disadvantage. We rather follow the path of 'elimination' of contendors instead of 'encouraging' talent. For example the slectors try to eliminate a candodate who is aged irrespective of performance. 5) we are a poor country where a sports man after a short try, gives up sports for pusuing studies and job. 6) finally due to our selfish mentality,'we get what we all deserve'.
Re: good analysis
by Ameet More on Nov 02, 2015 02:27 PM
Being weak race or lack of flexibility is a plain excuse. How come India has good wrestlers where strength and flexibility is of utmost importance. Indian mud wrestling is considered far more advanced than the modern mat wrestling. It just the attitude and work ethic of the players towards the game. They lack in preparation, physical/mental. Moreover there is corruption which makes it tough for talented guyz to make it to the ranji/international team. Classic example is Amol Mujumdar.
Re: good analysis
by Vikram on Nov 02, 2015 07:29 PM
There is only one reason, we don't need 6 reason to explain this. Corruption and power grab by politicians who have no clue what cricket is, neither have interest in furthering the sport for the nation. That is the SINGLE BIGGEST reason.
typical negative reactions that you can expect from indian arm chair experts. some obvious logical flaws: - domination in sports is proportional to population - domination in sports is proportional to fan following - per capita income has no bearing on sports excellence - sports infrastructure has no bearing on sports excellence - ignore the inherent time delay between economic well being (of board/people), infrastructure improvement and sustained high standards of play. also ignore that all the above is happening and it needs encouragement and positive intent to speed it up.
anyone can notice/crib/write like the author does but few can contribute something positive to improve the situation
Spot on analysis, by Mr. Patel. But he has failed to deliver the punch ( i mean the 1 reason or reasons for the same ). The reasons are plenty. 1) We are a corrupt nation, Corruption is ingrained in our blood, so our cricketers come up the corrupt way, play the game only for money , not for passion or the country . Will always give into match fixing , to make extra bucks . Will not train , but will give excuses . Will not retire even if he is over the hill, but will continue to play for records sake. The players cannot take criticism , more than the players , fans of players cannot take it , if someone criticizes their favorite player. Take for granted their place in the team, zonal favoritism, groupism etc . 2) The administrators of the game including the Board are corrupt to the core, so the players also follow the same way. 3) Last but not the least, the people of this country are mad about cricket. In their madness they fail to evaluate good, bad or the worst players. Anyone can be a hero overnight & the next day can be out of public mind. People blindly idolise & after the advent of IPL , betting is so rampant that practically all who go to watch the game or follow it , are involved in betting to earn a fast buck. 4) Quality is not important , right contacts are important. The list of reasons can go on endlessly. But the above are a few of the prime reasons. Unless we come out of it, the show will go on as it is.
Re: Spot on
by kaleemuddin Mohd on Nov 02, 2015 12:50 PM
TOTALLY AGREED, CORRUPTION IS THE ROOT CAUSE, THOUGH IT MIGHT NOT BE DIRECTLY RELATED BUT IT SURELY IS AFFECTING CRICKET
This is an unfair analysis of team which has wn 2 world cups, T20 and champions Trophy. The overall analysis is from the time when India has being played international cricket but the athletic breed is from last decade. We are big tournament team. For all the atheletes in thier team, SA has always failed in big tournaments, why? getting to the final is not good enough, winning it is excellence and we have won it better than any other cricketing nation afer Australia.
Re: Re: Unfair Analysis
by ajith menon on Nov 02, 2015 03:23 PM
Champions trophy - England against hosts in their conditions World Cup: England and India T20: South Africa
Except for world cup win in India in 2011 all other wins are outside the sub continent
Well said Mr. Aakar Patel. We celebrate mediocrity and that is the reason we cannot drive ourselves towards excellence. Mr. Dhoni has a very myopic view of talent in our country so mediocrities like Shikar Dhawan, Mohit Sharma and Raina are celebrity cricketers. We are too lazy to look beyond.
i think we should give chance to Akar Patel as indian captain and see what happens and sure indian cannot go to no.2 after all indian team has Akar Patel as captain. post his retirement we should wear his name as jersey to continue the success to indian team
