Escapists' Elixir?
As has been said, India losing out in the first round of the World Cup, is good for Cricket, even Indian Cricket! But, what has happened so far, doesn't give us a feeling that there is really some big plus coming out of it. My views may be flawed, but, here is what I think....
- Sachin's gripe against the coach: Agreed, Greg Chappel hasn't done a great lot as a coach for the team. But, how much of an impact did that have in this WC? How could you score 413 against Bermuda and not even 206 against SriLanka or Bangladesh?? How can the coach prevent you from being pepped up on the field? Why did the first team huddle not come until the 41st over of Bangladeshi innings (the first match for India in the WC)? There definitely seems to be an attitude problem. If you made a match out of the games against SL or Bangladesh, there might be some credibility, but, this, is just complaining for the sake of an excuse, nothing more.
- The coach not getting the team he wanted: There is no way to justify the presence of Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the same team, definitely not in the match against SriLanka atleast. And, its Uthappa's inexperience that might have been replaced with a Mohd. Kaif. Atleast, Dinesh Karthik might have been a better option, given he wouldn't try to flash at every delivery, and could have batted a little longer, some kind of support for Dravid? Add Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao to this team in Ganguly's and Sehwag's places, now you know our scores in the two matches we lost, not even 150 maybe?
- Need for bouncy pitches in India: Now, the WC is over, and we are going to correct the 'wrong's. But, wouldn't make all the pitches in India bouncy, make cricket a little duller? So, we make our pitches like there are in Australia, and may be we don't lose that badly in Aus hereafter, what do we do when start losing matches in SL or WI? The challenge is in adapting. Play in completely different conditions, yet, not failing miserably. That's probably where a coach would help, not a coach who wants to roll the team into his fist, but, one who can push the players, motivate them, make them technically correct during practice. With all the money they get, can the BCCI not afford indoor synthetic pitches? Make them really fast and bouncy, make these pitches less than 22 yards, create match-like scenarios in practice. Making Perth-like pitches in India (if possible), doesn't solve the bigger problem.
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