Time to Change Structure ; We Need to Be Honest with Indian Cricket, Not Only the Players but Others Including the Media
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Summary
India's exit from the World Cup 2007 has sent shock waves throughout the country. The hype before the team left for the Caribbean isles was so high that it was almost taken for granted that all India had to do was to turn up and the matches would be won. That the Indian captain Rahul Dravid did not fall into the trap of believing the hoopla was evident, when at the media conference before the Bangladesh game, he said that he and his team were not taking the game lightly but were serious about every match that they were going to play. Serious, they certainly were, and in being so, they lost out on the flair that makes a big component of the limited- overs game. Look at the flair that the young Bangladeshi batsmen displayed, and look at the flair that Sri Lanka's Dilshan and Chamara Silva showed when their team was down and in trouble. India had no 'flair player' in this tournament, certainly not one in any good cricketing form, and so went out of it in an ignominious manner that was definitely not expected by their supporters. The reaction to the defeat has been extreme, but that's typically Indian anyway, for we either gush about someone as if he or she is the greatest thing since the wheel, or just run down players with great past records on the basis of one or two failures. How often do we resort to calling a young sportsman a sensation when he or she is far from it and is at the beginning of his or her career? Suddenly, hype is built around them and if the player is not mature enough to cope with it, he or she is going to go down quicker than one can ask how.
So, Dravid's team is now the favourite dartboard for anybody and everybody who has an opinion. Those who take orders from wives at home or from bosses at work will talk about leadership when they don't have the slightest idea of what it means to lead a team of players of different age-groups who speak different languages and come from different cultures. We are so good at kicking a man when he is down rather than help him get back on his feet. Till a fortnight ago, Dravid was the hope of Indian cricket. Today he has become hopeless. How so?See the full content of this document
Extract
Time to Change Structure ; We Need to Be Honest with Indian Cricket, Not Only the Players but Others Including the Media
There's also talk of getting rid of the seniors in the side, which is so silly, for the one sure way of getting a youngst...
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