Archive for the ‘Gary Kirsten’ Category
Gear up for a rift between BCCI and Kirsten; Captain vs Coach — II part.
Alright guys, media stoops to further low in India. After Viru vs MS, its now a turn of so called war between Gary and MS over IPL. And supposedly rift between Gary and BCCI too. Another instance of smoke when there is no fire.
Times of India can stoop to such a low to boost its whatever. One hand you have TOI in print, then you have its e-brother Times Now where Arnab Goswami would even stubbornly argue with his point of view to be subscribed. Doesnt mattter if it sounds rude or ugly. But then media in India has always been rude and YIUY!)(&!)(*(*.
Why India lost — II and the road ahead.
The T20 world cup failure is just not a big deal. Not as big as ODI world cup 2007. We would lose the title in a week’s time. But thanks to ICC scheduling we have a chance to regain it in March 2010 again. So the new champions keep the world title only for 9 months. Whats the use? This is first failure for MS and it should be just about ok. True his few decisions didn’t work. But then this has always been his style. More often than not they have fired and that’s why he was a darling of the media and public. Now one world cup loss and he is termed as no more cool. Namakewl. Yes he did mistake in promoting Jadeja over Yuvraj and himself, in bowling out Ishant Sharma while Zaheer and RP, better bowlers than Ishant were under bowled. Jadeja was bowled one over more than required. Again the stage wasn’t set for experimentation. But then what can you do when you don’t have a Virender Sehwag in the team? The starts that win you matches in Tests, ODIs and T20s were missing. Make shift openers don’t always become Sehwag. And if they are IPL stars and India flops, then just forget it.
Indians were performing consistently below par their true potential. Not like their mercurial neighbors whom we don’t know which side they would be. Winners one or whiners one. Call it luck, they are still in the contention and we are out. We lost to 2 teams against whom we were never expected to lose. It was a collective slump. Batting, bowling, fielding. Just like Australia in 2009 World T20 or the Border Gavaskar trophy or the SA series. So why cry foul and focus on one man as reason for loss. If MS didn’t fire, then so did not Raina and Rohit Sharma who were IPL stars. Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan didn’t fire as they did in IPL. Yuvraj did his bit. Zaheer wasn’t consistent as he has been since England 2007. RP Singh wasn’t the same bowler we saw in IPL. So whats Dhoni ’s fault here? He tried his best to do the stuff he could do. But then every team has off days. So did India. Unfortunately at wrong time. If I have to axe somebody I would kick out Mr. IPL and Mr. Useless Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma and put Raina on the fringe. A notice service must be done to the people who take their places for granted. IPL success is fine, but they gotta play for country too and do it with responsibility. By no means today Sharma and Raina can be said as replacements for Tendulkar and Dravid in Tests. These lads don’t even have 10% of commitment the senior pros have. Tendulkar and Dravid made money, this lads are doing better than the senior pros. But then didn’t the senior pros deliver when it came to ? 2007 was an aberration. 2003 was peak for the trio of Indian batting.
This loss could be a minor setback for 2011 mission. Every player in the squad has little bit of experience in the international arena. Most of the lads have played cricket now for an average of 3 years. Dhoni has 5 years, Yuvraj, Zaheer have 9, Harbhajan has 11, Gambhir, I Pathan have 6, Raina has 3, Sharma bandhu have it for 2 years, RP has it for 4 years, DK has it for 5 years. So the experience going to the 2011 world cup would be there. How much the lads would perform remains a different story. We need to identify the backup for openers. Sachin Tendulkar won’t be forever playing ODIs. Sehwag ’s injury exposed us. Gambhir looked fatigue after an outstanding year in the international scene. Who after this 3? Who if one of the 2 gets injured ? Rohit Sharma? Joke. Manish Pandey ? Karan Goel ? May be. They need to be groomed. What if Rohit Sharma doesn’t deliver again in ODIs ? Who to replace him ? Manoj Tiwary was one of the man after 2007 debacle identified to replace one of the batting greats, but injury forced him out of reckoning. What about Cheteshwar Pujara? Doesn’t he need to be given a chance to prove before ODI world cup ? Or some successful IPL stars ? Just identify them and test them in the upcoming ODI series in WI and Zim (if it happens). Rest the key players, send a good A team to play oDIs. May be a comeback for Uthappa ?
This are few of the questions the think tank of Indian management along with 5 wise old men would need to do including Gary Kirsten. Later this year, his contract would come up for renewal (hopefully would be extended). The debacle might not be of huge impact as compared to 2007 World Cup, but still some glaring questions need to be asked of fading stars like Rohit and Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina.
John Wright
John Wright is being humble in saying that Gary Kirsten is better India coach than himself. The rankings perhaps would be decided later when Kirsten leaves. But the hard work on the core group of today’s Indian team was done over by John and Saurav with inputs from Rahul, Sachin and Anil. And for that John’s contribution would never be forgotten.
Between the two tours 2002 and 2009
Sehwag fires yet again. Tendulkar gets his groove back.
India is back to being unstoppable on the field. 2 T20 defeats seem far behind. The unperforming party boys are out. Yuvraj is back to SL 08 form. Time for him to get the groove before Mar 18. Thats the real Test.
You can say that the pitches now are flat, slow, whatever. Pitches are batting friendly. As they were not in 2002. That was one sided contest when neither side could claim to be superior over other. The team which won the toss, won the game in albeit every match.
What followed in 2002 was a grand 2003 World Cup run. And youngsters of that team are now the star performers of the current ODI team. Sehwag, Gambhir (2003), Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Dhoni (2004) form the crux of the team. Tendulkar continues to be the frontline batsman in both forms of the game.
No young player, supposedly young player or read batsman has been able to make a mark in past 3 years. Raina, well he is inconsistent. Rohit Sharma, well less said the better. What Ganguly did to the team in 2001-05 and then Rahul Dravid from 2005-07, the results are visible right now.
Flexibility was the keyword in Chappell era too as is in Kirsten age, but then flambuoyance is the difference. The ex-coach was dominant and fiery. He was least secretive of all. Kirsten is happy being laidback, his results say it all. He played against most of the team members of this team untill 2004. And now he is back coaching them. And best part is, everybody speaks in high respect for him.
Thats the difference. And the presence of senior players inspires Indians. Not like the neibhours where they are accused and thrown out. And thats the difference between the 2 teams.
A pity that 2nd ODI was washed out. And nobody knows if we would have even single 5o over game in the series.
Whose series is this ?
M’con guys we got to discuss more about other aspects of the series, the selectors, the new regime of BCCI, the upcoming series and stuff like that. But we are stuck with 4 guys. Team doesnt revolve around this 4 people. They form the middle order. There are openers, there are bowlers and then there are wicket keepers. All possible micro analysis and micro management of every move of the 4 middle order batsmen is being done and every move is dissected with a surgeon’s precision.
Time and again, on this blog I have said, yes the seniors would go one day. We should have replacements. But who ? Somebody who has succeded in T20 goes straight to Tests ? How many of our media experts or some bored writers (pun intended) know Test match rules ? Survival is the key in Tests. 20 overs is little less than a session in a day out of 5′s play and you got to win sessions to win a Test.
Another silly discussion going around the corner is Greg Chappell. Media seems to be obsessed with him. Ok he is with Aussie team now as a coach cum consultant or whatever role it is. And if he gives some inputs to Aussies, then wats wrong with it ? He was with us during 2003-04 series, Bobby Simpson was consultant during 1999 WC, we have had John Wright and now Gary Kirsten as coach. Never did NZ and SA come back and charged us that may be this coaches are giving secrets about them to India. Then why this fuss over Chappell ?
Real battle would be right there in the middle of the ground. And when it would begin the coaches and every other thing would take the backseat. Can’t wait for the series to begin. And as VM correctly pointed out pro-senior posts have no taking. I would sincerly advise all the bloggers (not media buffoons) to have a wide perspective, apply some brain before writing anybody off. Before prejudicing anybody, lets have his options ready.
Gary Hit Wickets Himself
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is “ready” to captain India in all forms of the game but added that there was no immediate need for change because Anil Kumble was doing “an exceptional job” leading the Test side.“He [Dhoni] is ready for it [Test captaincy] but there is no need to rush as of now. Anil has done an exceptional job, he is a great leader. He is prepared to do 30 overs in a day but he is on the other side of the physical side of the game
Well said Gary. I really doubt the timing and the validity of this statement, right before the biggest series of the year is set to begin in a month s time. Alright MSD is cool cucumber and is very inspirational skipper in short format of the game, but then has Kumble lost it ? He is still fit to play and is very good candidate to lead India in his home ground against Australia on Oct 9.
This kind of immaturish statements which is also holdin quite a paradox is not needed on coach’s part and that raises questions over Gary Kirsten’s commitment to the Test team. The blokes he coaches in the Test team are one time opponents of the dood and I feel there could be a certain awkwardness in Gary s mind to tip the Fab 4 or skipper.
Whatever it is this is not a good statement to make. With time MSD is set to get the Test captaincy as well, no doubt. But not by replacing Kumble just cos MSD has won a ODI series in SL. Replacing Kumble wont be a very good gesture to return to the immense and invaluable service Kumble has given to Indian cricket since last 18 years. And Gary might not get this, but the selectors got to get it in their head.
