Author: Bobji

The Captain who transformed the team

Posted on by Bobji

In this post, I will be talking about a captain who transformed the way the Indian cricket team is viewed across the world, who transformed the mindset of the players themselves, who transformed the perception of every Indian who has followed the game over the last 90 years and who was instrumental in bringing in lot of young talents.

He is no one but the probably the best Indian captain over the last 35 years of me watching the game.

He is the one and only Saurav Ganguly.

Extraordinary claim

Yes I understand that when someone reads this line, it might strike them as outrageous. Some probably will think that I am mad and I absolutely don’t know what am I talking about. Some will probably showcase Dhoni’s World Cup wins, Kohli’s Australian series win, Kapil’s 1983 World Cup, Gavaskar’s WC win in 1985 and other wins about other captains.  

Yes all of them are true. Ganguly does not have any such win to be considered as the best Indian captain. Nonetheless, I will strive my utmost to convince atleast a few.

By the way, I am only talking about the last 35 years. The time from when I started to follow the game. I absolutely do not have any idea about Pataudi or Wadekar about whom the people belonging to that era have lot of good things to say. Also, it will be unfair to compare captains so many generations apart. Already 35 years is a couple of generation but nevertheless, it is reasonable to compare captains across these couple of generations.

Multiple books speaks about a divided team

I have read quite a few books that were written by some of the former players. It includes Straight from the heart by Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar’s Imperfect. Saurav Ganguly’s A century is not enough, Laxman’s 281 and beyond. Apart from these, there were innumerable number of articles in various publications. In all the publications, almost everyone talks about some kind of rift within the team throughout their playing career. East vs West, South vs North, senior vs junior etc.

Infact, Manjrekar even goes on to write that the Mumbai players, when it comes to Ranji trophy were much more motivated than while playing for the country. He also adds that the players from the north, especially the seniors, expected everyone to address them with respect. Ganguly & Laxman writes that the players were more worried about their individual contribution than the team’s cause partly because of the less chances newcomers are given and partly because they were not at all comfortable when they played because of the bigger names in the team.

Laxman writes that whenever he was dropped, he didn’t really know the reason and no one bothered to tell him why was he was dropped and what are the areas that he needs to improve. From all these accounts, it seems that the Indian cricket team of the 80s and 90s were very much individual driven rather than a collective effort driven towards a common cause.

How Ganguly changed this division

When Ganguly became the captain he did not care about which state or zone is a player from. If he sees talent, he supported them all the way until they realised their potential. He ensured that the newcomers are integral to the overall planning and that they are given adequate space to express themselves. All kinds of divisions north/west, senior/junior were all eradicated.  

Tumultuous period when Ganguly took over

Everyone who has followed the game is well aware of the difficult phase when Ganguly became the captain. It was year 1999 when Indian cricket was rocked by the match fixing scandal. A few players including Azharuddin was implicated in fixing games. I do not want to get into merits or demerits of the findings. A lot of fans of the game lost their trust on the team and stopped watching the game. Every game was viewed with suspicion. The shadow of match-fixing was always hanging on every game played after that.

Secondly, it was also the year when Sachin Tendulkar resigned from captaincy. This must not be viewed as a non-event because Tendulkar was thought to be someone who could do nothing wrong. The day he took over the captaincy, most of the Indians felt that good times are around the corner and that India will win a lot of games, both tests & ODIs. He was thought to be the messiah for the entire game in the country. Expectations rose even further when Kapil Dev became the coach of the team captained by Tendulkar. When such a player was not able to handle the pressure of captaincy, naturally, every Indian was dejected and a feeling of dread swept across the nation.

When Ganguly became The Captain

It was under such depths of despair did Ganguly took over the captaincy. Immediately, he moulded the team into a fighting unit. He placed a lot of importance of winning outside the country. He led from the front like the 144 he scored in Brisbane. Ganguly also ensured he gave opportunities to youngsters who turned out to be match winners. He brought the best out of Dravid, Laxman & Sehwag who won many games during Ganguly’s tenure. His inspired move to ask Sehwag to open, Dravid to keep wickets proved to be brilliant decisions.

After more than 16 years, the team went onto win games in West Indies, England, Australia & Pakistan. I do agree that except for Pakistan, he did not win any series in the above mentioned countries but statistics do not always convey the real picture.

Statistics is not the correct benchmark

If statistics is the sole criteria to decide who the best captain was, then Ricky Ponting will be the best captain the game of Cricket has ever seen because he was the most successful captain with over 67% winning rate. Does this convey the true story? No. Ponting was not the best captain even within Australia. Ponting had the services of Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Damien Martyn, Langer and Ponting himself. You don’t need a captain to manage these brilliant players. They know what they are required to do. It was Allan Border & Mark Taylor who build the Australian team from the despair of 1985. Steve Waugh & Ponting merely inherited a brilliant side on the cusp of glory. In much the same way did Richards from Clive Lloyd.

Here I would like to equate Ganguly with Lloyd & Border in that he brought the best out of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Yuvaraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer & even Tendulkar himself. He was instrumental in the team winning overseas which was always considered a bridge too far to cross.

It takes lot of efforts for a captain to mould a team in a diverse country like ours and convert them into the top two cricket playing nations. Ganguly, in my book will always be the best captain Indian cricket has seen.

What do you think of this tribute to Ganguly? If you do think that Dhoni or someone else is a better captain, leave your comments.

BCCI is hell-bent on going ahead with IPL

Posted on by Bobji

    This article is about the Indian board and IPL. On the 6th of June 2020, I read one article on The Times of India stating that the Indian board is upset with the ICC. The board is angry over the delay in taking a decision regarding the World T20 that is supposed to be held in Australia in the month of October. In normal circumstances, this may not sound that unreasonable. However, all of us are not under normal circumstances. The extraordinary situation that we all are under calls for extraordinary leadership.

    Why is the ICC delaying?

    It is absolutely understandable if the ICC wants to delay taking a decision regarding going ahead with the tournament or postponing the tournament to a later date to probably next year. The ICC caters to a wide variety of cricket playing nations. They support financially a lot of boards who are already playing tests. They also finance other boards that are not playing tests but are playing the game at a reasonable level. The ICC needs funds to spread the game (although this is debatable. The game does not require more than 12 teams. I will deal with this topic in another post) far and wide. The ICC is trying to bring a lot more nations into the fold.

    Now, inorder to achieve their ambition, they need money and lots of them. The ICC do not control the revenue that comes out of bilateral series. It is mostly managed by the hosting nation. They have to depend on world tournaments like ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup & Champions Trophy. These tournaments earns in excess of a few million dollars which will go a long way in improving the finances of the current test playing nations as well as spread the game globally. Despite these tournaments, the ICC is still cash strapped. So it is perfectly justified if the ICC delays the decision right till the beginning of October, especially, when you consider the fact that the tournament will be held in Australia which is among the least of the pandemic affected nation.

    Why is the Indian board not pleased?

    The Indian board wants to stage the IPL this year. If not a full-blown IPL, they want to stage the IPL over a month’s period. This essentially means that half the games of the actual IPL can be held. It is now certain that the BCCI cares about its finances and finances only. They are least bothered about the safety of the players, the commentators, the ground staff and the camera crew assuming that it will be a closed tournament. BCCI which is probably among the richest sports body in the entire world is worried about losing revenue from a tournament from which only it can gain.

    From what I know, the board is not obliged to share the revenue with other boards whose players are also part of the IPL. The board is rolling in billions of dollars and it will be perfectly alright for the board to forego a miniscule part of their revenue. The board do not want to do that. To hell with the safety so long as the board’s coffers are filling all the time.

    Ganguly, a disappointment

    I have tremendous respect for Ganguly. He is by far the most impressive Indian captain over the last 35 years. I do not want to get into the merits of this argument in this post. I will save it for one of the future posts. The moment Ganguly became the Indian board president, I hoped that the game will get a definite boost. Money will not be the sole criteria the board will be after.

    I also hoped that the performance of the Indian team will be of paramount importance for him. Ganguly will ensure that there will sufficient number of players of high quality for every position in every format. A Ganguly who cared a lot about the performance of the team outside the country, who placed lot of importance in how the team and the players fared in difficult tours like Australia, SA & England has downgraded himself to an ordinary board member whose sole motive is profit.

    I hope that better sense will prevail. I hope board will not go ahead with their plan of conducting the IPL this year.

    Do you think BCCI is correct in going ahead with the IPL in this situation?

    Ball tampering, should the ICC allow it?

    Posted on by Bobji

    Recently, there has been growing voices against the ICC’s proposal to allow tampering of the ball to mitigate the problem that the bowlers will face because they will not be allowed to use saliva, which is the traditional method to aid swing, on the ball. This is mainly because of the pandemic that is sweeping the world. There is absolutely no two opinion when it comes to the safety of the players.

    Maybe, the ICC is correct not to allow the players to use their saliva on the ball, lest, the pandemic will spread onto the unsuspecting players. Having said that, what can the ICC do to help the bowlers if probably their most important method is taken away from them?

    Option 1 – Using Saliva on the ball

    The first alternative to allow instead of ball tampering will be to allow only one person to shine the ball using his saliva. However, that will not work because eventually, everyone will get hold of the ball during the course of the game. If the player is found positive later, then there is a chance that the virus could have spread to the others. This cannot be a solution.

    Option 2 – Change the ball

    The second option will be to allow the bowlers to change the ball once every 20 overs because most of the balls, be it, SG or Kookkabura or Duke will stop to swing after 20 overs beyond which the bowlers will have to depend on shining the ball with their saliva. This will provide the bowlers a higher chance to take wickets instead of tampering the ball. It means, using 5 balls during the course of just over a day. This may not help the economies of scale and most of the boards cannot afford to replace the ball with a brand new one every 20 overs. Just think of the financial pressure various cricket boards are in. This should not be foisted upon them.

    Option 3 – Artificial means to alter the ball, in other words, tampering the ball

     

    This is definitely ball tampering. This must not be allowed at all. It is against the ethics of the game. It is plain cheating. Having said that, I have thought long and hard on this subject. The best option is to allow the bowlers to shine the ball with their saliva and sweat. However, this is not possible under the prevailing circumstances. The ICC must come up with a compromise that will allow the bowlers to claim a level playing field which is already in the favour of the batsmen.

    Possible solutions to help the bowlers

    Review the current LBW rule

    Firstly, ICC must allow to overthrow the rule that has been a law from the time the game was played. This will not only level the playing field but will allow the bowlers, especially, the spinners to take more wickets and make the batsmen play with their bat. Till this day, the rule is, if the ball pitches outside the leg stump or the if batsmen is hit outside the line of the offstump, it does not matter whether the ball goes onto hit the stumps. The batsman is not out. This is completely outrageous and not in sync with the modern game. There are a lot of batsmen who trust their pads more than their defence. 

    In the olden days, when the batsmen were without too many protection coupled with uncovered pitches and extremely light bats, this rule made sense. On the contrary, nowadays, the pitches are as flat as possible even in Test Cricket. The batsmen is protected. The bats are too strong and powerful. I remember a picture where Greame Pollock held his bat on one hand and Warner’s on the other. The difference was obvious. Hence, irrespective of where the ball pitches or where the batsman is hit, if the ball goes onto hit the stumps, the batsman must be out. I remember reading an article from one of the great thinkers of the game, Ian Chappell. He too advocated the same.

    Allow the ball to travel slowly off the ground

    Secondly, a lot of grounds are small and the outfield is exceptionally quick. Even a half decent shot will go over the boundary or will reach the boundary. In the olden days, batsmen used to depend on timing rather than brute force of the bat. Nowadays, it is power game mainly because of the heavier bats. This is not at all fair on the bowlers. Especially, the genuine fast bowlers who toil really hard only to see an edge go to the boundary.

    How to provide a reasonable solution to this problem? Ofcourse, it is not possible to stop balls from going over the boundary because of the small grounds and the heavy bats. It is also not practical to pass a law stating that all the grounds must be of a minimum of 75MTS in every direction. The best solution is that all the grounds must allowed to grow the grass taller. This will ensure that only the perfectly timed shot will go to the boundary.

    High grass will stop the momentum of the ball and will roll over slowly. This means even in a small ground, the ball will not go over the boundary because of the bat’s heaviness. If the batsman has really timed, the ball will go to the boundary. The second benefit of allowing the grass to grow taller is that the batsman will have to be much more fit to be able to run quickly.

    I firmly believe that these 2 steps will bring back the contest between bat and the ball. It will also ensure that the game is much more balanced and enjoyable for the spectators.

    What do you think of these recommendations? Does it make sense? Will it result in better balance between the bat and the ball? Post your comments

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    Posted on by Bobji

    Introduction

    Hello Everyone, welcome to the broadcast of my very first blog. Now, before I begin, I would like to inform the viewers who am I and what is the reason have I started this blog? My name is Bobji and I am an Indian from the southern part of the country. I am someone who likes sports and especially, as with most of the Indians, Cricket. Whenever I see an Indian team in any sport, I will watch that game and hope we win. Such is my passion for sports in general and Indian sports in particular. I am a die-hard fan of Indian cricket. More than a fan, I must say that I am a fanatic.

    Almost all of the children, back in the 80s and 90s, were Cricket fans so much so that other sports were non-existent for us.  I was not an exception. Only difference was that I did follow few other games as well. Off late, however, I see a big change in the performance of the Indians in various sports over the last few years. This is true when compared to the period before the economic liberalisation. With the advent of satellite television, it is possible to watch most of the games played anywhere in the world. It wasn’t always the case while I was growing up. This gives me an added motivation to watch Indians perform throughout the world.

    Well I think that should give you a fair idea about me.

    What went inside my head? 

    For now, I will stick to the game I know a little bit about. Cricket. More precisely, Indian Cricket. I am certain that there are a lot of stories that are not yet told about Indian cricket. Over the last 35 years of following the game, I have been frustrated multiple times while watching the Indian team play the game. It ranges from why a specific player was in the eleven till field placing, bowling change etc. Most recently, I was extremely angry after our disastrous tour of New Zealand. It was horrifying to see Kohli abuse a mild mannered Williamson despite the team about to lose 2-0.

    What was and is my frustration?

    Whenever I see a wrong decision was made or a wrong player was selected or something else that I felt was not correct. I used to whine within myself for hours on end but unfortunately, all I can do was to keep to myself these rush of feelings. The persons to whom I talk about these feelings were either because they were blinded by their liking for a particular player or for a particular captain turned oblivious to these things. This is not new but has been happening with me since the day I started to follow the game.

    The reason for the blog

    Basically, I just felt that the game was drifting along without the team or the captain making any sort of move to prevent the drift. I, just like the millions of die-hard fans have often criticised the team of not playing to their potential or not caring enough about winning. It is then I thought about this blog. I thought let me pour all my feelings, ideas, suggestions & complaints in a blog and let me see if someone will be able to empathise with me.

    I am frustrated that it is the players who are always blamed for non-performance? Why is that no one seems to fault the real elephant in the room. THAT IS THE BCCI.  It is a fact, especially over the last 25 years, the BCCI, with the resources available must have had at it’s disposal 2-3 strong teams in every format that can defeat anyone anywhere. Unfortunately, it is the players who bear the brunt of the fan’s wrath because they are the face of the game. The board who are actual powers behind the game escapes without any blame. I intend to change that. I will throw as much light as possible on the non-functioning of the board wherever it is warranted. Having said that, I will also give credit where it is due.

    Disclaimer, ofcourse

    Let me make one thing clear. I am not a fan of any particular Indian player. I like the Indian team on the whole and I will praise anyone who performed well and I will criticise anyone who failed to perform. When I say perform, I meant playing for the team’s cause and not for the individual’s cause. This blog will be a constructive criticism of Indian cricket. I will ensure that the texts do not extend more than 15 minutes of reading time. I am certain that beyond 15 minutes, most of us will not have the inclination to continue to read.

    The sports website I follow

    https://www.espncricinfo.com, https://www.cricbuzz.com

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports