Why Youngsters in cricket

mmmm….. this would be a very debatable topic. Nevertheless I put forth my own theory on why India is strongly looking towards “new blood”. For a very long time Indian middle order is filled with four of the greatest cricketers that the country has produced. Sachin, Rahul, Sourav and Laxman (The Famed Four). OOOh! You name them and you can see the confidence being built, if you are an Indian supporter. Their batting prowess is above any critical analysis from a layman like me. They stand way apart from a lot of batsmen from their generation on the International scene. But when it comes to fielding, I don’t have to say much about Sourav and VVS, and I would call both Sachin and Rahul as only safe, if not anything else.

In the present scenario, fielding takes the primary department which brings in a difference between 2 teams. All teams will have almost the same batting and bowling abilities. It all boils down to how best a team could field on any given day.

You don’t see any of the ‘Famed Four’ diving hard to stop runs, (may be sometimes they do while attempting a catch?) or bringing out a brilliant run out as people of the same age in other teams like Ponting or even Jayasuriya do. And people like Sehwag also add to our woes in fielding. The entry of a couple of lithe and agile cricketers some time back into the Indian team has transformed the whole outlook towards Indian cricket. Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh. They brought in a fresh flavor to the normal fielding standards people are so used to (and even forgot that there could be more) from the Indians. People have realized that courses in matches can be turned on their heads through brilliances in fielding when batting fails.

This influx of the so called Youth in Kaif and Yuvraj brought in the need for better all round fielders in the side. This prompted the selectors to slowly look into youngsters who can also don the roles of the “famed four” successfully in the Indian team. And definitely, looking at the present Team India, selectors seem to be going in the right direction.

Note: If the “Famed Four” were to be brilliant fielders as well, I assure you all, that this stage of looking for youngsters wouldn’t have come.

Spare a thought (Continuation)

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It is accepted that the domestic players who are roped in to the IPL teams have to be exceptional or the best of the lot from those respective Ranji state teams. And as a rule, the Organizers have given berths to 2 players each from the U-22 and U-19s. This, they claim as providing a platform for the young-lot to play along with International stalwarts of the game. Right? When each team figures 8, 9 or 10 International players, where is the possibility of the domestic players playing in the final eleven? Even if some play, how many players will get the opportunity to play matches? We will have to wait and watch till the matches actually start to get the right answers.

But, till then, to me, the IPL serves more as entertainment provided to the cricket-starved nation than a grooming platform for the domestic cricketers. True, they are getting the exposure to play (bat and bowl) against the famed guys in the nets (practice sessions), but how far will this be useful. The experience from a match is far greater to the experience in practice. So, if the organizer’s priority is providing entertainment, they could have opted for the best possible players (age-no-bar) who suit to this T20 format. This brings out an even better contest as the weak links, if at all they have, are minimized.

Why should the organizers have an ordinance to have compulsory U-22 and U-19 players? If they fit the bill, they obviously walk in. Let them mingle with the team players and take whatever they could from the practice and interactive sessions, rather than have them in the squad. I have my own reservations against the “youngsters” mantra. How many youngsters do we find in the Australian team? With the exception of Pup (M. Clarke), we find hardly any. Isn’t the team doing well? I can’t hear many voices negating this. Then why is it that India is calling for “new blood”, in the recent past? I think I have my own theory for this but you will have to wait till my next post.J

Makings of a good team

For the benefit of readers, I am just re-posting all the pieces as a whole.

One fine evening I went to a Hindi movie “Chak De India” – a movie focusing on Women’s Hockey (Indian National Game). The movie highlights the TEAM – Together Each Achieves More – concept. The movie could have covered a lot of other areas as the story had a great scope. Anyway, that’s my personal opinion.

While watching the movie, a thought has captured my attention and that is what I am trying to share with you here. “Any team is born but all great teams are definitely made.”

What I mean by this?

A gathering of the required number of players could be counted as a team. But a team that can withstand any situation and deliver the goods at any cost can only be made, nurtured, guided by a dedicated coach or a captain who understands the nuances and the finer points of the game to the core. Along with this he should have a sensible approach towards man management and treat individual players as they like them to be treated.

The initial stage (the lead)

Through a defined selection process, a team will be selected. This team could be of any level, be it school, college, university, city, state or the country. The panel, how good or stupid it is, will definitely follow some parameters in finalizing a squad that will participate in the tournament for which the team is selected. This is where the general misconception starts. The selectors’ job, in a way, ends here (how the selectors have to approach the selection process will be discussed later). It is here that either the coach or the captain steps in (depending on the status of the team – as a few teams might not have a coach) to take the team and bind it into one unit.

Each player will have some strength that helps him make the team. This strength is what is most vital for the team as well and it is up to the coach or the captain to identify and use it to the fullest to optimize the efficiency of the performance of the team as a whole. ***for ease of use, coach or captain will be mentioned as ‘The man’ from now on***

The team should be revolving around the man for better results as following a singular path will generate better results. Sometimes it is always best to leave the decisions to one person (as long as everyone believes him, it should not be a problem).

The second stage (horses for courses)

As the team is already picked, ‘The man’ in due course of the conditioning or practice camp before the tournament should assess the strengths of each individual to such a level that; given any situation in a match, he should have a clear plan of when a given player will deliver his best. Different players for different situations….

Each player has a unique pattern to psyche himself to be in ‘The Zone’, a place where a player is ought to be, to perform at his best. ‘The man’ has to understand these patterns to define the roles to his members. It is this understanding that generally differentiates the best and the ordinary.

A wrong move at the right time or the right move for a wrong reason doesn’t give the desired results. ‘The man’ is the one who makes the moves and hence it becomes very important for him to ‘be in the game’ all the time. Any opportune moment shouldn’t be let to go through. As a predator on the prowl, players got to seize (Killer instinct) every opportunity they come across. To achieve this ‘instinct’, it takes lot of commitment and dedication from ‘the man’ and each player.

Final stage (Reading)

“The man” should focus equally on all spheres of the game that count in deciding the outcome of the game and not only on the happenings of the game. ‘Opponents’ weaknesses, his team’s possibilities, strategies, to name a few are some points he should definitely work on. And the moment he feels that he found a leak he should make it count through his moves.

On a given day he might find his key players, not in their elements. He should accept this, as everybody is human and instead of being a hard taskmaster he should distribute the workload among the others. This shouldering of additional responsibility is one of the key ingredients that take the team further as a sense of brotherhood grows. All this depends on how ‘the man’ handles his team.