The Evolved Captains of IPL

"It's not just about the captain", was and is valid in other formats. But IPL, with non-playing leader a possibility, it's the attitude that harbors security that takes your team forward. 

It is true for all forms of cricket that captain's attitude and belief in his 'core' player is important. In situations other than in franchise cricket, you can't keep on sticking with your 'core' group because say at a national level you have a  wider pool of talent you get to choose and replenish the 'core' from. But in IPL (franchise cricket), you have a small pool that can't change till next season and your 'core' already has the best possible players for the current season. So stick with the core - always : this is the mantra the Shane Warne used to great effect in IPL1.

Mind games have no place in T20, being clear in the head about your place in a team/situation brings about clarity in execution and that is vital because you don't get that much time to correct your mistakes.

This is what some do wrong  - continuing in 'political' captaincy, which is to not have good communication among all involved. So that the sole source of information (hence authority) is the captain. T20 doesn't have place for such captains.

Physiologically (which governs the physical aspect right away), we respond quicker to feeling than to thought. But thought follows soon after and if even the first few second of the thought are in line with what was felt, we no longer 'think' but  start to 'act' positively and without 'second thoughts'.

Great captain inspires in his boys a feeling that they should win. But when lines of communication are sometimes not great and roles not well defined (which happens when the leader is insecure) - that feeling for winning is not in line with the 'thought' of how to clearly go about it. When a captain fails in IPL he is more insecure because its a private enterprise which invested millions into it. This causes more confusion as to what one's role is and also who defines it - is it the under performing captain? is it the coach? is it that owner who holds the purse strings? No one knows where to look, what to do or even if their role in next game will be a playing one.

In a leaderless everyone is a 'hero' scenario, you don't look to define your roles but you just 'go for it'. This was how many teams were in first two IPL's. So the game was often won by one or two performances. But to be a 'hero' every game is not easy. And by being a 'hero' in one game - you win your team that game, but also to certain extent you affect the morale of other "hero's" who failed to perform. As one can't be a 'hero' every game you need to almost find a new 'hero' every game or two - which is difficult. This what 'form' is - a expression of confidence based on prior performances - but sooner that later (sooner in T20) you fall out of form - by that time the other "hero's" of your team are low in confidence - they are 'not in form'.

It was easier for Warne to stick to a core and not be bothered about his own 'form' in IPL-1 because he was a giant among the unknowns of RR back then. In essence he never had to sit out for lack of performance. But for a captain who is one among the core group - for one like Gambhir this IPL, its vital that he sacrifices himself for the betterment of the team (not that Gambhir needs to do that, as he is doing better that other 'core' of KKR) if necessary. 

It is also vital that the captain makes this position clear to his peers ('boys'): 

1) we will stick with the 'core' no matter who performs

2) just by being captain, I have no confirmed berth 

Hence the evolved captain's of IPL today, go for believing in the 'core' more than they believe in any individual, even their own selves. By doing this (they have come to understand) they aren't making their situation insecure - this is how the format is: Where a non-playing captain is still the leader.

IPL 2009 KKR's Multiple Captains !!! ???

This is really frustrating. John Buchanan retaliated to Sourav's claim that he wasn't informed before hand about the multiple-captains concept by saying that Sourav knew about such plans. Both these guys were one time at the pinnacle of their professions, Buchanan was the most successful coach for the Australians and Sourav the most successful captain for team India. Buchanan has a track record of being innovative, always coming up with new ideas and such. Not that these idea's were well received always; his idea's failed miserably while he coached Middlesex. Sourav has a track record of being daring and strong, a proven leader. He has been accused of being too head strong many a time in his career.

One thing I see which is against Buchanan is that he stated that he had extensively discussed having alternative captains, with Sourav during the last IPL season. It seems incredible that Buchanan discussed this with Sourav a year back and announces it now (if Buchanan had discussed this with Sourav when planning for IPL-2009, it would have been more appropriate).

Frankly both Sourav and Buchanan have been through so much rough-stuff in their careers that I see no point in trying to think who is speaking the truth. Much more of concern to me is the concept it self. It's interesting for sure. But leadership means to be in command; and with sportsmen with (often) big ego's will this really work? Now Chris Gayle might agree to this concept as its Sourav's roost that he will rule; but will he agree if similar thing were to be suggested by WI board to Gayle? Real hard to say. Gayle is known for his big-heart, but this might mean stretching things a bit far.

Look at current Indian team. Its performing famously under Dhoni; but all seniors are actively involved in on field strategy making (not just off field meetings). We often get to see a Sachin or a Sehwag advising Dhoni (remember the famous moment last year in Aus, when Sehwag asked Dhoni to continue with Ishant for a over more against Ponting?). Even though seniors all participate, its finally up to Dhoni, he calls the shots. This is vital for accountability.

Let us suppose Buchanan implements his concept and are in the semis; semi finals they play under Sourav and they win then in finals they play under Gayle and they lose. Now does this mean that they would have had a better chance if they would have played finals under Sourav? Is just Gayle to be held accountable? Who decides? Let us look at another scenario, first 4 matches they play under Sourav and they win, next three they play under Gayle and win; 8th match again under Sourav and they lose - now can't Sourav claim that part of the reason for the loss was because the command line got shaken or his captains instincts subdued due to Gayle captaining previous 3 matches?

And all the above I said doesn't even take into account the most strange aspect of the concept - during batting, there will be no captain and batting coach will call the shots; during bowling, well you can have a bowling captain, a fielding captain etc. Imagine how much confusion that is going to create - Sourav selects the bowler and now Gayle has to communicate with the bowler for field settings. We often see captains like Dhoni walk up to their bowlers to boost their confidence (remember Joginder Sharma's final over in the final of ICC World Twenty20 2007?); it really helps that the captain believes in you. Given Buchanan's concept who will do this? Will there be a boost-confidence captain as well? How about a captain for appealing and one for referrals?

All this is hypothetical. But it seems strange that a coach of Buchanan history doesn't understand that for any captain 'his boys' need to be 'his' and he needs to be in that 'captains space' always - physically and mentally and emotionally.

Buchanan is grossly mistaken if he wants to 'manufacture' four automatons who jump into 'captain role' when a switch is thrown and rest recognise them as such without a iota of confusion. In doing so Buchanan is under estimating the emotional part of sport. And this part is vital for winning. Does Buchanan ever wonder why armed forces follow a rigid line of command? Such rigidness is out of place in cricket, but having multiple-captains sound as a child's dream of yet another gadget. I have no doubt about Buchanan's sincerity, but this idea is will not make much difference at the best and will affect the team drastically at the worst.

Security; ICL vs IPL

Consider this, an Indian official gave a statement saying that India's tour of Pakistan scheduled for 2009 Jan might be scrapped because of the security situation. He went on to say that not a scratch can be tolerated on a player like Sachin Tendulkar. So what about the rest of the squad question people of our eminent press? A very irresponsible comment if you ask them. Well it is a irresponsible comment, but not as irresponsible as what our press has become.

Also to be noted is that this statement comes a day after Javed Miandad, PCB's newly appointed director-general expressed desire about ICL and IPL settling their differences and ICL players being allowed into national teams. I am not advocating that we send Indian team to Pakisthan - infact I would prefer if we don't send a team in January, given the situation. I am just saying that ICL issue shouldn't influence BCCI in taking cricketing decisions which will affect the game in the longer run. I am not a fan of ICL - one Indian league is enough and the one which has the cream of the world is what I will follow.

Get complete take of this at:
http://world-i-see.blogspot.com/2008/11/theoretically-officially.html

BOOM BOOM INDIA!

India completed a dominating victory against England in the 1st ODI of the ongoing 7 ODI series. India out performed England by far in batting and bowling. Put into bat on a pitch the promised bowlers early swing, Indian openers, Sehwag and Gambhir put up 127 for first wicket. While that was phenomenal, what followed was incredible - Yuvi blasted out 138 runs in just 78 balls. Owing to the efforts of Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvi, India posted the highest ever target against England of 388 runs in 50 overs.

Indian opening bowlers then managed to find all the accuracy and swing that English seamer's were missing. Both Zaheer and Munaf bowled miserly spell's and also bagged 4 wicket's even before the spinners were introduced. After that there was no real hope for England and they folded up for a meagre total of 229 runs in the 38th over - giving India a victory margin of 158 runs.

For me an Indian win was almost a certainty, still the margin of victory was incredible. Reading England's writers before the match and listening to English commentator's before Sehwag and Gambir got the show on the road, one were lead to believe that we are up for a very stiff and competitive series.

David Loyld in particular predicted a almost Australia-India like contest, drawing parallels which were funny at best. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/talk/content/multimedia/377984.html?view=transcript In a obvious effort to bring interest in the series and perhaps to dream out aloud, he came up with real good stuff like - Sehwag will be found wanting against England's pace attack (after he has proven himself against likes of Lee in Australia), Zahreer and Bajji can be out focused by playing mind games (last time England tried that with 'jellygate' incident in England, Zaheer came up with a match winning performance), India is vulnerable without Ganguly and Dravid in its ODI team (when was the last time Loyld watched India in a ODI?) etc etc.

Even the commentators during the start of Indian inning's sounded not pleased when Gavaskar or Shiv tried to talk about India's strengths - made one wonder if the English caught up in the 90's or worse the 80's? When Gavaskar tried telling them and the viewers how Gambhir unsettles the bowlers by shuffling across and forward, there was just this silence from his fellow commentator Ian Botham. Botham just said that Freddie (Flintoff) is one of the strongest arms in world cricket. Compare that to the acumen and grace of Ian Chappel - feels like English lack not just on field.

End of the day, if you ask me to select players from this England's side who have the hunger, the edge, the attitude, fit for current Indian side, only two qualify - Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.

While this attitude of under estimating India was clearly seen in English writers and commentators, it is only the result of the inferiority complex affecting English cricket. Only when you can see your self as you truly are, can you acknowledge others as they are. In ECB's quest to undermine India's financial superiority, they have forgotten that ultimately all that matters is cricket. In today's world, financial excellence is key to achievement and confidence - you keep your players off IPL, you send them on a gold diggers quest which is more a statement of one millionaire's ego. How do you expect to do all this and have it not affect the confidence of your cricketer's?

Wake up and realise that IPL is not just about money, IPL is a opportunity which will let you recognise your own faceless champions and to see your best tested in the hardest grind of cricket on earth. All cricketing nations who participated in IPL have benefited from it - not just the players, the selectors found more talent pool than was visible previously. And England, you manage to keep your players from such promising and productive venture - hats off! Till you realise your mistake and are able to admit it boldly and without ego, you will always be ridden with self doubts and small satisfactions.

The drum roll started in Rajkot and will continue till Dec 23rd in Mumbai. This is BooM BooM India.

Is Singh the King?

Is problematic prince, finally the King? He has the power, he has the style, he has the eye, the hand and the coordination, he has the rhythm and he has us with him. But naah .. one ingredient missing is consistency. Yuvi once again mesmerized us with what he is, just hope he does it more often. This was emphatic return to the side. 138 from 78 balls is not a child's dream, its a man's destiny. But so has inconsistency been his destiny. This match Yuvi had a platform provided by Sehwag and Gambhir, he had a pitch which warms his heart, the attack lacked decent spin and it has been a while since he blasted - I think all this went to make this knock a bit less special than it deserved to be.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly : Indian Victory

Dada walked off the field at Nagpur today with his head held high after India's comprehensive victory against Australia. It is so appropriate that Dada decided to call curtains after this Aussie tour and more fitting so because of the victory. Sourav will be ever remembered by how challenging he was as a captain and how shrewd he was - all owing to India's historic wins against the toughest opponent by far - the Australia of Steve Waugh.

If not for Sourav The Brave, our cricket would have been still looking for reasons to explain why it failed overseas.
If not for Sourav The Brave, Indian cricket would not have learnt how to face up to intimidation and return the favour.
If not for Sourav The Brave, Indian cricket would still be groping in darkness of politics.
If not for Sourav The Brave, Indian cricket would not have know how to charge ahead fearlessly.
If not for Sourav The Brave, Indian cricket would not have known what strength of leadership is.
If not for Sourav the Brave, Indian cricket would not have become the formidable force that it is now.

Dada's greatest contribution as every one will agree, is as a captain of Indian cricket team. Azhar got gobbled in match fixing controversy, Tendulkar in spite being individually great wasn't able to handle the pressure. Then came along Sourav. Dada not only led the team without showing pressure, he lead the team in to frontiers never before explored by Indian cricket & the team won where they never have done so before.

Indian cricket has seen many brave and valiant cricketer's, Sunil Gavaskar's bravery in facing West Indian pace attack was great. Kapil Dev's exploits at 1983 world cup were a legend in themselves. Dada is different from them - Dada not only did great things, but the team under him did great things. Yes, he had a great team in Sachin, Anil, Laxman, Dravid and Bajji, but it is very true to say that without Sourav's captaincy, we could have seen great feat's, not great victories.

Sourav's magical batting almost fades away before his captaincy. Who of us can recall who the King of the Offside is? What divine timing? What effortless execution? What astonishing placement? He is the fourth highest run getter in history of Indian cricket.

Still Sourav will live on in Indian cricket memory as the greatest of captains ever to lead Indian cricket team. That is what he has contributed to Indian cricket. Many of the current star's can recall proudly that it was Sourav who backed them in earlier stages of their careers. Sourav showed the world that Indian's are not minnows, importantly still, Sourav showed it to Indian's themselves.It is almost unnecessary to state the win-loss stat's of Sourav as a captain, the impact of his captaincy resonates after he was stripped of it and will keep resonating long after his retirement.

Still, its a pleasure to look at the numbers -49-21-13-15 (captained-won-lost-draw) for his test captaincy. Exceeding all other Indian captains by far, Sourav's numbers reflect his mettle as a captain.

Anil retired and I will recall his great feats whenever another leggie does something magical for India. Sourav retired and I will remember him every time India wins - especially overseas.

That's what Sourav Chandidas Ganguly means to me : an Indian Victory.

Welcome Captain :)

I like MS Dhoni. He brings Indian cricket from the level of demigods to the level I can identify with. Dhoni's presence on field, even in tight situations doesn't make any happening look surreal. There I see a ever calm cricketer who gives his 100% and goes about this "day at office" in a efficient manner.

I have been fortunate to follow Indian cricket at a stage where the fab-4 and Anil Kumble played; all five are very unassuming cricketers. MS Dhoni might not be as gifted as the fab-4, but he has something which they don't, he treats cricket as what it truly is, a game. He doesn't get carried away when situation is tense. This shows me that while he is satisfied at a job well done and that he is immensely happy, he doesn't show that he has done anything extraordinary.

I am pretty sure that if Dhoni were to hop and jump about, he would have even greater fan following than he currently has (if that were possible). The reason for this is, simply put we Indians are hero worshippers. We need hero's to get us out of the mundane and let us dream. Our gods, our politicians (meant freedom fighters), our sportsmen are all hero's. I too am one of them, I too am a hero worshipper; but sometimes it becomes too much. Look at other nations, look at Australian cricket for example, don't they have great achievers like our cricket? Still although Shane Warne is appreciated immensely, he is not hero worshipped. Nor would a fan of Ponting and a fan of Gilchrist come to blows to prove who is better.

Therein for me lies the charm of Dhoni, he is so unassuming that I don't feel the need to hero worship him, in fact it helps me to identify with him. It also keeps me level headed and makes me think about the sweat and struggle behind him reaching where he is. It makes me feel that Dhoni was a commoner, a person like me and he got to where he is, so what got him there? This is a question I have rarely put to myself in regards to any other Indian cricketer, in my lack of thoughts about their initial struggles (although I know them through media), I, very Indian like assume that they got where they are because they are who they are. And this 'who' is not what I feel was once a commoner like me. It's not to their fault that I feel this way, it my hero worshipping nature, just accepting greatness and never questioning how it came about. But because I can identify with Dhoni, I question myself as to how Dhoni got where he got to - this question opens a positive aspect of my watching cricket, it leads way to thoughts and actions that are constructive; it also lets me understand when Dhoni fails and it teaches me things when he bounces back.

I don't think Dhoni is 'professional' as professional is; he is a emotional cricketer, but by maintaining his calm demeanor he has brought Indian cricket and cricketer's from the sky high reaches of unreachable greatness to thoughts and actions about becoming personally successful.

With these thoughts, I would like to welcome MS Dhoni as India's new test captain. May he and India team achieve many milestones in years to come and I, as ever will be a eager watcher, albeit less dewy eyed and more thoughtful. Welcome Captain :)

Jumbo Take's Off

Anil Kumble announced his retirement from test cricket today. Over a career spanning 18 years and multiple generations of cricketers, Kumble has been India's greatest match winner. 18 years, 132 test matches, 40,850 deliveries and 619 wickets sums his efforts.

Always a gentleman, always giving 100%, a never-say-die warrior, a bowler with immense penetration with an incredible ability to fox the very best.

Over the years, the big man jumping in to his bowling stride and releasing the ball with a fire in his eyes and a determinedly set chin has been so much part of Indian cricket that now it seems as if an era is coming to a quick end. I am not even 30 years old, but somehow with the retirement of Kumble and Sourav's retirement coming up in next test in Nagpur, I feel much more older. I feel as if I am a grand dad who is going to miss all the glory days gone by and will always find fault with the 'new' in Indian cricket. In brief, I think I will be nostalgic. Perhaps the vacuum in my heart just reflects the vacuum in Indian cricket as a result of these greats going off into the dusk of their careers, one by one.

As a personal tribute to this gentle and devastating giants retirement I will try and put words which for me is Kumble: determined, clever, foxy, 100% cricketer, gentleman, delivers always.

Anil Kumble, Indian cricket, millions of Indian fans and world over will miss you. We will miss the assurance your name used to give us, that we have a chance at hitting at the core of the opposition, that we are sure to challenge the adversary, that no one can score against India in free domination, that we have Anil Kumble coming on: BEHOLD THE JUMBO!

A tribute to Anil Kumble: Jumbo