03-27-2007, 01:12 AM
All those who are clamoring for the oldies to retire and make way for the "younger generation" on the Indian team are snorting paint.
You have to watch a Ranji tropy match or Duleep trophy match in progress to understand the difference. In India, cricket is S-L-O-W. The energy level is low, the "pace" bowlers are all "medium-pacers" trundling up and kind of rolling their arms over, rather than fast bowlers full of aggression (except Sreesanth). The batsmen caress the ball with fine flourishing "style", rather than whack it out of the ground (see what happened to India in the Sri Lanka match? All those sixer hits got caught - Ganguly, Dravid, Zaheer. The pitch wasn't conducive to touch sixers, and they didn't have the power behind the whack.
We need more Dhonis - hefty guys who hammer the ball. We need fast bowlers of the Andre (***King) Nel or Makhaya Ntini, who slam the ball with all their might into the ground, so that it comes up at the batsman's chin.
But there aren't many around in Indian cricket. Because the grounds are not conducive to that, the coaches don't encourage it, and the kids simply don't have the stamina, in the Indian heat.
I would suggest that Indians demand
a) ground cleanup, to clear the gravel and put in grass, so that the fielding improves, and kids feel OK with diving and sliding stops.
b) hard pitches. Pakistani schools have cement pitches, to get kids used to fast, bouncing balls.
c) long boundaries (easier said than done - this needs larger grounds) to force bigger sixers.
The game of cricket, like all other sports, has moved on. It's now much faster-paced, just like field hockey, and POWER and SPEED have replaced elegance and timing as the keys to success.
Watching Tendulkar and Ganguly struggle to score runs against Sri Lanka or South Africa, is like watching Indian field hockey stars struggle against Holland or Australia or Germany. The Indians come in with grace and elegance and style. The Europeans and Australians respond with deadly accuracy, repeatability and sheer, massive speed. The penalty corner in field hockey, the short, rising ball and the sixer in cricket.
India is heading INTO the dumps, we are NOT yet at the bottom. The "newer generation" does not have a prayer in world class cricket. Look at the dismal record of Raina, Rohan Gavaskar, Jaffer, Gambhir, and all those other wunderkinden of Indian domestic cricket, when they come up against the searing heat of world-class competition.
India won't start winning in a sustained manner until the domestic competition standards get ahead of the best that other countries have to offer. The British, the South Africans and the Australians have mastered that.
You have to watch a Ranji tropy match or Duleep trophy match in progress to understand the difference. In India, cricket is S-L-O-W. The energy level is low, the "pace" bowlers are all "medium-pacers" trundling up and kind of rolling their arms over, rather than fast bowlers full of aggression (except Sreesanth). The batsmen caress the ball with fine flourishing "style", rather than whack it out of the ground (see what happened to India in the Sri Lanka match? All those sixer hits got caught - Ganguly, Dravid, Zaheer. The pitch wasn't conducive to touch sixers, and they didn't have the power behind the whack.
We need more Dhonis - hefty guys who hammer the ball. We need fast bowlers of the Andre (***King) Nel or Makhaya Ntini, who slam the ball with all their might into the ground, so that it comes up at the batsman's chin.
But there aren't many around in Indian cricket. Because the grounds are not conducive to that, the coaches don't encourage it, and the kids simply don't have the stamina, in the Indian heat.
I would suggest that Indians demand
a) ground cleanup, to clear the gravel and put in grass, so that the fielding improves, and kids feel OK with diving and sliding stops.
b) hard pitches. Pakistani schools have cement pitches, to get kids used to fast, bouncing balls.
c) long boundaries (easier said than done - this needs larger grounds) to force bigger sixers.
The game of cricket, like all other sports, has moved on. It's now much faster-paced, just like field hockey, and POWER and SPEED have replaced elegance and timing as the keys to success.
Watching Tendulkar and Ganguly struggle to score runs against Sri Lanka or South Africa, is like watching Indian field hockey stars struggle against Holland or Australia or Germany. The Indians come in with grace and elegance and style. The Europeans and Australians respond with deadly accuracy, repeatability and sheer, massive speed. The penalty corner in field hockey, the short, rising ball and the sixer in cricket.
India is heading INTO the dumps, we are NOT yet at the bottom. The "newer generation" does not have a prayer in world class cricket. Look at the dismal record of Raina, Rohan Gavaskar, Jaffer, Gambhir, and all those other wunderkinden of Indian domestic cricket, when they come up against the searing heat of world-class competition.
India won't start winning in a sustained manner until the domestic competition standards get ahead of the best that other countries have to offer. The British, the South Africans and the Australians have mastered that.