Go it alone, Rahul!
After looking jaded and out-of-sorts in their DLF Cup campaign, Team India and it’s coach are being panned for too much experimentation and too few results and almost no imagination.
Fair enough, I say! Nothing succeeds like success or fails like failure. If Chappell’s way had continued to produce results as it did for the first half of his tenure so far (India was winning nearly 76% of its ODI matches during that period), everyone would have been gushing about the very same methods that are being trashed in the media right now. So I won’t say too much about Chappell’s methods. But I will say this… that Chappell ought to be more receptive of criticism and suggestions than he is. Closed minds rust away to nothingness, however great the ideas inside them!
Having said that, one of things that was noticeable quite prominently during the DLF Cup was the lack on imaginative captaincy on the part of Rahul Dravid. Dressing room strategy is one thing, but a match situation demands continuous thinking on one’s feet out there in the middle. Rahul Dravid seemed to have outsourced all the thinking to Chappell and his staff. Precious little of Dravid’s cricketing acumen was on display during the DLF Cup matches. As a captain he seemed unable to assert his views on the team he led. This prevented dynamic strategy changes based on on-field situations. The resulting one-dimensional approach was easy pickings for the opposing teams. The win against West Indies was Lara’s gift to the Indians, more than anything else.
Now, with Chappell away on a break and the Challenger tournament coming up, it’s a golden opportunity for Dravid to lead from the front, in the dressing room and on the field. The Indian Seniors side should go in without a coach. Dravid, Sehwag and Tendulkar should manage the team themselves during the Challenger series and get a grip on details like team composition and players’ roles within the team. BCCI has decided to appoint Ian Frazer, Chappell’s deputy, to coach the Seniors during this domestic series. That is a joke! Mr. Frazer, with due respect to him, can bring no value to the table in this instance. Instead of the seniors, he may be better off assisting one of the other two sides. The seniors, with individual players having more ODI experience than Chappell, are better off strategizing and playing the 3-4 matches on their own. It will be a great confidence booster for Rahul Dravid as a captain if he can truly ‘lead’ his team on his own. It will also give Chappell a couple of things to think about when he re-joins Team India before the Champions Trophy.
So go it alone, Rahul!
12 comments
From the time i have watched cricket , it appeared to me that indians win matches more by their talent than strategising an oppositions defeat , teams like australia and south africa .. rely more on strategy and guys like sehwag cannot come in any strategy , because he is un predictable .Ganguly respected that , i admired him for that . Lets not imitate the Australians for what they are good at and forget what we are good at .
Kishore>> I may agree with you on the fact that Indians may have won more matches with individual brilliance. But to continue to do that is a gamble. Opposition teams know exactly what each player’s strengths and weaknesses are. So without good strategies, it is impossible to keep winning consistently. Look at what state the Indian hockey team is in. They’ve stuck to what has worked for them in the past… and they’re one of the weakest teams in the world today despite having players with exceptional skills.
HI Rahul
One observation:
If you cant be aggressive, cant take bold decisions better resign from captaincy and concentrate on your batting; or else your career will end with the world cup.
Remember - The most brilliant boy in class is never made the monitor. A teacher always makes a naughty boy the Monitor of the class.
similarly you are the brilliant boy and not fit for captaincy, and saurav is the naughty boy who has already proved to be a good captain.
You are very handsome, brillant boy u are very good captain i am very big fan of u Sorav ganguly is not good captain u are good and dependable captain of our indian team. I am very proud of our indian team captain.
hi my rahul am ur dear and near,
really i feel one of ur family member. i wish u and our team for the sucess in SA SERIES. I HOPE U WILL PROVE UR CAPITANCY AND UR MY ONLY HERO EVER AFTER.
hai dravid i am rahul i am glad to send a email to you send a poster when you was small and autograph of yours
Type your 1.LAXMAN:
available@home- only.com
2.GANGULY:
nowdays@no_use. com
3.KUMBLE:
only@test_match. com
4.SACHIN:
admitted@hospital. com
5.KAIF:
good@for_nothing. com
6.SEHWAG:
consistently@ out_of_form. com
7.DRAVID:
stick@crease_ like_fevicol. com
8.PATHAN:
takewickets@ only_with_ kenya.com
9. GREG CHAPPELL
only_experiment@ noresult. com
10. Munaf Patel
only_line&length@nospeed. com
11.Harbhajan Singh
no_spinpitch@ nowicket. com
12. Suresh Raina
why_i_am_there@ god_knows. com
comment here.
Type your comment here.
finally indiacricket@uselessfellows.com
Hi Rahul,
All the best for the coming matches. Our regards to your family and love to tour kid.
You r a great batsman.But please do not toe in with that ass Chapell.He will ruin our national side.If required and for support on field take the advices of Sachin and Saurav. You three make a great trio. Saurav isn’t a bad guy really- the coach made a villain out of him.
All the beat for the tests.
I am waiting to see you on top of the ICC cricket ranking .
Bye.
hi rahul
i’m your greatest fan.i watch cricket only to see you in action.but i was very disppointed to see indian team out of the world cup and to see australia winning it.but i really have hope that india wii win the 2011 worldcup.waiting to see you in action in the future tournaments.
bye,take care.
with love,
sanju
Hi Rahul
Hope you and your family is doing great.I’m one of your greatest fan you can ever see.You can make indian team to do a good job in the future matches. As Greame Smith said you are really the cutest and good looking cricketer.though I’m greatly disappointed & surely will have evergreen hope that india will be a victorious team in the next world cup.
bye,take care
from your greatest fans in chennai.
Hi, please give me rahul dravids email id… am a huge fan and would like to extend my support to him in this troubled times
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