Reader Responses

Your responses to whether inexperience of the middle order was the sole cause of defeat?

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Name: Jagan Vasantharao
Comment: No. Once cannot blame the middle order. It is what the media and the current captain are making out as a reason.

Here is a more logical reasoning and another aspect, which the media is totally avoiding, deliberately!! Read on!! I would attribute the major share of the failure on the "supposedly" world's greatest batsmen - Sachin. Yess, Sachin. Now, the point is, Is Sachin Tendulkar challenged enough? Is the media giving the right feedback? When I look at the coverage over the years,the Indian media eulogised him,made him a demi-god and held the others repeatedly accountable for the team's debacles.

He is a technical virtuoso..the most compact batsman that the game has seen...no disputing those facts! But,does the world's greatest batsman have the temperament to chase targets consistently and win matches? Tendulkar's failure to win Test matches and onde-dayers in crunch situations is too glaring to ignore. Why does the media treat him with kid gloves? When they consistenly go after Ganguly,Laxman or Dravid,why is Tendulkar let off? Is it because he manages to maintain his average to paint a picture of consistency? Does it hurt the Indian psyche to criticize Sachin?

Being a model human being is great.But that and the averages shouldn't cloud our judgement of his inability to win matches. I can't but recall what R.Mohan had to write about Tendulkar and Lara years ago..."Lara will have scored more runs and hundreds than Tendulkar at the end of their careers..but most of Tendulkar's runs would have come when the country really needed them". From an Indian point of view it's ironical that the exact opposite happened over the past years. Now, lets look at how the media deals with glorious cricketers across the world.

The axe is on the most successful captain, Steve Waugh !! The message is clear, "you dont perform and you are not above the law".. Even the Australian media is objective. Granted, Steve won the world cup for australia, almost single-handedly and he was the most successful captain winning 16 tests on trot!

But his performance is always under the microscope. Australia fumble in one series and the speculation is that Steve might loose his job! Now, lets travel half way across the world to WI - to the enigmatic Brian Lara. The stellar performances that Brian gave to WI and saw them home on several occasions, single-handedly are probably matchless in the history of cricket! And the WI media is no different.

Lara fails in one series and the media has no love lost on him. It won't be an exaggeration to say that Lara was fired up by the media more often than not. I think it is this challenge that gets the best out of these two Great Champions! Lets now talk a bit about the just concluded series against England.

Sachin had a glorious oppurtunity in the 6th match of the just ended home series against England, which India had every right to have won 4-2. But for Sachin. Who got out on 12 to the most ridiculous shot one can ever imagine! And look at what the Indian media reports!

Not a word about the attrocious shot to which Sachin got out! And they go on blaming Badani, Kaif etc. who had the stomach for the fight at the death. Probably it's time to stop eulogizing the individual statistical achievements and probe and challenge him for team success! I think it is high time, the media starts talking about this aspect of Indian cricket!!

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Name: Santhosh Thayaleveedu
Comment: Inexperience of the middle order was one of the many causes but not the sole. When you are given a team with inexperienced middle order it is upto the captain and the coach to adjust the batting positions so that there is a blend of experience and youth in the middle order batting.

Moreover the middle order's batting inexperience was much more exposed when the experienced ones threw away the wicket and left the young guys to do the rest. Our fielding and field placements was very dismal. The reason why English batsmen were able to score more singles was because of our fielding.

We were not able to do that because the English fielding was far electric within the 30 yard circle, despite the fact that a few catches were dropped. The other main cause for the defeat was we don't have bowlers who can bowl a pretty decent line and length. It was a pity that Zaheer Khan was not given a chance in any of the matches. Thanks Santhosh

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Name: Uday Kiran
Comment: Yes, the middle order right now is very inexperienced. And that was the big reason why we lost the last 2 one dayers. Either Sachin or Sourav needs to come in at No 4.

Badani, Mongia and Kaif are still very raw. They are good batsman but when under pressure, they cannot play their normal game. This is clearly illustrated by the difference in the way they batted while batting first, compared to the way they batted while chasing. It's just that they get under pressure when faced with a target.

And it would definately help to have someone experienced guide them in the middle when chasing. One thing is for sure. Sehwag has to open. Two reasons for that. He is simply more destructive than both Ganguly and Sachin, and also, he is not as effective in the middle order as he is at the top.

I think the best thing to do would be to send Ganguly with Sehwag when we bat first and Sachin with Sehwag when we chase. I think Ganguly bats better under pressure than Sachin. That's why he can handle the chase better by coming in at no 4. Once we get back Dravid, we can have him come in at 5 or 6. My batting order for one dayers would be Sehwag / Sachin / Mongia or Yuvraj / Ganguly / Dravid or Laxman Badani

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Name: Shivan
Comment: No. The elevation of V. Sewag as opener was the main reason for India's debacle. Sachin-Saurav should have opened the innings and tried to build a strong innings. They are experienced, responsible and very knowledgeable.

He should not blame the inexperience of middle order. Look what Anil and Sreenath did! They have played hundred plus one day matches and they even are not able to bat to score at least 10 runs each or even hit a boundry. The seniors are to take the full responsibility, not the inexperience of the middle order. SAURAV WAS WRONG.

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Name: Prakash Comment: The entire machinery is falling apart. From times immemorial we always had the same problem with our cricket team; fall apart under pressure. We have too many super stars and not enough hard working self-believers. I would rather have a team full of average hard working people who believe in each other than a one trick pony, who just believe in a Sachin, a Kapil, a Gavaskar.

I live in Boston and am very proud to belong to an area, whose team just won the Superbowl. I am not a big football fan, but there is so much to learn from this Boston team. They have no superstars and in a post interview, one of the players commented ".

We have been winning against all odds, because we believe in ourselves. We don’t have any super stars in our team and that is a good thing. We don't want to let one of our team mates down. We just play for each other and don't want to disappoint the next guy in line".

Our cricket players don't believe in themselves and that is why they fall apart under pressure. Our media is also responsible for making heroes out of lot of average players. We treat them like Gods and then we trash them the next day. Every one, including the players is so emotional about every thing.

I think the best way to produce quality players is to follow the model of American sports leagues. The teams here are privately owned and there is a lot of competition between the local teams. When the Americans play Basketball in the Olympics there is no team out there that can even come close to dreaming about beating the US team.

That is because the American national team is picked from a bunch of arrogant self-believers, who want to annihilate the other team. They don't want to just win; they want to wipe out the opposition. This can be a definite possibility in our cricket-crazed country.

There has to be vision and a plan to achieve your goals, and not a mere shuffling of players. Winning is not an art, it is a science. So we need to understand and comprehend the basics of this science. Another thing that I often wonder, why is it that Pakistan can produce quality pace bowlers while Indian still relies on the spin? What part of their infrastructure is creating these bowlers?

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Name: Sarang Samant
Comment: I dont think so. It was mainly Gangulys captaincy which left a lot to be desired. In the 5th ODI with 61 needed from 63 deliveries all that was needed were singles to keep the ask rate below 6 until the final 4-5 overs at which stage we could have gone for the big shots with wickets in hand.

But one bad shot from Ganguly was all it took to start the downfall. If he is the captain and he knows that the middle order is inexperienced then he should be more responsible and think about the outcome.

Again in the 6th ODI with 8 wickets down we had England on the ropes but instead of going to the regular bowlers - Srinath and Agarkar - we get to see Tendulkar and Badani bowling. That is the main reason why England could get to 250+ runs in the first place.

Else we had that match won too. So all in all it is more bad captaincy which lost us the last two matches. Yes we may have an inexperienced middle order but if the captain knows that already he should make sure that this middle order doesnt get exposed to too much pressure.

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Name: Rohit
Comment: Let's start with the bowling. In the first 20 overs, England scored an awesome 140 runs. Had it not been for some irresponsible shot attempts by the Brits, the final score would have surely surpassed 300. Ajit Agarkar who, match after match, bowls short or too full and gets taken for runs does not deserve any more chances.

Our fielding, which has never been our strength, seems to be deteriorating even more. Our field placing during overs 15-40 is unimaginative. Saurav's field placing is way too defensive. In the final match, I couldn't believe the ineptness of our captain when Darren Gough was batting. There is no excuse for allowing the 10th wicket to score that many runs. Srinath should have been brought in earlier.

As for batting, Sachin is having a hard time adjusting to Sehwag. Someone needs to let Sachin know to just play your game and not worry about what Sehwag is doing. Sehawag needs to learn not to throw his wicket away. He did this in 3 games.

I'm not convinced about Mongia's batting technique yet. He opens the face of his bat more often than needed and his leg side is somewhat weak. Mohd. Kaif does not belong. Badani seems to be playing worse than he did a year ago. Ratra is not the solution. He is neither impressive with the bat nor behind the stumps. Less said about the tail, the better.

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Name: Kiran Raghavapudi
Comment: There are a number of reasons for the poor showing of the Indian Cricket Team. The lack of experience of the middle order is surely one of the reasons. For instance, in two matches Mohd Kaif after batting well fell immediately after Saurav Ganguly fell. That can be attributed to lack of experience.

The second cause the 6th place in team. India just doesn't have an all-rounder. The present all-rounder, Ajit Agarkar plays well but only once in a while. He off late seems to have improved his batting skills, but leaves a lot to be desired. He surely can't be considered an all-rounder.

The only other player to fill that role to some extent is RS Sodhi. Yet again, he is definitely is not as good a bowler as Ajit Agarkar. So the team doesn't have much of a choice than play Agarkar.

The third reason could be the captaincy. Ganguly is going through a torrid phase. He is not a great batsman in test matches. That has been known for some time now. But in one-days he is surely a great player. In India, after Tendulkar he has been the most consistent player in one-days.

So instead of removing him as the captain, the BCCI should persist with him for some more time. It is quite apparent that he is regaining some form. Atleast the last two one-days have shown that. Another solution I advocate is: to ask Tendulkar to bat at 4.

He might have scored a lot of reasons as opener, but what is point in all those runs if India is losing. In my opinion, Ganguly and Shewag should open. Either Dravid or Dinesh Mongia at 3. Tendulkar at 4. Laxman at 5. Badani at 6. Ratra at 7 followed by bowlers.

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Name: Govardhan Darsi
Comment: Few workable suggestions:

(1)Let a bowler be the captain (Kumble for now)
(2)Sachin is the key at any number he comes. Since, we have Sewag now, like Sachin of early years, it is good that Sachin comes at N0.4 to keep the opposition up against the wall till the end of the game.
(3) Our fielders have to learn to dive a lot more
(4) Robin Singh is the best fielder at any time. He saves 30-40 runs in any match. His batting in the middle order is still the best. No one can rotate the strike like he can.
(5)Dravid, when he returns, should go at No. 5 or so.... Not at No. 3. He slows down the game to the extent that every batsman to follow him are under too much pressure
(6) Ganguly should bowl in every match and do away with one 'just a bowler kind'.

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Name: Sanjay Rama
Comment: Inexperience of the middle order!! Hmmm! Is that the only reason why India lost two close matches to England? How about the Captaincy? Did Saurav Ganguly do everything right? It seemed like he was more intent on saving boundaries even when Darren Gough (no big hitter) was on strike.

By gifting him a single every time he took strike, Ganguly not only eased the pressure on Gough... but also made it easy for a big hitter like Flintoff. If you have seen close international matches, there are very few batsmen (like Bevan) who can harness the strike and score runs at a fast rate simultaneously.

That puts additional pressure on the last recognized batsman. In the last ODI, Flintoff was almost guaranteed that Gough will get a single easily... and he will get the strike back. Be it the first ball of an over... or the last. The middle order is inexperienced. Sure. But what happened to the experience of Ganguly... the guy who supposedly does everything right (Did you every hear him blame himself for a loss... leave alone accepting his mistake in public).

To begin with, in the 5th ODI he came in at #3, hogged the strike and reduced the freely scoring Sehwag to a spectator which lead to Sehwag's dismissal. Just because you were the opener doesn't mean you should rush in at the next available opportunity to bat.

The primary duty of the captain is to think about what is good for the team. If there is someone else who is doing a good job, then that someone else should get the nod... not the captain himself. But hey... that will not satisfy the ego of our whatever-I-do-is-right captain.

OK... let us forget about this mess up in the batting order. Fine. He is the Captain. Let him bat at every position he fancies. But what did he do at a time when everybody was hoping that he'll carry the team to victory. He played an unnecessary shot to get out and thus put more pressure on the already "inexperienced" middle order.

Kaif was playing brilliantly in his company. Ganguly threw his wicket away when they needed run-a-ball. Even an average Joe cricketer will tell you that in a run-a-ball situation, you are better off taking the singles and waiting for the odd boundary instead of trying to finish it off by hitting everything out of the park.

Don’t show me the final score card and say he scored 85!! It is no good even if you score a century. The end result matters. And the end result is that Ganguly messed up (again) when it mattered most. Inexperience of the middle order!!! Agreed... but more than that, it was Ganguly (and his unimaginative captaincy) who single handedly forced India to lose the two ODI's.

It is not a coincidence that India has lost so many finals recently. Because these silly little things add up and assume monstrous proportions at the most important time. If this I-me-myself attitude doesn’t change soon, then just look for India to get trashed in every competitive match and then blame the "inexperienced middle order" for everything.

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