Changing Game

I suppose it is time to look at India's debacle and offer suggestions. Certainly anyone who has seen the WC matches or had a chance to look at some of our cricketers (Sehwag's physique jogging thoughts in Adnan Sami's mind, if it is not too late for him to take up cricket and rescue India) will not hesitate in saying that physical fitness is the biggest factor for us not being competitive.

We are aware that there are no short-term fixes. The right approach would be to put more focus on domestic cricket, do away with regionalism, no deference to established names etc. etc. However anyone familiar with India will tell you that this is a very distant dream at best. The thing that will work in India are rules, if we can implement them. A change in mindset driven by change in philosophies and approach in evaluating candidates. Australia by its own admission has improved its cricket by learning from Baseball's approach to defense (or fielding as we term it in cricket). However in India it is too late to emphasize these virtues on cricketers who have already "made it" to the big stage. They have become succesful a certain way and it is impossible to change this. For example a guy who has scored tons of runs with noodle arms will blame his recently developed muscles if he fails in a inning or two. The way to do this is prevent these guys from even making it to the India team without the fielding and physical fitness.

I believe that India will benefit by copying the base ball philosphy of identifying players by thier fielding position much like the wicket keeper. I think too much emphasis is laid on batting and too little on the fielding. My suggestion would be to identify 7-8 fielding positions that are critical to the team and fill in these places with capable batsmen and all rounders. So, right from domestic cricket these guys are slotted into one or two fielding spots and these are fixed. These players will be referred by thier fielding position e.g. mid-on, mid-off, square-leg etc. The batting order is more fluid and can be tinkered with more ease than the fielding positions in my mind similar to base ball. Dravid's philososphy of "smart fielding" is asinine thinking at best. Certainly being a great fielder does not eliminate the need to bat well but certainly unmistaken emphasis is laid on the fielding and physical fitness aspect. For e.g. I would like Sehwag or Tendulkar be evaluated against a young lad at the same fielding position alongwith the batting prowess which can fit anywhere from 1-7. What are thier specialist fielding positions anyway ??

I eliminate bowlers as they in my mind are specialists and I am yet to see a pure bowler who is an outstanding fielder esp. in the infield. They just have a different responsibility when they are on the field and thier goal would be to take wickets and commit as few mistakes as possibe.

I know there is a lot more detailed thinking that needs to be done on this front but there is no question in my mind that too much is made of the batting position than needed and there is none on the fielding position. This way I beleive Kaif and Raina or some other young kids would have made teh side and avoided this embarassement.

Let me get back to my drink ....