Is Gary Kirsten right in blaming the players?

A lot of the cricket experts (As per last count, there were about 1.2 billion of them) have deliberated at length about the reasons for India’s ouster from the T20 world cup. Not that I don’t have my own take on this, but I would rather not comment after having looked what has happened. It’s always easy to comment on a hindsight. But what is more important is to look at what happened, what went wrong, with a focus on the future. A world cup debacle is neither the end of world nor is it happening for the first time. We have seen it all, and come through later. So, as such, making a big deal out of this elimination is not justified. What appalls me is the manner in which the coach has lashed out at the team.
By whatever little cricket I have played at a competitive level, I understand that the role of a coach at the junior level is not much of strategizing. It is elementary. Teaching a young kid how to hold the bat, how to play text book strokes, how to grip the ball, and other basic stuff.
There should be some difference in coaching a junior team and an international team. You don’t teach a player forward defence as an international coach. They are supposed to have come with those basic skills. The major work for an international coach should be tuning the mental frame of their minds. If the coach, after the end of a tournament, blames the attitude, fitness and physique of his players, what it essentially means is that he has failed to do his job. I agree that you cannot be like a primary school teacher who holds a stick and smack his wards’ ass to get them straight. But if there is some unacceptable behavior from any of his players, it also becomes his duty to get them corrected. The players themselves also need to respond, I agree.
A coach’s job is no cake walk. That is why so many gifted players, sometimes even more talented than the coach, respect them. The excuse or accusation by the coach is not acceptable especially for the fact that almost the same team is ranked No 2 in the 50-over game. Also, the accusation has fallen on many of the senior players who have been working with Gary for some time now. Doesn’t it show his incapability to straighten them even after so many interactions?
I am not saying make Gary Kirsten the scapegoat for this defeat. All I am saying is that Gary Kirsten, instead of pointing out to so many problems in Indian Cricket, should concentrate on solving a few of those problems. After all, that is what he is being paid for!

A crash course onto becoming a cricket expert

Well, we all know (atleast 120 crore Indians know) that commenting on a cricket match is no rocket science. We all do it so much and so often in our living rooms. This post will help you elevate a couple of notches and become a cricket expert on SET MAX for the IPL coverage. Apart from the usual “That is a beautiful shot”, “Up, Up and over”, “In the air and taken”, etc, there might be a few tricky situations which a cricket expert might encounter. Here are a few dialogues memorizing which will help you sail through any situation, still assuring your viewers that you are indeed more knowledgeable than them.

On the eve of every game, memorize these words.

It is a high pressure game. So, bat first, put up a big score and then put the opposition under pressure

Though this might usually sound suitable only to series deciding matches, making these statements will reduce the guilt of a few viewers who have bunked their classes or jobs to watch a redundant cricket match.

Form is temporary, class is permanent

He is just one knock away from hitting the right notes

He is too good a player to fail repeatedly

We all know when experts make this statement. They make it just to save themselves from the embarrassment just in case that player plays well in that particular match. Their guess about that player is as good as any of yours.

They should take it one game at a time

Well, make this statement when you want to sound like a chief strategist of the team. It doesn’t matter even if the team has hardly heard your name.

The atmosphere at the stadium is electric

Make this when the broadcasters or the organizers have paid you money to say goody goody things about the match. If this is not the case, use it when the home team has lost the match, hoping that this statement might make them hate you less for your presentation ceremony speech.

The key is to pick up some early wickets

When the team which batted first have played pathetically and have no chance of winning the match.

Ball will come onto the bat initially, but as the game progresses, it gets slower and lower

One sentence pitch report which works everywhere in the world (ok, everywhere in India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh, West Indies). With this, you can never be wrong.

He is one of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball

Well. When a heavily built guy slogs at a hapless bowler and the ball obviously sails into the crowd, much to the horror of purists.

He doesn’t drop many. He has got a safe pair of hands

When a fielder takes a dolly. Leave alone him dropping the catch, even you wouldn’t drop such catches.

Is Fan following for IPL greater than for Team India?

Do you feel fan following or fan loyalty is more for the IPL teams than the ones for the national team? I feel it is. The main reason for this, according to me, is our ego. Let me explain.

When India plays Australia or even Pakistan for that matter, the mood across most parts of the country would be similar. If India won the match, we would be happy. If India lost the match, we would be disappointed. The coffee room chat in all offices would revolve around the same point, with each member pointing out the nuances of the game, better than most of the “experts” on extraaaa innings. But fundamentally, they would all share the same feeling. So, no room for any argument, except some petty ones about the reason for the loss or victory.

Come IPL, the whole situation has changed. Honestly, when IPL was conceptualized, I believed that the excitement would not be too high, considering the fact that every match will be won by some part of India. Fortunately, I was wrong. People support their favorite team, not necessarily the team which is named after their city. The match is played and then begins the coffee room chat, the next day. Now, if someone ridicules the team you supported, you would try to defend them. If the other person continues, you try to defend them with all your might. Loyalty to your team strengthens. If, in the next match, your favorite team wins, you will be waiting to give that other person, a piece of your mind. Your joy will be magnified when you celebrate it in front of your detractors.

More than the liking for a team, it is this inherent desire to justify your choice of a team, which makes a person raise his voice for it. This unflinching support for a team, come what may, isn’t this what is called loyalty?