Lack of commitement or shifting loyalties?
Indian team's lack of commitment, fitness. Also is IPL ruining Indian cricket and cricket in a whole?
Indian cricket is all the sudden in a pathetic condition with 8 players in the World Cup squad grossly over weight and 3 of them totally unfit for any form of cricket. The fitness is not the only problem as many of the players are also lacking commitment and the hunger to play for their country.
I wrote an article recently on the Indian coach, Gary Kirsten and said how I admired his management skills. Now, that admiration is only getting bigger. Gary Kirsten had one on one sessions with several senior players the likes of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, and conveyed some harsh message to them. Kirsten finds the T20 team totally uncommitted to the task and has lashed out in public about the lack of commitment, discipline and fitness. This is something I greatly appreciate and something Allan Border did. Allan Border when he was the skipper of Australia once was so disappointed with his team that he told in a press conference that he would step down if the team hasn't won a match in their remaining 3 matches against the Kiwis. The results was astounding as Australia went to win 2 of the matches and tie the series. Steve Waugh wrote about the incident that it hurt badly that AB would have to go the press to get the point across and that really spurred the players to give their best. In another year and a half they stood in Calcutta lifting up the World Cup and AB being carried all over the stadium.
Kirsten comes across as a very honest man and he is greatly disappointed in this team as every fan is. He specially took the time to point out that he at 42 years is more fit than the likes of Rohit Sharma who just turned 23. Stunning and shockingly true.
He has also said that the Indian team cares about the no.1 rank in test cricket and the no.2 rank in ODI's, but are not treating T20 as cricket. Something seriously wrong here and steps must be taken to curtail it. Australia cut of one of their best players, Andrew Symonds due to disciplinary actions and it's time for BCCI to do the same. I would like to see Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, and the youngsters all out of the team for some time. This way they will not take their selections for granted and also be committed to the country. Also it will let some other player who is more hungrier and committed than these players an opportunity to perform for his country.
Many blame the IPL for failures, but this utter lack of commitment to the country is probably due to it. It's sad to say that, but I do feel that IPL in a way is ruining Indian cricket. The younger players never have earned so much money and with all the sponsors and instant fame, I feel they forget that it's still cricket that is of the primary focus and makes them who they are. With the money and the demi-god statuses many of the youngsters lose sight of their priorities and their commitments. This is now clearly seen. The adulation is sometimes too much to handle for a player and has huge consequences on his game.
The club versus country is a debate that happens in Football and unheard of in cricket till recently. I do feel that it is true, and with the money involved in the IPL, I see more players being committed to their club than country. The pride of wearing your country colours and standing in front of the world singing the anthem and playing for the country and the passion of the game no longer suffices for many players, and sadly for them it's all about the money.
A couple of months ago when I was walking around the Chinnaswammy stadium with a cousin of mine, we got talking about T20 cricket and it's effect. One thing he told me shocked me and made me face the truth. With the IPL and the big bucks it generates, he said that he would encourage his son to become a big hitter and a slogger for T20 cricket rather than concentrate on technique and other aspects required for test cricket. I was shocked at this and dismissed it immediately, but seeing the way things are panning out, I'm sure that what he said is sadly very true.
This will only get worse unless there are some people with vision governing the game, willing to take some quite harsh decisions for the sake of cricket. Loyalties are ever changing and if a player is more loyal to a club than country and is more committed towards the club's cause, he must be shown the door with no questions asked and made an example of it. Cricket Australia did that with the Kerry Packer League, but BCCI and ICC don't have to go to that extreme. They just need to step in when they feel a player is not fulfilling in his work.
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This is why people like Dravid, Tendulkar, and Kumble are worth their weight in gold. They have never had their commitment questioned. And still selectors played Dravid like a yo-yo picking him in the Champions Trophy and then dropping him after it was over. Why is it so easy to drop Dravid and so hard to drop the non-performers who are not even 1/10 of him?
You have raised some very valid points. I am one of those, who believe that most of the Indian cricketers lack commitment towards state or national duty and their passion is always less than 100%.
However, I don't blame IPL for it. IPL is a very good thing and its timing this year has benefitted most international players as they got more than ample time to get into T20 form. If somebody, stupidly raises the argument about excess cricket in recent times, what about the foreign players, who played in IPL?
Warner, Pieterson, Morgan, Pollard, Malinga, Jayawardene, White etc were playing IPL and they flew in after playing in tough test series. The blame has to be taken up by the players. They are neither fit nor inspired to do justice to national duty.