Yuvraj Singh - All Talent No Deliverance

India being a cricket crazy nation and thousands of youngsters taking up the game dreaming of making it big one day and representing the Indian Cricket team, it is not surprising that every now and then it keeps on producing some fresh new faces (more so in case of batting) with a potential of being a good player at the highest level. But they go as they come and the search for the new potential great players with the ability to take up the mantle from the batch of 73 (Sachin, Saurav and Rahul) still continues. Among these youngsters was a player with immense talent and his potential of being a great player for India was recognized by anyone who saw him bat in the U-19 World Cup in January 2000. It was none other than Yuvraj Singh, the tall, lanky left hander with a lazy demeanor who would transform into a stylish, hard hitting yet classy and a fearless batsman with the bat in his hand. He dominated the bowling attacks in the WC and easily built a reputation of being a match winner with the ability to clear the boundary with ease and at will. Winning the U-19 World Cup provided him the perfect launch pad to perform and get noticed by the National Selection Committee to earn a call up for the national duty. His performances did not go unnoticed and he was immediately sent to the then newly formed National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

India, known for its tradition of blooding players at a very young age, Yuvraj did not have to wait long to represent the Indian team in colored clothing. He made his debut against Kenya at Nairobi, in the ICC Knockout Trophy in Oct. 2000, billed as the "Mini World Cup". He did not get much of a chance in that game but it was the next match that marked his arrival onto the big stage. It was the perfect set up to stamp his authority and cement his place in the ODI team, and he delivered in grand style. It was the quarterfinal against Australia, with India being put in to bat. Yuvraj batting at the number 5 position, came in to join Vinod Kambli at the crease with the team in a precarious situation having lost the big three (Sachin, Saurav and Rahul) with the score at 90. Yuvraj occupied the crease and played one his most memorable innings in the ODIs. He scored a jaw dropping 84 in only 80 balls, never showing any nerves of playing against the World Champions in a knock out match. He played his natural game with much aplomb, taking the attack to the Aussie bowlers even though the wickets fell regularly at the other end. He helped India to a decent total of 265 that India managed to successfully defend. As a result Yuvraj became an overnight star and it was as if he was destined to become the next big thing in Indian Cricket.

However, as everything that shines is not gold, Yuvraj's scintillating performance was only a momentary flash of brilliance that he could not produce on a regular basis. The failures and inconsistency were attributed to his youth and lack of experience and over the years the selection committees always backed him to come good and deliver based on his talent. He kept on struggling for consistency but kept on producing a match winning innings that would re-affirm the faith and trust that the Indian fans and the selectors showed in him. One such innings was in the Natwest Series Final at Lord's against England where the hosts had scored 325/5 with the help of fine centuries by their captain Nasser Hussain and opener Marcus Trescothick. It was always going to be a formidable total for Indians to chase but they set up the chase in the best possible manner with Virender Sehwag and Captain Sourav Ganguly providing a flying start. The duo had an opening stand of 106 in a little over 14 overs. Ganguly went first and was soon followed by Sehwag allowing England to get back into the game. The next 3 batsmen could add only 40 runs to the total and India was looking at a big defeat being 146-5 even before the 25 overs mark was reached. Yuvraj Singh and Mohd. Kaif played the innings of their lives building a partnership of 121 runs from just 17.4 overs. Yuvraj again showed no fear and played his natural attacking game scoring 69 off 63 balls studded with 9 fours and a six. Although Mohd. Kaif played equally well, the finesse in Yuvraj's strokes was breathtaking. He took the attack to the English bowlers who had no clue where to bowl him at. Again, the hopes were raised in the hearts of Indian fans that a prospective legend had finally matured and understood his responsibility. It was all too flattering to deceive as Yuvraj failed to gain any consistency, yet again.

India then were fortunate to get Greg Chappell as coach in 2005, who emphasized on selecting a team based on performance and not on reputation. He had made it clear that one had to perform well to be in the team and would remain in the team only if one performed consistently at the highest level. Many players including Yuvraj had criticized this policy alleging that the players were under too much pressure to perform. But as some of the senior players were shown the door based on their poor performances, players did not have any other choice but to perform well. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Yuvraj as he had the best three years of his cricketing career under Greg Chappell. He appeared to have matured and become responsible after being appointed as the Vice Captain of the ODI team. He averaged 41.95, 53.06 and 45.96 in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. This was the longest run of consistency that he has exhibited in his entire cricketing career till now. Once Greg Chappell's term as the coach got over (after the early exit from the WC 2007) Yuvraj Singh appears to have gone back to his old ways, playing short, exquisite innings reminding everyone of how gifted a player he is, but getting out playing reckless and irresponsible shots way too often to get dismissed cheaply. He has failed to show any grit and determination to struggle it out in the middle if the batting conditions are not favorable, his weakness against quality spin bowling has become even worse. It seems he has failed to put in any amount of effort to work on his batting against spin bowling as his weakness against a turning ball has become way too obvious and one is not surprised to see him being easily foxed by the spinners. Off late he has been able to get high scores only against weaker sides on flat batting tracks of the subcontinent. The only exception being the T20 World Cup where he played some memorable innings in crucial matches. But the Australian tour that followed was his worst and he struggled to get a decent score throughout the tour (including the practice games, test matches and the Tri-Series).

What has been disturbing even more is the way he has been publicly speaking of harbouring dreams of being the ODI captain of India. He should just have a look at his batting record, he has been playing for Indian for 9 years and still at no point in his career till date has his career batting average touched 40 (which is considered the benchmark for good players). It would be much more beneficial for him personally as well as the Indian fans if he let his bat do the talking instead of using his mouth. It has been baffling to see his statements about critics slamming him for his partying ways off the field, defending it as his personal life and stating that he wants to live his life to the fullest. Well, no one really cares what he does off the field as long as he performs well on it. It is high time the Indian selectors took a heed of things going on with Yuvraj and make him aware of his run scoring duties. Make him realize that playing for India is not a child's play and demands a lot of discipline on personal level. The fans have been patient thus far but I guess their patience has started to give away as well, that is the reason it did not surprise anyone when he was dropped from the test side that has been picked for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. It is really important for him to realize this at the earliest or else he will be forgotten soon and will be an addition to the long list of cricketers who had the talent but could not leave their mark at the highest level. He has been fortunate enough to have survived for 9 years at the highest level, but it seems that even the time is running out on him.

Greg Chappell - A Blessing In Disguise For Indian Cricket

This time I have chosen to express my views about the topic that I think would have been discussed by all the keen followers of Indian Cricket. The contribution of the former coach of India and legendary Australian batsman - Greg Chappell, to the Indian Cricket.

Greg Chappell was appointed as the coach of Indian team after the former Kiwi batsman John Wright, successfully completed his tenure and decided not to extend his contract with the BCCI as the coach of Indian cricket team. The process adopted by the BCCI for the selection of the next coach was a really lengthy but a rigorous one. A set of criterion was decided upon for screening all the candidates that had applied for the prestigious, but a very scrutinizing job. Also the BCCI had appointed a committee of former captains and players to help them select the right candidate for the job. The committee comprised of Venkat Raghavan, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They screened each and every candidate, looked at their credentials and interviewed them. The committee finally decided on two candidates to be considered for the job, Greg Chappell and Mohinder Amarnath. Both the candidates were asked to make presentations pertaining to their future vision for the development of Indian cricket and how they could help the Indian team as a coach. Based on the presentations Greg Chappell was offered the job which he gladly accepted.

Greg Chappell had always been a very shrewd cricketer when he represented Australia and was known to do anything for winning a game. He was the captain who had ordered his younger brother, Trevor, to bowl the final ball of the match as an underarm delivery against NZ, to make sure the Kiwis were not able to score the required 6 runs from the final delivery, bear in mind not to win but to tie the game. This meant that Australia would go on to win the third match of the five match series to be played in the finals of Benson and Hedges World Series Cup in Feb 1981. The delivery was not technically illegal but was considered against the spirit of the game and since is considered as one of the most disgraceful incidents ever to have happened in the history of the game. Although he was considered a lesser astute captain than his elder brother Ian, he still managed to win 21 out of the 48 tests that he played as a captain, losing only 13. Since his retirement,he had been an Australian selector, a coach for Queensland, and a consultant for Pakistan's National Cricket Academy before becoming the coach of the Indian cricket team.

When he was appointed as the coach of the Indian cricket team, the team had been doing well under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly (one of the best Captains India has ever produced in my opinion) but had started showing loss of form in ODIs and had made a habit of reaching the finals of a tournament and ending up as the runners up, hence being tagged as chokers in the media. Ganguly himself was having a difficult time as a batsman and questions were being raised over his place in the team as a batsman. Chappell wanted to have a playing eleven selected on the basis of performance and not reputation and thus, was himself not happy with the selection of Sourav Ganguly. Things got worse between them and finally everything came out in the open when a letter by Greg Chappell to the BCCI about his concerns and the factions that Sourav Ganguly was creating within the team to keep his place, was leaked to the media. India were touring Zimbabwe at the time and Ganguly, to his relief, had scored a century, though against a weakened Zimbabwean side. BCCI finally acceded to Chappell's request and Ganguly was sacked as the captain and was unceremoniously (but justifiably) ousted from the team. Even Ganguly himself has stated that his only disappointment was with the way he was removed from the team and not why he was shown the door.

As usual there were huge protests, specially in Kolkata, by the supporters of Ganguly. The then chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, had made it clear that Ganguly would not make it back to the team unless he gained his form and worked on his fitness. Rahul Dravid was appointed as the captain and India started really well under his captaincy. He too was impressed with Chappell's idea of selection based on performance and the ability of the batsmen to play at any position as required in the game. Unfortunately, the Indian players took it as a threat to their secured positions in the team and started to raise questions. Concerns over the coaching ways of Chappell were being raised from within the team. Meanwhile the team did really well in test matches, specially overseas where they won series in the WI, won a test in South Africa, drew a series against England but then had a tough tour against South Africa and WI in the ODIs, just before the 2007 WC that was to be held in the WI. Despite Chappell's efforts to prepare a young side for the WC, the selection committee surrendered under the pressure to bring back the players based on reputation for the WC. Obviously, Chappell was not happy with the team given to him but had no other option but to take the squad to the WI for the WC. What happened next will never be washed away from the memories of the Indian Cricket fans. India lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to crash out of the WC in the first phase.

As expected, fans back home were furious but unfortunately the blame was being put on Greg Chappell. Chappell had finished his contract and decided not to extend his contract as the coach after taking the responsibility for the abysmal performance in the WC. Before he left though, he submitted a report to the BCCI on his assessment of the players that he thought would be the future of Indian cricket team. He specifically mentioned that India were lucky to have found MS Dhoni, as he thought Dhoni was a really good captaincy material. He also mentioned that Suresh Raina was as talented as Tendulkar and should be given time to mature into a great batsman. Although Raina was not able to live up to the expectations and was rightly shown the door, he has come back strongly and has started to realize the talent that he has been blessed with. Dhoni has already proved how good a captain and a player he is, with wins in the T20 WC and the astonishing series victory over Australia, in Australia. He has improved by leaps and bounds as a keeper too. Dhoni has followed the same policy that Greg Chappell had initially embarked upon, rewarding the players based on the performance, as a result India has seen the rise of Gautham Gambhir who had been a consistant performer for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, but could never make a place for himself due to Ganguly's presence. Now that Dhoni has clearly told the selection committee that he wants a young side, and has done well thus far, it has proved to be the right policy to keep Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble out of the ODI side.

Having said that, I would like to make a point to all the Ganguly fans, who would say that Ganguly showed a lot of character by coming back to the Indian side and making runs consistently since his comeback. I agree, it was really heartening to see Ganguly show some guts to fight it out and come back to be on top of his game, but the only reason he was able to do so was because of Greg Chappell. Ganguly was ousted of the team and was as a result able to work on his batting, spend some time playing in the domestic season, working on his batting and fitness, which resulted in him regaining the lost form and making the incredible comeback that everybody has witnessed.

Indian cricket fans should be thankful to the former coach who fought his way through the traditional establishments of Indian cricket and changed the mindset of the selectors to focus on the performance rather than the reputation of the players. I hope that his contribution to the development of the new era of Indian cricket will not be forgotten, and will be and should be appreciated by the cricket crazy fans in India and all over the world.