View Full Version : India - why aren't they the best in the world ?
Bloodstained Angel
14 Mar 2001, 08:48
Instead they are nothing but a sad, sick joke.
Think about it - 1 billion people, 10 million registered players, 100's of millions (yes thats HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS)of informal cricketers, the second largest nation on the face of the Earth ... and they are all completely besotted with cricket.
Given such vast resources, why aren't these guys the runaway unbeatable world champions for years on end.
With their resources it should be a complete no-brainer, yet, they are no better than an average squad, eminently beatable at home and nothing but a rabble on tour.
why ? http://www.bigfooty.com/ubb/confused.gif
WCE2000
14 Mar 2001, 09:59
There are a couple of major problems with Indian Cricket and Sub-Continent cricket in general.
The first one is their first class system is redicolous. There is over 30 teams in India, about 20 teams in Pakistan. This means that the players don't play only against the best. They play against sub standard cricketers who should not be playing at that level.
The second one is how early some of their players develop. They put so much enfasis on younger players its redicolous. They have a national under 15 competition, which is considered a major tournament in the Indian Cricket Calenedar. Under 15, the Aus u/17 and u/19 competitions aren't even major in Australia.
And How often do you see 16/17/18 year olds playing test cricket in India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka. It happens so often - in fact Pakistan's Hazan Raza made his test debut at 14.
These youngsters, who are clearly not ready for this level of play are found way out of their depth, struggle and no matter how good the eventually become, will struggle to make the naitonal team again because they struggled the first time - when they weren't even considered adults.
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Maybe coz us Aussies are special http://www.bigfooty.com/ubb/wink.gif
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"I came here to win, I am a winner" - Denzel Washington , Remember The Titans ; 2000
The Dutchman!
14 Mar 2001, 16:15
May have something to do with the caste system that leads to a lack of dressing room unity - I have heard that Ganguly is above all this...
Pure & simply when have you ever seen a truly fast top class Indian bowler-they don't exist I believe it is a physical thing they just don't produce big strapping blokes who can bowl fast for long periods.This is unlike their neighbours Paksitan who just go up into the mountains & find those big Waqar Younis types tending their flock of goats.
I just read about Ganguly in the paper, he is apparently amazing rich, im talking a multi millionaire!! He doesnt even need to play cricket cos if he didnt work for the rest of his life he would still be rolling in it. I think he also is a bit of an ass and doesnt really bond with the other members of the team which has led me to believe that the captaincy needs to be changed.
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All the people in the broken homes dont wanna fight no more. All the people nursing shattered bones dont wanna fight no more. But theres no profit in peace so we gotta fight some more.
1) Soft domestic competition as per WCE 2000
2) The top players choose not to play domestic cricket even when available. I read that Ganguly will only play at venues he considers to be up to scratch.
3) Too much one day cricket - too many meaningless tournaments - wears the players out
4) Haven't had a good captain for years.
Bloodstained Angel
15 Mar 2001, 11:55
... and another factor :
Doctored Wickets
Can give the Indians a win at home, but leaves their batsmen badly exposed when they tour and have to play on anything other than a hard dusty track.
They routinely get slaughtered at places like the WACA.
TigerTank
15 Mar 2001, 12:32
THE PITCHES, THE PITCHES, THE PITCHES
If you were a young fellow starting out on a cricket career in India, why the hell would you be a fast bowler. Absolutely NO encouragement from their pitches at all. None! A retarded troll could hit a quick 50 on an Indian wicket off even a good fast bowler.
A good wicket (I don't mean what the batsman-biased cricket boards describe as a 'good wicket') is one where batsmen, spin bowlers and seamers have an equal chance. Fat chance of that in India.
So, a lot of young fast bowlers just give up, as the young batsmen get a dream run. Suddenly they (the young batsmen) find themselves overseas against quality bowlers on decent pitches, and they invariably get slaughtered.
The Indian Cricket Board, instead of taking the hard step of actually improving their cricket and cricketers by preparing decent pitches, takes the gutless option of making pitches that give their batsmen a chance of drawing a match. Sometimes their spinners pull off a win.
The Indian Cricket Board should be utterly ashamed of themselves for their cowardice, and they deserve to be thrashed.
In the West Indies the opposite problem exists. The pitches so favour the bowlers that batsmen have their confidence shattered by fairly ordinary pacemen.
Nixon McLean, for example, looks like a star on Caribbean pitches - wrecking batting line-ups and potential careers, but in Australia he is just a plodder.
The racial thing is a red-herring. For all practical purposes Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoab Aktar and this new fellow are the same race as the Indians. Maybe the Muslim thing makes them more aggressive than the passive Hindus, but there are plenty of Muslims living in India.
The reality is that the Indian Cricket Board should have a good, hard look at itself, then have a good hard look at Pakistan. Do they want to be the worlds most boring cricket nation, who draw every other test? Or do they want to be an exciting, spectacular cricket nation that sometimes wins, sometimes loses, but always give an entertaining show.
PS. Why the hell does Australia never get a decent 5 test series against Pakistan at home. http://www.bigfooty.com/ubb/frown.gif
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TT - Obligatory bad-tempered Richmond supporter