May 3, 1999
|
|
|
|
ON THE BALL Work to a Plan The team should come up with innovative strategies to unsettle their opponents in the World Cup By Kapil Dev Isn't it strange that our cricket is so predictable and our politics just the reverse? Each one of us knows just what to expect from the home team. Who will open the bowling, who would be batting and where each one would be placed. Yet, our politics seems to keep us all on tenterhooks. Jokes apart, these days the whole concept of the game has changed drastically. Other teams, I learn, give a great deal of importance to learning about the opposition. Coaches seem to rely heavily on computers and video cassettes to assess the weaknesses and strengths of their opponents. So far, however, I do not think anyone does this in our part of the world. Thus we are exposed to our opponents but have not learnt deeply enough of their drawbacks. We cannot change our approach at this stage, but we can introduce some unexpected moves to throw the other side off guard. I have said this before and I say it again: Sachin should be sent in at No. 4. Sachin and Azhar are our two key batsmen. If Sachin is sent in too early and he fails, it demoralises the entire team. He must be protected and supported. Azhar on the other hand should come good now. His preceding Sachin and hopefully consolidating an innings should prove advantageous to India. The management should use them well. They should be supporting each other with the others rallying around them. Let's use our bowlers differently too. Maybe one could open an attack with Kumble instead of the usual Srinath and Prasad. With the prevalent weather conditions, the wickets will never be solid and Kumble will be deadly. Agarkar also is relatively unexposed. Let us use him to open occasionally. I am quite certain he would provide the necessary shock treatment. We have three to four days between every match, so strategies should be planned, changed and improvised upon as the situation changes. The management must put its head together to ensure the maximum productivity. There was a saying I used to hear in my childhood which implied that if the hands and body worked hard, the heart would be at peace. Our boys would have to do just that. Also, I would not hesitate to improvise or change tactics if my instinct told me to. Sometimes, one plans something else but things change completely out there in the middle. I would follow my gut feeling and go for an unexpected change in strategy. I am fortunate to have played with the 1999 team in Mumbai this week. I must give the boys credit for having taken the match so seriously. They have played so much cricket of late and have the big event around the corner, and even though they justifiably did not play to their full potential, never did I feel a laxity or a casual attitude in their approach. This is very reassuring. But one thing, I must admit, confuses me no end. The hype this World Cup seems to be generating is unprecedented. There is so much support for the team that I hope they can sustain the pressure. Earlier about 20 million people would watch the game. Now it's going to be so much more than that. The boom of televisions and radios is on. No new films or television serials, I hear are being released, so the focus of the entire country is going to be the World Cup. I feel it is good that the tournament is being held in England and not here. The pressure would have been suffocating. With the massive exposure and crazy media hype, nobody can cover up their flaws. This much adulation demands that much more work. Former India captain and allrounder
Kapil Dev will be writing a regular column exclusively for |
|
Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY © Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
