May 31, 1999
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ON THE BALL Mental Flaw The loss to Zimbabwe hurts because the Indians showed complete lack of cricketing basics. By Kapil Dev
For once I'm in no mood to mince words about the Indian team's performance in the World Cup. If I were the manager or captain of the team, I would drop Sadagopan Ramesh for the rest of the tournament. No doubt it's a strong opinion, especially after his good knock, but I find it sad that we lack basic cricketing intelligence. What is a good debut? Is it getting your 50 and then throwing your bat around? Ramesh left a job half done. He was settled and his role was to steer India to victory. But his body language told me that he was going to get out. Getting a 50 or a 100 is not everything. He had a golden chance to become a great player but blew it. Talent alone is not sufficient these days. We desperately need intelligent players to tide us over. Players who can improvise when a situation demands. Cricketing intelligence is seen when you need 40 runs off 40 balls and get there with singles-the occasional boundaries are sure to come by. It is seen when the bowler is appealing strongly for an LBW and at the same time chasing the ball. The bowlers and fielders have to look out for run outs even while appealing. Cricketing intelligence is not to experiment in the last three overs of a game. Why bowl a short-pitched delivery to a batsman who handles it well? Some bowlers feel they can flight the ball and tempt the batsman to loft. That's okay as long as it is not done in the last couple of overs of a one-day game. Never challenge a good player at the wrong time. Cricketing intelligence demands you to be street-smart. Why are people like Javed Miandad so respected? Purely for this. I remember once a board official talking to me highly about a player who was a doctor or engineer. Great! I thought to myself. But does he have cricket sense? There must also be a burning desire to become a great player. Being merely good is not enough. A great player is one who must pre-empt a situation. One who must think and act without waiting to be told. One whose presence must assure victory to the side. We have lost many matches terribly. The point is not about losing but gifting away a certain win. I felt the loss to South Africa was bearable. It was the first game, our boys did okay, the other team just played exceptionally well. But the Zimbabwe game hurts because we lost due to lack of cricketing knowledge. I could pick out a hundred flaws in the way we played but I'm not doing so because I'm basically a positive person. What is amazing is that our boys play so much cricket through the year. Why do we constantly play like an inexperienced side? Are we
selecting players when they are too young? If earphones are ever permitted in cricket I
think the Indian team management ought to grab them first so that instructions can be
constantly fired to the players. Honestly, however, I feel we have not prepared ourselves
mentally to take part in a tournament as big as the World Cup. Former India captain and allrounder
Kapil Dev will be writing a regular column exclusively for |
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Before I comment
on the Indian team's performance, I would like to express my condolences to Sachin
Tendulkar and his family on the sudden demise of his father. The team no doubt will miss
him sorely but at the moment he is more a family man than a cricketer. He is a mature and
sensible person who I'm sure will hold the family together in its hour of grief. There are
no words to offer to the Tendulkar family. All I would like to say is that I'm very happy
that Ramesh Tendulkar saw the overwhelming success of his son. 
