Duncan Fletcher :: Our Scapegoat or Mascot?

Dear Mr. Fletcher,

      We, the Indian Cricket fans are highly obsessed with our team’s glory. Gary Kirsten has left a huge hole to be replaced in our cricket team.  It is a big void, which can never be filled by anyone else. I hope that you know your responsibilities to fulfill the legacy.

     In order to be an efficient coach, you must understand the sentiments and emotional quotients of our players. When compared with other teams in international cricket, you can list a million differences for Team India. In this team, you have been given a bunch of players who may not speak the same language, may not celebrate the same festival, may not eat the same food, and may not wear the same wardrobes. But, they are bunch of guys who will overcome all these diversities for making our nation a proud one. Not all the bowlers will bowl like Zaheer, not all the fielders will field with gymnastic techniques like Raina, not all the batsmen will bat like the great Sachin. But, we don’t really have to. Because, we have got Zaheer, Raina and Sachin! They know the limitations and specialties of each other, which makes them invincible.

     Being a coach of England is about managing 14 people, who are part of a single ethnic race. On the other hand, being a coach of India is a whole different scenario. It is about managing 14 people who came from the ultimate mixture of more than 2000 ethnic races; it is about managing 35,595 newspapers circulating all over India; it is about managing 515 television channels who broadcast to every nook and corner of the nation and last but not the least, it is about managing 1.21 billion people who never want to experience a Indian defeat!

     Till you come to Indian soil, you might wonder the part played by cricket on other sectors of life. Cricket might be responsible for both the happiness and sadness of our nation. Here, cricket will be given prominence over a visit from US President. Cricket will be the topic of talk from village tea shops to business conferences at presidential suites.

     A defeat in a single match can cause a middle-class husband to fight with her wife, a television channel to broadcast a counter attack talk show, twitter to become #overloaded, a Duncan to attract scathing criticism and so on. Unlike Zimbabwe or England, you will be forced to lead a ‘digital life’ in India. Either 1 or 0. Either mountainous accolades or self sacrificial altar. Either coach or no coach.

     Being an Indian coach means, you have to read the runes always and you must be able to chase the rainbows almost every time. Under your training, if the team continues its winning streak, then the above mentioned media and people will appoint you as the mascot of Indian Cricket. On the contrary, if the team loses, then you will be the first and foremost scapegoat we will sacrifice!

     Whenever you confront an achievement or failure, tattoo the following bunch of words in your memory cells.

      In India, it goes like this. Air, water, food, shelter, cricket!

Best Wishes From,

A die-hard fan(atic) of Indian Cricket.

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The Legend in the name of ‘MidaS Dhoni’

It has taken 156 players for the Indian ODI Cricket to produce a player like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. As everyone recognizes, he is a special player, one of a unique kind. The famous 1983 World Cup is considered cornerstone for the Cricket saga in India. Though we had several gems of cricket ,who are exemplary at their technical batting and bowling skills, it is not the exact thing we needed to explore our entire potential.

Most of the Indian victories of 1990s and early 2000s is the direct resultant of the ‘Individual performances’ from the all-time greats such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble etc. But, the need of the hour is a good player who is adept at decision making and leadership skills. Sourav Ganguly is the one who started the process of leadership transformation in Indian Cricket. World Cup, 2003 will speak volumes about the leadership qualities of Sourav. But, once Sourav lost his form, he left a huge hole to be filled in the team. Successors of Sourav has shown little improvements in the resource management. As a result, we lost our 2007 World Cup chase in the initial stages.

The emergence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni has made such a miraculous impact, which completed the missing piece for making the Indian Team victorious. The batting style of MS Dhoni has been under criticism for a long-time. Even, some of his decisions has been under scanner. But, always,  he overcame all the odds against him and proved his worth at every other occasion. One must not forget the fact that he is the first Indian Cricketer to be awarded the ‘ICC ODI Player of the year’. He has the record of holding the most dismissals in ODI. His score of 183* against Sri Lanka is the highest score by an individual in a 2nd innings. It is also the highest score by a Wicket-keeper batsman. But, it is the leadership acumen of MSD, which made him to the list of one of the legends of cricket which included Sachin, Lara, Ponting and Kallis. He might not be consistent with his batting efforts in the recent past, but he is still the best captain we ever had. With the advent of MSD era, India started winning matches due to the sheer advantage of right decisions in field setup and bowling changes. He is remarkably cool and is able to handle extreme pressure situations. The best scale to measure a captain’s ability is Pascals and Dhoni stoop up to the occasions with strong nerves almost every-time.

Well suited, Sachin and Sourav named him the best captain India has got so far.

There is no achievement left for him to be achieved in the Cricket World. Under his captaincy, India won the T20 World Cup 2007, became the No.1 Test playing nation, won the ICC ODI World Cup 2011. As a captain, he led the Chennai Super Kings to win the IPL and Champions League 2010. The way he lead the team members, the way he cultivated friendship inside the team, the way he accomplished huge feats without pressure, the way he made Sachin to cherish the moment when he hit 200*, the way he stepped aside from the players after winning the World Cup and finally the way he finished the 2011 World Cup final with his helicopter shot will be remembered forever after him.

MS Dhoni – The Man with the Midas touch!

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