Again Cricket

The two-month long cricket World Cup has come to an end with Australia lifting the coveted cup for the third time in a row. This years World Cup failed to be a crowd puller, overshadowed by the death of Pakistan’s coach Bob Woolmer and early exit of cricket titans India and Pakistan. The matter of concern for us is the future of Indian cricket, where will it head to.
After Team India’s fiasco in the World Cup repercussions were evident to come from the fans and more importantly Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Although BCCI took some stringent decisions, but in a way failed to address the real problem that ails Indian cricket. Presently the think tank’s course of action should be concentrating on domestic cricket such as Ranji and Duleep trophy in order to select young and talented players. Now, what India requires is a pool of young players and there should be an urgency to build on the bench strength, like the Australians.
The selectors should be stern in selecting the team and show no leniency towards the out-form or senior players. Moreover, selection of a right coach is the most important factor in any sport. The recent dismal performance of Team India was attributed to coach Greg Chappell by cricket pundits, fans and media. Team management should now come out from the obsession of having a foreign coach because its no way going to help. The selection of a coach should be on the basis of his man management skills rather he should be a motivator and could understand the psyche of players. In the recent board meeting of BCCI, the decision of slashing contract system and curb on players endorsements engagements was a welcome move, but some former players have criticised team management’s this decision. Another crucial aspect is that cricket should be considered as any other sport and should not be given so much of importance.
The media can also be blamed for giving a demi-god status to the cricketers and creating hype about cricket. Rather the media for a while should abstain itself from cricket and report on other sports in India, which are in a state of doldrums. Indian team both for One-day and Test matches has been announced for the upcoming Bangladesh tour. Former Test cricketer Ravi Shastri has now been appointed as the manager cum coach of the team and some new faces have also been included in the team, but we have to wait and see the result of these changes.