Captains In Cricket World Cup- Part 2

Continuing from the first part, let me tell you about other 3 captains and I will through some light on current world cup captains.

Imran Khan:

Imran Khan stands out as a more of a LEADER than Cricketing Captain. He had won the world cup for Pakistan only on his emotion and ability to inspire & bind the team together. Imran had taken retirement from cricket after the world cup of 1987. After that he wanted to make a biggest cancer hospital in Pakistan in the name of his mother, for that he was in need of money. He had no other option to come out of retirement in 1988 to lead the side and gather the money for hospital. He had set a goal of winning world cup of 1992. For 1992 world cup he had handpicked every team member, ignoring the selection committee and told every team member what he expects from an individual. 

He was very disciplined and autocratic as captain. Pakistan won only one match out of their first 5 matches in 1992 world cup. They were almost out of the world cup, but Imran Khan kept telling his team-mates that “We will win this world cup; I need money to build hospital”.  Ramiz Raja, who was part of 1992 world cup team told in an interview that only because of Imran’s influence and inspiration team had possessed such a high spirit and went on to win the world cup. In after match presentation he actually admitted that his obsession with cancer hospital kept him going.

Arjuna Ranatunga:

Arjuna was a person who will stand behind his team members when they need him the most. The way he supported Murali on the tour of Australia in1995 was quite phenomenal. No one before done that in a cricketing history, he had protested against an unfair umpiring decision which was more racial than for cricketing reason. He, along with his team walked out of the ground to support Muralidharan. His firm belief in his players kept the foundation of winning the world cup. 

Arjuna & Coach Dave Whatmore came up with the idea of bringing Jayasuriya up in the order. Jayasuriya was not sure of himself, because he was mainly a bowler who can bat a bit, in fact  in his initial years of cricket he had batted at number 8 or 9. But Arjuna told him that even if he fails at top order, his place in team wouldn’t be harmed. Arjuna’s word had given confidence to Sanath and the rest is history.

Steve Waugh:

The captain, who used to speak very less with his team members, only let his ability and performance set the example for his players. His ability to remain calm in high pressure situation was extra-ordinary. 

In super six league match against South Africa in 1999, the match was must win match to qualify for the semi-final. When Steve came to bat Aussies were struggling while chasing 272 for victory, they had lost 3 wickets for 48 runs. In this demanding situation, this Iceman had produced very determinant knock of 120*. This innings won the game for Australia and also helped them to qualify for the world cup final after the famous tied match in Semi final.

Ricky Pointing:

Ricky is still playing, the only Captain to win 2 consecutive world cup without losing a match. He had the best players in his side to win the world cup for Australia during this era; in 2003 world cup final, he scored very hard hitting hundred which helped Australia to win the world cup against India. He was man of the match in that final. 

Many cricketing greats don’t term him as a great leader like Steve Waugh to which I also agree. But he is very ambitious as a captain; his only obsession is to win matches. He is known for losing temper on a field, and being arrogant sometimes. He has not grown as a leader during his tenure as captain.  After retirement of Hayden, Gilchrist, McGrath and Warne, the down fall had started. He is a good captain but not a great captain.

Who is next?

This time we will have new Cricket Captain who will lift the world cup trophy. Will it be Daniel Vettori or Afridi or M. S. Dhoni or Sangakkara? Among these men, one man will have the glory of his lifetime and he will make his country very proud. So who will be that leader? In my view Vettori don’t have the ability to inspire his team. Shahid Afridi carries tremendous amount of energy around him, and he has led the team successfully in difficult times. Sangakkara looks very compose and man in command when he is leading the team.  Sanga works in a manner and he has his plans ready for a big occasion. The only weakness I see in him is that he doesn’t have a plan B ready in crunch situation.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, known as MSD. He prefers the name Mahi. Neither he has performed with bat in this world cup nor he is best player in Indian Side. But Mahi has the special ability of getting out best from his players. According to him “Captain is just a channel which utilizes his resources to the fullest”. His brain works like super computer on cricketing field, he reads the situation well in advance. He has been termed as Captain Cool by none other than Imran Khan himself. 

Mahi shows no sign of frustration in critical situation. His body language is impeccable for Captain during the tense moment. Mahi always has come up with Plan A  before the match, and he has the Plan B ready if the Plan A fails. Dhoni also has Plan C in mind if plan B don’t work out and this Plan C is having NO PLAN, just keep the patience, and taking the bold decision. The most admirable quality of Mahi according to me is “Even if situation do not favors him, he will NEVER GIVE UP”.  At this moment he looks to me the most deserving LEADER to lift the GLORY.

(Your views are important, please do leave your comments.)

Captains in Cricket World Cup- Part 1

I am writing this blog on the CAPTAINS in CRICKET WORLD CUP, I will release the blog in  two parts. I will try to bring some interesting example during this.

In cricket there are eleven players, who were actually playing on the cricket field during the match. One player among the 11 players takes on field decisions. His job becomes more similar to the captain of the ship. In cricket the on field captain should be the best player of the team.

It is not necessary that he should be the best batsman or best bowler of the side, but as an individual he must possess sound knowledge of all the aspects covering on field as well as off field matters. Captain should have good cricketing brain that can take right decision in most critical situation. The history also shows that in cricket like in all other areas of life, the great captains had the quality of leading by example.

When we analyze the world cup winning teams from 1975 to 2007, the conclusion comes that all these teams had great leader. The teams able to win the world cup only because the kind of individual influence they had on their team, not only as captain but also as a leader.

“Every leader can become captain, but every captain may not have the leadership quality. The captain, who will be able to inspire his team up in a situation which doesn’t favor them, by setting an example, has the ability to achieve the greatness”.

World Cup Captains:

Clive Lloyd:

Clive Lloyd was the captain of two world cup winning teams 1975 & 1979. At that time West Indies had an exceptional aura around them, they were able win the matches even before actually playing it. In 1975, in first ever world cup final, when Clive Lloyd came in to bat West Indies was struggling for 50/ 3, he stood out for his team and played masterful innings of 102 runs and won the world cup of 1975. His innings triggered and inspired his whole team to do better.

Kapil Dev:

If we can divide the Indian cricket in two different eras, it must be time before 1983 and time after 1983. The team which was not expected to win a single game in a world cup emerged as winner of the world cup in 1983. In a game against Zimbabwe in 83 world cup, Indian scorecard was showing five wickets and only 17 runs were on the board, at this crunch time the Captain Kapil Dev walks in, and he straight away counter attacked on Zimbabwe, it was raining fours and sixes on the ground. Kapil Dev scored 175* with 16 boundaries & 6 sixes. 

When he walked out for batting, the situation was very difficult and it could have gone either ways. But he knew, attack was the best defense at that time and he played blistering innings to see that India wins the match. The video of this inning is not available, but as the other Indian players speak out about his innings, Ravi Shastri in one of his interview said that after the match against Zimbabwe, team was actually started believing that they could win it from here. The Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev blew away Zimbabwe and inspired India to World Cup glory. 

Another incident the team member still remember was in the final against West Indies. In final match India had very small total of 183 runs to defend and Sir Vivian Richards was hammering Indian bowler. Everyone knows that he was the key wicket for India. Again Kapil inspired his team by taking unbelievable catch, he ran almost 15 steps backwards to take very important catch of Sir Vivian Richards, and it was the turning point of that match. Richards told in an interview that "no else could have taken that catch except the Indian Captain Kapil Dev".

Allan Border:

Border was leading Australia in very difficult times in 1987 World Cup; however they had made their way to the final by surprising Pakistan in semis. The final was against England. The British team was chasing a moderate target of 254 runs. Mike Getting was the captain of England team and was the batsman of whom Aussies wants to see the back as early as possible. Getting was playing on 41 runs from 45 balls, and England team was in good position to win the world cup. At this point Allan Border was taken decision to bowl himself, this decision involved high amount of risk and could have boom ranged on him as he was not regular bowler.  To the first ball of Border’s Getting tried to reverse sweep and gave away his wicket, the Australian’s joy was unconcealed. Mike Getting’s wicket was the turning point of the match and Australian team won the Reliance World Cup 1987 under the leadership of Allan Border. 

(To be continued ......)

1996 World Cup: A Heart Break

1996 World Cup:

As world cup is coming closer and closer, Indians are feeling that , this world cup belongs to them only. We, Indians always had high expectation from our team in the previous World Cups as well. Let it be the world cup 1996 , 1999, or 2003(In 2007 our expectation were drowned before it could raise). 

Between the years 1993 to 1996, under the leadership of Azhar team was doing good; Sachin Tendulkar had just started to show that there was a legend in making. Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sanjay Manjarekar, Ajay Jadeja, Vinod Kambli and Azhar himself were respected players of their era. Vinod Kambli in particular had the tag of match winner after Sachin. In bowling department led by the very experience Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Venkatpathy Raju, Ashish Kapoor and the man with golden arm Sachin Tendulkar. At that time Sachin was consider to be more reliable to get wicket and turn the match around at crucial times as the memories of Hero Cup semifinal verses South Africa was very much fresh. At that time Indian team didn’t had dashing wicketkeeper as we have today in form of Dhoni, but certainly very popular Nayan Mongia, because of his loud scream in Marathi “Aai g” (Oh Mummy).

League Matches:

1996 Campaign was started on good note beating Kenya, outclassed by century from the Sachin. India beat West Indies quite comfortably. Sachin scoring delightful 70 runs, with Kambli cheeping in with well made 33 runs. Sachin was man of the match on the both occasions; the whole team gaining momentum at the right time. Until Aussies beat India in a close match; again Sachin’s wicket was vital in that match and he played masterful innings of 90 runs.

The real can of worms turns out to be the match against the Sri Lanka. Again the man himself taken all the pride of scoring runs for India and Master Blaster scored 137 runs, with the help of his century India had given very competitive target of 271, which in those was winning score. I, like all Indians was relaxed and very happy that India will win this match for sure. But then you can’t take anything for granted, this was the first lesson I have learned. The loss against Sri Lankan team had created some DOUBT in the conscious & subconscious mind of Indian players, and when DOUBT is there in your mind (this DOUBT will come in to picture when I will tell you about the infamous Semifinal played at Eden Gardens), there were lots of IFs & BUTs were happened. Finally Prabhakar was dropped from playing eleven in the next match.

The rise of Jayasuriya ensured that Manoj Prabhakar will play his last international match. With Sanath making thunderous 79 runs and well supported by Ranatunga & Tilakrante achieved the unexpected (at least it was unexpected for the Indians). India lost to Sri Lanka which turns out to be real show spoiler for common Indian fan like me and nor did the Azhar’s team believed it till it happened. But as it was league match the team has moved on and played with great heart to beat Zimbabwe. The Kambli factor came in to picture here. When he came out bat Indian team were struggling for 32 /3. But the veteran Sidhu and very talented Kambli guided India to respectable total, many thanks to Ajay Jadeja for his all round abilities. Ajay played a blinder scoring 44 runs in 27 balls and took 2 wickets. In fact he was chosen man of the match.

The league matches were all over by this time, and thanks to Aussies, Sri Lanka emerged as number one in Group A. As the Aussies didn’t went to the Sri Lanka citing (unnecessary) security reasons, therefore Sri Lanka team were handed over free points for that match.  Aussies were on second spot, followed by India on three and then by West Indies at fourth.

In Group B more predictable things were happened South Africa topped the group followed by Pakistan at second and New Zealand & England were at three & fourth respectively. (After league stages nothing predictable happened for the Group B teams, as in the semifinal stage all the 4 teams were from  Group A.)

So stage was set up for the quarter final Sri Lanka v/ England, Australia v/s new Zealand, South Africa v/s West Indies and the BIG ONE India v/s Pakistan.

The Quarters:

In a first quarter final played between Sri Lanka & England at Faisalabad, in Pakistan, the match was pretty much one sided with Jayasuriya again showing his powerful hitting and scoring 82 runs from just 44 balls. Sri Lanka won the match with ease while chasing the modest score of 235 runs. Now Sri Lanka was scheduled to play in the semifinal with the winner of India & Pakistan quarterfinal match in Bangalore (now Bengaluru).  

As we all know India v/s Pakistan was the highlight of 1996 world cup match, thanks to some scintillating hitting by Ajay Jadeja and the incident which took place between Aamir Sohail & Venkatesh Prasad. India won the match in grand style. Large amount of thinking was gone before this match and it was visible from the near perfect execution.  Keep wickets in hand and then score a competitive score of 250-260. But thanks to late flurry by Ajay Jadeja in which he clearly dismantle Waqar Younis in the death overs. India scored very fine 287. Rest was up to bowlers, Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad came to party with 3 wickets each. India grabbed a emphatic win here.

Now it was clear that India would be playing Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens Calcutta (now Kolkata). When the Indian team met to discuss the plans for this match, the think tank of the team; the wonder couple of Captain Azhar & Coach Ajit Wadekar were came to conclusion by looking at Lankan record in last 12 months and in world cup. They simply came to conclusion that Sri Lankan were good in chasing, as in quarterfinal also, Sri Lanka had won the match by chasing.

The Semifinal:

I think, Captain & Coach had decided well in advance that, India would be chasing in semifinal if they were lucky with the toss. Guess what, Azhar won the toss in that semifinal and invited Sri Lanka to have the honor of batting first at Eden Gardens; the decision looks damn good as the dynamic duo of Sanath & Kalu were back in pavilion in the very first over itself by Srinath. Then came the Madmax of Sri Lankan cricket Arvinda de Silva with his drives and pools scoring brilliant 66 runs. Ranatunga, Mahanama, Tilakratne and Vaas played good innings to ensure that Sri Lanka will post a score of 251 runs. Though the score looks good all the Indian fans including me had a very strange confidence that India will win this match very easily.

Then came the X factor in to play which Indian think tank never bother to thought of, more because of that DOUBT created by Jayasuriya. The DOUBT was very damaging that "even if we (Indian team) will score 300 runs, Sanath and Kalu will chase it down". This prejudice harmed the Indians most; whole team was unanimous that if we get a chance we will bowl first. Later Azhar faced the heat because of this decision to bowl first, as he was the captain of the drown ship. But as came in newspaper, it was decided in Team Meeting. The DOUBT was created in the minds of Indian players and that’s where I think India had lost the match before actually playing it.

Till the time Sachin was batting, the Indians were relaxed and thinking of lifting a trophy of world cup at Lahore. In a close LBW shout by Vaas, Sachin was given not out (I really think he was out and I said to myself that “the lady luck is with us today”). After that what happened was remain one of my very bitter memories, Sachin was stumped in orthodox fashion and then Indian wickets falling in heap. It is not that Sri Lankan bowler got some mantra and they were picking up wickets as on their will, but the very important fact that Indian think tank ignored the pitch of Eden Gardens will help bowlers and in more specifically spinners under the flood lights. If Azhar could have little bit memory of Hero Cup final, where Anil Kumble picked up 6 West Indians wickets for 12 runs on the same ground under flood lights; he would have chosen to bat first on the day of semifinal. But he and most people were fresh with an assault of Jayasuriya on the Feroz shah Kotla ground.

A Heart Break:

The people of Calcutta couldn’t bare the pain of seeing the world cup dream was tumbling like a house of cards, they started to throw water bottles in the ground and then came the match referee, umpires and Sri Lankan Captain in the picture. The match was stopped & resumed couple of times. Finally the match was called off by match referee Clive Lloyd and he declared Sri Lanka as a winner. It was hopeless situation for Indian team, score was 120 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, with Kambli as last recognized batsman along with Anil Kumble. At that point match referee did no nonsense thing by awarding the match to Sri Lanka because of rioting crowd.

We all remember the crying face of Vinod Kambli walking back to pavilion. I was disappointed, angry and disgruntled not only because Indian team were out of the world cup but more because the way Indian team lost the match. Then next day I heard all kind rumors in my small town Igatpuri from Lankan batsmen having spring in their bats to Vinod Kambli taking sleeping pills because of the semifinal shock. None of them came true.

Rest as they say is history, Aussies were lost due to dew factor (I was supporting Australia in the final, because I wanted the Sri Lankan team to lose as they had beaten India) and the great heart shown by Sri Lankan team. It was kind of payback for Sri Lanka as Aussies insulted Sri Lankan nation by not going to Sri Lanka to play the league match.

Today when I look back on 1996 world cup, Sri Lankan team looks more deserving team to win the world cup of that era. They were playing with sole purpose of winning world cup, playing with strategy and were playing attacking cricket that created the DOUBT in the mind of Indian team.

India didn’t lost because of a Azahr’s decision or Sachin’s dismissal or pitch playing its part; India lost only because of that DOUBT.

The picture of Vinod Kambli crying and making his way back to the pavilion will reside in the memory of the generation who saw that match. What a Heart Break it was!

(This is my first blog; your ideas, views, feedback & criticism are most welcome.)