Curious case of Krishnamachari Srikkanth.
By grvdubey11
@grvdubey11 (1879)
India
December 20, 2010 1:50pm CST
Well head of Indian selection team , Mr Srikkanth and unusual tour program is responsible for the embarrassing defeat of number one team in the world.As a selector one has to take sensible decisions , not the decisions based on emotions.Mr Srikkanth has always been a positive person, i remember his comments as cricket experts in a Indian Pakistan match at Eden gardens ,that was independence cup .India made some 270 odd runs batting first and Mr Srikkanth just declared that India will win this as conditions favor them , completely writing off Pakistan.He forgot that dew factor is always a problem in India.Eventually India suffered a thumping defeat from Pakistan.Same positive comments came from him before world cup final against Australia and India lost that match too.The purpose of these examples is not to make fun of Indian team and Mr Srikkanth but the point here is he may be a great cricketer but most of the time his predictions are not correct.The reason for this is thinking high for your team is good, but one has to take into account strength of oppostion also the conditions of the match.He has been making strange decisions for quite sometime but was getting away with it because Indian team was winning consistently.The decision of not playing RP in ODIs or test matches happening is subcontinent is understandable , but he always performed well overseas yet he was not even thought of.Abimanyu Mithun did well in Srilanka but he was ignored too.Munaf was in SL as a replacement of Sreesanth but he was out of the team without playing a match.What is the logic behind these strange selections.How Indian team will get good bench strength if good bowlers like RP and Munaf will be ignored.Karthik and Badrinath have been overlooked continuously.Next thing is why Indian team didnt leave like 15 days before to play 1 or 2 practice games when everyone knew that SA tour will be tough , there was all this hype about Batsman practicing on bouncy wickets , it was good that our coach tried so hard but i dont think Indian bowlers did enough practice to cope with conditions of SA.Winning and losing is part of the game but the way no 1 test team lost is really sad.Though these are my personal views i can be wrong.A Disappointed fan today.Please share your views.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
21 Dec 10
Hi grvdubey,
Although I agree with some of your views with regards to anomaly in team selection pattern, I will not hold Srikanth responsible for the debacle in S.A.. Your last point first Srikanth is just the chairman of selection committee he is not in charge of fixing schedules and arranging for the tours hence can not be held responsible for not coming to S.A. earlier and playing some practice matches. We have to blame tours and fixtures committee for that they are not bothered about India's win or loss they are only bothered about filling the coffers of B.C.C.I. by playing more and more matches. As about the opinions he expressed forecasting the wins for India in number of matches you spelt out in your submission, Every one of us has got opinions and we all are prone to make mistakes. We Indians are patriotic and optimistic expecting our team to win even in most difficult conditions. None of us fore casted a loss to India, on this forum at least I for one had written so much why and how India is going to win the match we just lost. Why hold Srikanth only guilty of that crime? In support of your views about team section Jaydev was too young and should not have been risked on an important tour of S.A. instead a proven swing baller Pravin Kumar should have been included in his place. That would have made lot of difference in just concluded match.
1 person likes this
@rameshkumaar57 (5908)
• India
21 Dec 10
This is an excellent response. I hope everybody reading this response, try to learn and give a response which is quite knowledgable.
@grvdubey11 (1879)
• India
21 Dec 10
Hello friend
I am not blaming Srikkanth for tour scheduling , my point is improper selection and tour scheduling are two important factors of India's loss, thats what i want to say.About the examples i gave , yes anyone can have the predictions wrong .But he gets carried away at times in selection .Like you yourself mentioned Praveen Kumar could have been better choice, i do agree, even RP or Munaf could have done better.We lost this match due to poor bowling and if some good bowlers are left out then its a selection error.Sad reality is India only has three good fast bowlers to play in tests and if we tour overseas , that is outside subcontinent , we need atleast 4-5 good fast bowlers so that in case of an injury like it happened in last match with Zak, we can go with good replacement bowler not with a youngster .This selection error is one of the factors in India's loss.Thanks a lot for your response.
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
21 Dec 10
I would agree that this selection committee has been making some strange decisions here and there. But remember for one, Srikanth is not alone in the decision making process and he has a whole team which picks it. The other thing is that Srikanth has been the selector during the past 2.5 years which have been the best of the Indian Test team and has seen them rise to number 1 in the ICC rankings. So whether we like it or not, he has stats to prove that he is doing a good job of it. Unfortunately selection panels are thankless jobs and however well you do, if you have a bad series, things are blamed on the panel.
Cheers!
Ram
@grvdubey11 (1879)
• India
21 Dec 10
He was praised by everyone when team did well , so i think he deserves the constructive criticism also.I agree that he knows cricket very well and he is the best man for the job but my only point is presently game of cricket is in favor of batsman and its very important to back a bowler which is not happening.From the first ball Unadkat bowled it was clear that he wont swing the ball away from left hander or into right hander.Kepler Wessels confirmed this along with Shaun Pollock .So how can such a predictable bowler can trouble the SA batsman that too Kallis ,Smith,Amla and Devillers.I think he and his team made a mistake by not selecting RP or Munaf.Thanks a lot for your response friend.
