Saturday, September 10, 2005

Keeping Track Of Greg Chappell's Progress

GC had stated before the finals of the Videocon Cup that winning this final was only a secondary objective in the larger picture of continued long-term improvement in key areas. Let us see how far he has come in achieving this goal.
1. Fielding: Good progress. While India fielded diabolically in the Indianoil Cup final, their fielding throughout the Videocon Cup (including the final) was promising. Of course the addition of Agarkar to the squad was a big boost in the field. Kaif can always be relied upon while Yuvraj who seemed a touch lax was at it again. The others while still remaining predominantly poor fielders are trying to make an effort, most notably Pathan. It is very difficult to expect the likes of Nehra to improve.
2. Running between the wickets: Constantly lukewarm. Dipped to a low in the Indianoil Cup final as far as intent is concerned, but at least not getting worse.
3. Batting: Opening problem is far from solved. Sehwag still scores a half-century once every 12 innings. Although, thankfully he at least makes 30s and 40s now. Ganguly is a liability. Dravid's form is not a major worry. Kaif is looking good at 3, Yuvraj at 5 and Dhoni at 6 also look set in their roles. I think this is the best to come out for India this season. #3-#6 now seem more or less settled to go all the way. The inclusion of Agarkar and Yadav lend solidity to the lower order esp. with Pathan finding form
4. Bowling: Situation looks grim. Nehra seemed to have risen above his injuries and inconsistency to be the 1 constant factor in the attack but his poor performance in the finals and subsequent injury has banished both those hopes. Pathan and Zaheer seem content to bowl medium-pace and take loads of wickets in favorable conditions so as to compensate for poor performances in challenging ones. Agarkar is lacking confidence. Harbhajan has been more or less destroyed by a weird combination of himself, Ganguly and a certain Chris Broad.

It seems quite clear where all GCs energies need to be focussed. He seems to be on the right track as he has already declared his intentions of putting together a bunch of 10 pace bowlers all of whom would be in contention for the World Cup.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dravid's form is not a MAJOR concern because, he was a failure in just 4 innings.
if his bad form continued to test series and to other series/tours as well it is a major concern.
can you list some times of his biased decision apart from the same cribbing of he grings back Kumble.
>But the Indian Cricket would >continue just this way. Blaming >Chappells and Wrights for their >failure is not very justifiable.
but blaming Dravid, Kumble and praising Ganguly, Is it justifiable