Gary Kirsten's coaching method

I read today that, Gary Kirsten, the current South Africa coach is different from others. He believes in players enjoying visiting places during tours and taking breaks to keep them refreshed. he also believes in letting team members take decisions and learn from their experience. This sounded like an excellent idea that we can apply in professional set up too. In fact the second part, that mentions about letting team members decide is one of the top recommendation in Agile setup. Most of the time when people complain about failure due to letting team decide, happens mainly because the team is not coached properly before being empowered. Empowering teams without proper coaching can lead to chaos faster.

Planning to blog regularly again

Hi all, I am planning to blog regularly again about the subjects I am passionate about : cricket, team building, team performance and people management. Please correct/appreciate me with your comments.

World Cup Update (21/2/2011)

India won against Bangladesh as expected with batting firing away and bowling doing adequately as they were not under any pressure. Main worry for India will be the bowling as they will not be able to put up huge scores against other big teams that easily. India's best chance against other strong teams will be to face them on spin friendly tracks.

I have not felt the need to catch action on TV after the first match as there is series of mismatches on offer. Last world cup format was good but ICC had to change after India got derailed in the first round.

Crushing of Kenya by NZ, who themselves are struggling shows gulf between test playing and associate teams.

World cup is like a soap opera where some episodes will be interesting........

World Cup Update
I am residing in Singapore now hence obviously missing all the world cup related hype and excitement back home. I am sad that world's best stage for beloved game does not get the top priority from all national boards as number of star players missing due to injuries.

Based on knowledge on Indian conditions and form of teams here is my take on each of the teams (ones matter). One thing to keep in mind with the format, any prediction is worth only so much as teams need only 3 good days from being out in group stage to world champions.

1. India
This is India's best chance considering the talent, technical acumen, experience and the conditions. India needs to start early to avoid any additional pressure and hope that their batting can provide enough extra cushion to carry their bowling and fielding.

2. England
Prospect look good if their first choice bowling attack plays and stays injury free towards the business end and their batting can click. They have one of the game's smartest thinker in Andy Flower and should do better than last few times.

3. South Africa
SA have a solid team and look good to go all way with probably the best all round team. I will be surprised if they are not one of the finalists.

4. Australia
As always, Australia will do well but will they be consistent enough to go all the way seems little suspect; they require their pace attack to do really well with thin spin resources.

5. Srilanka
Srilanka have a strong team with good top order batting and bowling but their middle order little less certain with Samaraweera and Kapugedra.

6. West Indies
WI have a good batting line up but they lack in bowling with quality and consistency and will have to fight hard to get to the knockout level with Bangladesh in their group.

7. Pakistan
Pakistan have a strong lower middle order and good bowling attack that are huge factors in one day cricket. Afridi and Razaak will be more dangerous in the sub continental conditions. IMO, it will depend on how they perform IN knock out stages as they are prone to inconsistencies.

7. New Zealand
can't be excited about NZ; probably there may be couple of good innings from McCullum and Ross Taylor but honestly they will find it difficult to get past 1st knock out stage.

8. Bangladesh will be confident in home conditions and will be disappointed if they don't make it to knockout stage.

9. Other teams, do they really matter??

Enjoy the world cup; let us see how it unfolds.....

This Week In Cricket (24/1/2011 - 30/1/2011)

Australia - England One Day Series

For the audience's and organizer's(mainly) sake, England won the last match to keep the series alive but tough to keep the interest levels high in a 7 match series in this fast paced world. England have some injuries that could prove beneficial in the world cup preparations. Flower and co must be relieved after Prior's knock in the 4th match else their pragmatic decision would have looked like utter foolish; this is the kind of fine line between good and bad decision in sports.

World Cup Thoughts
1. India and SA seem to be front runners at this point of time considering the kind of batting and all round fire power they posses respectively.
2. It might actually come down to teams with match winning bowlers with pitches favoring batsmen and this is where Australia have a chance with Lee and Tait with their express pace and swing.
3. Bangladesh will be the team to watch with conditions favouring them.
4. Batting second will be an advantage with due problem in the evening but interestingly this could balance out the ever present batting first advantage in cricket.

finally..
World cup could be an opportunity for players to impress some of the IPL franchises; this is true if you follow football and have noticed how players use FIFA world cup as launch pad for their professional careers.

This Week In Cricket (03/01/2011 - 09/01/2011)

Ashes 2011


England achieved emphatic series win in Sydney. it is easy to say that the Aussies are on decline but to beat them so comprehensively at home suggests the quality and superiority of this English setup. For me the highlight has been skillfulness, consistency and depth of their bowling. Cook had a dream series and helped England pile up big totals consistently. Paul Collingwood made the right decision to go before being pushed because this English setup under Andy Flower is very result oriented (remember leaving out Anderson from T20 world cup playing 11).


India- SA Test Series

India missed a golden opportunity to win their first series in SA, but if somebody has offered a drawn series before it started or after the first test, it would have been gladly accepted. India's ineffective attack hurts most and will not allow them to covert the good positions into victories. Steyn's bowling was extraordinary and treat to watch; I have never seen Tendulkar getting beaten so many times in an Innings and required lot of luck to survive in the first innings. Pujara did reasonably well and should his keep his place and Sreesanth's was at his best and troubled all SA lineup time and again.

IPL 2011 Auction

One word, absurd!!. There was huge clamour for India capped players as if they were extinct species. There is no other reason to explain how Umesh Yadav and Abhishek Nayyar can get more than $700K. IMO, best buy was Andrew Symonds for around 450K by MI. MI and CSK have done good business and have shown that they are way ahead of other teams in terms of planning and execution. KKR seemed to be in panic mode and splashed too much on Gambhir and Yusuf, but seemed to be getting the core of the team right with Kallis and Shakib purchases later.

Gayle not being sold is inexplicable as his game is made for T20 and has proven tack record.

This Week in Cricket (27/12/2010 - 2/1/2011)

Ashes 2010
England played fantastic cricket to retain the Ashes. Trott played an excellent innings and discipline of English bowling has been excellent too. I am big fan of Andrew flower and his performance as coach so far has be very impressive. Ricky ponting is really having a bad series and might struggle catch up with Tendulkar's records from here on. Steve Smith looks not ready to be number 6 and does not bowl enough to bat lower than that.

India - SA Series

Excellent win for India. Indian team has struggled more in SA compared to Australia; this fact along with Durban being the venue (remember the 1996 test match) makes it extra special. VVS was again excellent and deserved hundred for his efforts. Not having URDS for this series is a shame as some of the decisions in SA's 2nd innings were debatable and this takes shine out of victory to a certain extent. Not sure why Indian team does not want it as not having it could cost them a test match sometime in near future. Zaheer's bowling to Paul Harris round the wicket was treat to watch and Pujara has handled the short stuff decently so far and should be persisted at number 6.

I am in Singapore

I have been in Singapore for last 3 weeks and here some of my observations about this city:

1. City is very clean and amazing the way it is maintained considering the population density here.

2. The public transport system works like dream. Most of the buses have 15 minutes frequency and there are mobile applications that provide decently accurate status of buses.

3. In spite of so many people around it is still not noisy because people hardly talk to others in trains or buses.

4. There are places to eat everywhere around (less vegetarian options)

5. Government offices rival corporate offices in terms of infrastructure and operations.

6. There is lot of greenery around even though there is huge space crunch in the city.

7. For Singaporeans, any commute more than 30 minutes is far.

8. There are community sports complexes that offer activities like basketball, badminton, table tennis etc and the courts can be booked on hourly basis. Needless to say this system also works effectively. You find people playing even till 11 PM. I have played more badminton and cricket under lights in these 3 weeks than ever.

9. Rents are super expensive and are tough to find with lot of demand.

10. Traffic gets heavier during morning and evening times but rules are followed and hardly anybody honks.

Why football world cup more is more interesting and highly valued than ICC cricket world cup

1. FIFA has not changed tournament format like ICC for a long time now. The traditional nature makes the tournament more respected.
2. they don’t tinker the tournament to make sure that they have more matches between better teams (super 6 concept).
3. They don’t change the match timings to suit certain audience segment (early day matches in recent T20 world cup for Indian audience)
4. There are more competitive matches in group stage in football unlike in cricket.

This Week In Cricket - 30/5 - 6/6

Zimbabwe Tri series

India's consecutive defeats against Zimbabwe clearly shows the lack of bench strength; compare this against Australian A team and we will know which team will be consistently successful in international cricket. Lack of options in pace bowling department is alarming and needs to be addressed immediately; whether BCCI has time and interest in this amidst IPL fiasco is another matter altogether. The way Zimbabweans chased in the second game shows that after a long interval their cricket is moving in the right direction. Srilanka seems to have found another good wicketkeeper batsmen in Chandimal.

SA-WI series

Like winning, loosing is also a habit (bad one) and WI seems to have the knack of loosing even the games when they were in decent positions. Hashim Amla has been a revelation in this series and definitely will be a great asset to SA in the upcoming world cup in sub continent. AB donning wicket keeping gloves seems to be a hasty move as he is equally valuable as fielder too; he is a case of 'really' being blessed with cricketing talent.

England - Bangladesh test series

England's warm up for the Ashes is going according to plan except for their bowling when the Sun is out; Finn has been a good addition to their lineup and has the potential to play Harmison's role. I have always been a big Andy Flower fan and so far he has displayed same calculated and practical approach he used to show in his batting. He has made some bold decisions in the last few months like getting Keiswetter and Lumb into T20 team and Morgan into test team; most of them have come off well. I have also noticed that England coaches seem to have far more power and say in selection matters compared to other countries and this allows them to plan and work towards according to a plan; can you imagine Gary Kirsten getting that kind of backing from BCCI.

Things I have noticed in IPL so far -11/4/2010

1. More players are discovering that hitting sixes is not as much as a fight as it used to be ex: Vijay, Dravid. Specially Dravid's one of sixes stood due to the way he kept his balance and shape while hitting over long off. Staying still and keeping shape is key to connecting more often that not; this is easier said than done. Symonds is a prime example of this; he can just extend a bit at the last moment and send the ball soaring over the boundary instead of driving to to long off.

2. Teams are not going hammer and tongue in first couple of overs like last couple of years; they have realized that 20 over batting is also about analyzing conditions and then build on it.

3. Only perfect yorkers are effective else slow or normal bouncers are better.

4. Teams have realized the importance of giving opportunities to domestic players as it provides lot of flexibility to rotate the foreign players based on requirements If they succeed.

5. Pure (read good in wicket keeping only) wicket keepers are not required anymore; One who comes closest is Saha(KKR) but he just played for India as a specialist batsman.

6. Teams have realized to bench non performing Indian (international players) players irrespective their star value and money spent on them.

7. Competition for last 2 semifinal spots is a treat to follow and every match is starting to have a huge impact; this does not happen often in cricket tournaments frequently due to lack of quality among teams.

8. The excitement and surprise around sixers is going away; now we are excited by real big ones that clear the ground or hit the tier.

I am back.......

Lot of things have happened in my life since my last post. I have taken up a new job and relocated to Pune. Recently got internet connection at home here. I shall start writing about cricket and other things starting this week.

On cricket front, IPL was very exciting this time with little more options for bowlers due to favorable pitches . I shall post my review soon and also will start posting world T20 reviews in my weekly posts.

Best Photos from our year end vacation















Elephant ride in Sakrebylu training camp















Kshiti trying her hand at shuttle badminton; future Saina Nehwal at practice ;) (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)
















kshiti enjoying Sun (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)


















Kshiti inspecting the sorrundings

This Week In Cricket ( 4/1/2008 - 11/1/2008)

Australia - SA series

Australia won the last test match to stay at the top of the ICC ranking by winning the last test match. The scenes were similar to last year's Sydney test match with Australia winnig with few balls to spare. SA have to become more ruthless to replace Aussies at the top.

Overall this series proved test cricket is more entertaining than one day or 2o/20 is played between two evenly matched teams; it is pity that this was not a 5 match series. I am keenly awaiting the return series in SA.

This week in cricket (older - 23/12)

What a week for test cricket; we saw 2 among top 5 chases of all time recorded in last one week. It was pleasant to see SA give Aussies their own medicine by turning the match on hits head during the last 2 days. I was trying to find the reason for this phenomenon; here is the list I came up with.
1. More consistent and neutral umpiring.
2. Teams feel that runs are gettable mainly due to the confidence from chasing in ODIs.
3. Pitches have got better as there is immense pressure (TV rights) to prepare pitches that last 5 days.
4. 2 bouncers/over rule and protective gear that make ordinary batsmen become good/great players.


India - England test series
---------------------------
India lived up to their superior billing after some good performances from England in Chennai test match. Sehwag was the real difference as his inning made sure that none of the other batsmen came under any kind of pressure to score runs at a brisk pace. Another highlight is the bowling performances of Zaheer and Ishant that has resulted in fast bowlers getting man of the series awards in succession in Indian conditions. IMO, we should stop calling 2 match series as series as this hardly provides any chance for teams to come back.

This Week in Cricket ( week ending 28/12/2008)

AUS - SA test series - 2nd test

Awesome test series so far!; Duminy played one of the best test innings to turn the match on its head; he got good support from Steyn; SA seem to be winning all the key battles in this series so far; this is a clear indication that they might win the series. I am supporting them in this series.

I had vacation from 12/22 onwards; we had planned to spend 3 days at Eagle Eye Resorts and then proceed to Shimoga (my wife's home town) from there.


We started at around 5.30 AM; Bangalore-Hassan road was better than expected. We stopped for breakfast at Kamat hotel around 8.45 AM. food and ambiance were really good; their gesture of providing newspaper stood out. We crossed Belur around 10.15; road to Chikmagalur is narrow and not well maintained from there.

The resort is around 45 KMs from Chikmagalur; the road is adequate in certain patches but the route is too scenic to be concerned about the road. This was my first driving experience through hilly terrain and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound of birds and trees was magical; most of the villages along the way just have few houses near the road and rest in far off estates.

We reached the resort around 1 PM. The final stretch of the road is really bad; the resort staff were really helpful; the view from the top is awesome; food was fine. I thoroughly enjoyed the morning walks amidst the coffee plantation.

This was the first time we stayed outside with our daughter (1 year 9 months old); she was very co-operative and also seemed to enjoy the close proximity to flowers and fishing.

We took Balehonnur - N R Pura road towards Shimoga; the route was again pleasant with lot of trees around; in fact we started missing them as we got closer to Shimoga.

This Week In Cricket (7/12/2008 - 14/12/2008)

India - England test series

At the beginning nobody expected England team to be a in a position to focus on the cricket let alone winning it. England won the toss (most important thing in Indian conditions) and batted adequately in first innings(second most important thing in Indian conditions); then surprisingly, Indian team decided to gift England for coming back with shocking batting performance; now they find themselves chasing history to save the match on last 2 days.

Rahul Dravid's stocks are falling rapidly; unless he scores big in next 3 innings, his career will be over; it will be sad if India's best ever number 3 batsmen has to bow out this way.

SA - Aus test series

Things are hotting up with both sides dishing out verbal volleys. This SA team seems to be the best suited to win Australian conditions after mighty WI of late 80s. Hope thier fast bowlers stay injury free and trouble Aussie batsmen. Australians have had it too easy for sometime now except couple of series in India and England.

This week in Cricket - 30/11/2008 - 6/12/2008

This week was a dull week for cricket with hardly any action on the field. It is a strange situation after so much action during last few months.

Indian team for England series
No surprises; Yuvraj scored heavily at the right moment to get himself another shot at test cricket. Personally I would have liked to see a technically sound young batsman like Rohit Sharma get that chance but Yuvraj's claim is hard to ignore after back to back centuries( on placid wickets and an England attack not suited to the conditions).

England - India test series
If England return to India for test series, it will go a long way in removing the fear of touring India for countries. Tour looks to be on track at this point of time unless any surprising events take place. I am not sure how much cricket will be on every body's mind as now England do not have any practice match before the first test.

Australia - SA test series
I can't wait to see this series get started; an Australian team that on slight decline against a SA team that is on ascendancy. SA's attack looks enviable in Australian conditions with Steyn and Morne Morkel in their ranks. I think SA's main confidence booster will be from the knowledge that they will not be tormented by Warne again. This is a great chance for SA to put one across Australia.

Wish we had no religions in this world

It has been frustrating last few days watching few miscreants killing lot of innocent people. My first thoughts after seeing was:"why do we have different religions in this world". This would have reduced the unrest we have in our world today.

My condolences to all the people who died or got injured. it is high time we got serious about our internal security. It needs a focus planning and budget.