Posts by raj:
A good time to draw up a succession plan
January 23rd, 2012If we listened carefully, we will have realied that succession planning has been the catch phrase for a while. From Ratan Tata to Steve Jobs, Narayan Murthy to KK Modi, from Dalai Lama to the Chinese Government, we have heard them all espouse, if not entirely implement, succession planning.
Somehow, the catch phrase seemed to have escaped the attention of those who matter in Indian cricket. Else, we would not have been left dealing with a situation that with so little positive peer-pressure on the team now. Such pressure would have been among the factors motivating the team to higher levels of adaptation and self-confidence.
Time to stay calm and look for solutions
January 15th, 2012The heart bleeds after the Indian cricket team has been mauled for the seventh successive time in an overseas Test cricket but the mind must stay calm and analyse the slide that has hurt, upset, disappointed and angered us. It is only a sport and we have to hope that Indian cricket will come out of the morass that it finds itself in at the moment.
Yes, India’s woeful showing in overseas Tests needs to be addressed but let us not incite passion in doing so. It is critical that we remain collected as we sit down to find solutions to some problems that the Indian team is so obviously facing now. It is important not to become a part of the cacophony that follows each such defeat.
Yuvraj’s moment that stays etched in the mind
December 31st, 2011
There are some images that stay etched in the mind. The passage of time and the overload of images do not seem erode them. In fact, they appear to become a huge part of our lives and it is no surprise that sport gives us many such memories to cherish forever. And the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 threw up many such moments.
And when I sit down to think of game changers, my favourite image is of Yuvraj Singh going down on his padded knees, his left hand holding the bat aloft, a clenched right fist rising up and letting a guttural scream at the end of the quarterfinal against Australia. The screaming drive through covers signalled the end of the glittering trophy’s stay in an Australian shelf since 1999.
It is a fact that Yuvraj Singh has not played in any of the 20 one-day internationals that India has competed in after the World Cup final on April 2 and featured in two Tests against the West Indies when it became known that he had a tumor in his lung and needed rest and 55 tablets a day to recover from the ailment.
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