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JAIPUR: An overstaffed coaching setup is restricting the role of the captain, feels former India batsman and commentator Ajay Jadeja.
In the last decade, cricket has undergone a massive transformation. The most noticeable change is the expansion of the support staff, as the squad these days is accompanied by an entourage of coaches, including, mentor, assistant coach, data analyst among others.Jadeja finds it ‘unfortunate’.
“I think it’s unfortunate. Because when we grew up the captain was the one who led the side and he was responsible, he was the guide, he was the one who thought how you are going to play, how you will approach the game. Unfortunately now it’s not the boys, it’s us – the administrators who are running the game at the moment,” said Jadeja, who was one of the speakers at the ‘Cricket: Spirit of the game’ session at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) on Thursday.
His reply was in response to a question by former Indian cricket administrator Amrit Mathur, also one of the speakers, on the changing role of a captain.
“At Under-15, you have these rules that the boys can’t go and see the pitch, you have five coaches that you have been given- batting, bowling, fielding and a head coach. And when you have people employed, you know how it is. They do what they are supposed to do. So a kid at 15 when he starts playing at school, he has never made a decision, never looked at the pitch and said whether we should bat first or bowl first. He has never thought when he is playing a match and beaten by the opposition where we should have bowled to a player. So the education of sport that is happening now, which is very rightly done, I mean there is not anything wrong with it, but I personally feel playing a sport is also about you growing up, playing a sport is also about making a mistake and learning.”
The 53-year-old, who has represented India in 15 Tests and 196 ODIs, added, “Unfortunately now we don’t accept mistakes. We want our players to be perfect. So the same boy gets to go through all this and has five coaches all along and seven-eight years into his cricketing life he is now say captain of India, would have always been assisted by somebody. So how does he ever grow up and make decisions on his own? So you are losing out on individuality, which I feel is the saddest part of the sport.”
Recalling his playing days, Jadeja said, “In our time when those 11 men walked out on the field, they all had different collars, different sleeves, different ways of walking. Now you see them as robots coming out to play. Many things have changed.”
When asked about would he be okay as a captain to have a mentor, a data guy and everybody else telling you what to do? Jadeja was quick to underscore the importance of the analysts. “Data guys are great as they help you out given there is so much cricket now. Earlier we used to play against the same sides and knew how somebody played. Now with these leagues around the world, there are about 1000 players playing cricket. No human being is able to look at each one of them. But if you have the data guy, you will have enough information and read through it.”
Currently serving as the mentor of the Afghanistan international cricket team, the former India player shared how he goes about the business. “The captain that we have is making his own decisions. I would like the captain on the field (to take the calls) because at the end of the day it is a sport, an instinctive sport. It changes ball by ball, there is no coach who will be able to communicate on a ball-to-ball basis. And if you want your team to grow, you will have to allow your captain to make the decisions, and that’s the only way to grow in the sport.”
In the last decade, cricket has undergone a massive transformation. The most noticeable change is the expansion of the support staff, as the squad these days is accompanied by an entourage of coaches, including, mentor, assistant coach, data analyst among others.Jadeja finds it ‘unfortunate’.
“I think it’s unfortunate. Because when we grew up the captain was the one who led the side and he was responsible, he was the guide, he was the one who thought how you are going to play, how you will approach the game. Unfortunately now it’s not the boys, it’s us – the administrators who are running the game at the moment,” said Jadeja, who was one of the speakers at the ‘Cricket: Spirit of the game’ session at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) on Thursday.
His reply was in response to a question by former Indian cricket administrator Amrit Mathur, also one of the speakers, on the changing role of a captain.
“At Under-15, you have these rules that the boys can’t go and see the pitch, you have five coaches that you have been given- batting, bowling, fielding and a head coach. And when you have people employed, you know how it is. They do what they are supposed to do. So a kid at 15 when he starts playing at school, he has never made a decision, never looked at the pitch and said whether we should bat first or bowl first. He has never thought when he is playing a match and beaten by the opposition where we should have bowled to a player. So the education of sport that is happening now, which is very rightly done, I mean there is not anything wrong with it, but I personally feel playing a sport is also about you growing up, playing a sport is also about making a mistake and learning.”
The 53-year-old, who has represented India in 15 Tests and 196 ODIs, added, “Unfortunately now we don’t accept mistakes. We want our players to be perfect. So the same boy gets to go through all this and has five coaches all along and seven-eight years into his cricketing life he is now say captain of India, would have always been assisted by somebody. So how does he ever grow up and make decisions on his own? So you are losing out on individuality, which I feel is the saddest part of the sport.”
Recalling his playing days, Jadeja said, “In our time when those 11 men walked out on the field, they all had different collars, different sleeves, different ways of walking. Now you see them as robots coming out to play. Many things have changed.”
When asked about would he be okay as a captain to have a mentor, a data guy and everybody else telling you what to do? Jadeja was quick to underscore the importance of the analysts. “Data guys are great as they help you out given there is so much cricket now. Earlier we used to play against the same sides and knew how somebody played. Now with these leagues around the world, there are about 1000 players playing cricket. No human being is able to look at each one of them. But if you have the data guy, you will have enough information and read through it.”
Currently serving as the mentor of the Afghanistan international cricket team, the former India player shared how he goes about the business. “The captain that we have is making his own decisions. I would like the captain on the field (to take the calls) because at the end of the day it is a sport, an instinctive sport. It changes ball by ball, there is no coach who will be able to communicate on a ball-to-ball basis. And if you want your team to grow, you will have to allow your captain to make the decisions, and that’s the only way to grow in the sport.”
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