Everyone takes a leadership role

Thats what John Buchanan seems to have said in press conference while announcing his new “untried” approach in taking through Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL2. CNN-IBN promptly pounced on the news by phrasing it as – Dada shown the door. Looking at Dada’s gestures during the press meet, it almost echoed like “Oh God, why does it always happen to me” . Looks like all coaches from Australia have a grudge on him..

Back to Buchanan’s point, he feels, the team doesn’t need a standard captain. Check what he has to say about his ideas :

Buchanan had told Cricinfo he was keen to change the whole approach to captaincy and leadership in cricket. “I really think in the course of this 20-over tournament we have the capacity to have the team coach, Matthew Mott, running the batting side of things. If we have to change the batting order or change personnel to fit a certain situation, then that is something that could fall under his control. “Once on the field, we have some very good leaders there in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge and Sourav Ganguly. The laws of the game state that you need a captain for certain formal roles, such as the coin toss, but that aside, I see there is scope to challenge the way teams have been run in the past.

To me, this looks absurd to say the least. Why should a coach decide the batting order during the course of the game ? Disaster waiting to happen…

From here:
http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/curren t/story/396703.html

Setmax (Sony) is spoiling the party

This is more of a personal ire for quite sometime now. Starting with Mandira Bedi, Setmax (Sony) has done more bad than good to Cricket. I know at this level its all about money but this channel is killing Cricket viewership. Take for example the ongoing NZ series. Adding to woes like matches starting when its time to hit the bed (yes, some go to bed even that late) or asleep and matches being predominantly played on weekdays, Setmax has come up with this superb highlights schedule (7-8PM for one dayers. I didn’t even bother checking the timings for the Test).

If it were Star or Neo (or even Ten sports) there are good chances you wouldn’t miss the highlights (some day or the other). Now, these videos are going to sit in Sony’s coffin dead and buried for ever. May be we need a people’s representation to ban Setmax (or any non-24 hr sports channel for that matter) from taking such telecast rights..

I know the above said is not practical/possible but then, that doesn’t stop me using this blog as a vent for my frustration. I really missed Sehwag’s record innings of 125 not out.

Btw, I am happy BCCI and Sony are having a tug of war on IPL telecast rights and I sincerely hope, BCCI wins.