Arjun Tendulkar's selection in U-14 raises questions of nepotism

January 13, 2013

Arjun_Tendulkar Mumbai, Jan 13: With several lesser performers making it into the Mumbai Under-14 team for the West Zone league matches, parents of many talented youngsters are virtually up in arms. Some of them have laid the charge of nepotism, even questioning the entire selection process adopted by the MCA.

Among the most inexplicable exclusions is Don Bosco (Matunga ) School's Bhupen Lalwani: his unbeaten 398 against IES Modern School in the Giles Shield (Elite Division) should have made him an automatic choice. His knock came off 277 deliveries, was studded with 47 boundaries and even caught the eye of the connoisseurs. "I definitely expected my son to be picked in the team," Lalwani's disappointed father told TOI on Saturday. "But maybe, the selectors found somebody more deserving than him to represent Mumbai," he added sagely.

Another glaring case in point is Hansraj Morarji spinner Satyak Patel. He had picked up 6-100 against Anjuman Urdu in the Giles Shield, in addition to three five-wicket hauls in the Under-16 Harris Shield Plate 'B' division, including 5-12 in the final against Dhirubhai Ambani International School, that helped his team earn promotion into the Elite group. Satyak has taken 25 wickets in the Harris Shield this season.

"I am unable to understand the criterion of selection. Satyak has been doing well all season. Besides his Giles and Harris Shield displays, he took 19 wickets in the Ramakant Achrekar Dronacharya Cup to help Chandrakant Pandit Cricket Club (CPCC) clinch the trophy for the first time since its inception 12 years ago. His name is still missing from the list," Satyak's father Rajiv said.

In contrast, the inclusion of three VN Sule Guruji students (see box) — Akash Savla, Darshan Padawe and Tanush Kotian — and two from Anjuman-e-Islam — Azim Shaikh and Abhishek Shetty — who have hardly done anything of note this season, raises some serious questions. What's more, there are five kids in the team, whose school cricket records were untraceable, adding mystery to their selection.

Parents are also surprised at the presence of Arjun Tendulkar, son of batting legend Sachin. His best score, 124, had come last May in the Mumbai Under-14 trials for Khar Gymkhana against Goregaon Centre; his next best is a 70, scored last week for Shastri XI in the Vengsarkar Foundation Cup at Mahul.

Considering that a triple centurion, four double centurions and nine hundred-makers in the Elite group have not made the mark, their parents have reason to feel short-changed.

Attempts to garner a response from the MCA went in vain as joint secretary PV Shetty didn't respond to the calls and messages sent by this paper.

Giving credence to the parents ' woes, former Mumbai coach Pravin Amre said that the selectors need to closely observe all age-group matches in order to avoid missing good talent. "In my time, proper data was maintained in junior cricket and I was lucky to have a couple of former India players as selectors. Today, they are paid for doing the job too and are not just honorary officials. So they need to go to the maidan and watch matches," Amre said.

He, however, argued that one good performance cannot determine talent, and that many other factors are considered before selection. "I have been an Under-15 selector myself. You can't give someone a chance just because he hit a century or picked up five wickets. The opponents, the stage of the tournament also needs to be taken into account. Sometimes a good 50-60 in a close game can identify the best from the rest," he added.

IN A NUTSHELL...

Questionable selections

Akash Savla (VN Sule Guruji School) - played one match scoring 48 runs against IES Modern English

Darshan Padawe (VN Sule) - played three matches scoring 33, 0, 26

Tanush Kotian (VN Sule) - played one match scoring 8 runs against Shardashram

Azim Shaikh (Anjuman-i-Islam ) - Scored 28, 21, 37, 18 in four matches and picked just one wicket as an off-spinner

Abhishek Shetty (Anjuman-i-Islam ) - played one match scoring 4 & 18 in two innings against VN Sule

RECORDS MISSING

Hashir Dafedar, Manas Raikar, Jay Dave, Jahangir Ansari, Yash Joshi

Who deserved a chance

BATSMEN

Bhupen Lalwani (Don Bosco School, Matunga) - his unbeaten 398 (277b, 47x4s) against IES Modern English was the highlight of the Giles Shield season Pushkar Vashist (Al Barakat) - slammed 261 (274b, 36x4s) against BAK Swadhyay Satyalaksha Jain (Rizvi Springfield) - hit 239 (200b, 40x4s) against MD Bhatia Yasasvi Jayaswal (Anjuman Urdu) - hit 210 (210b, 28x4s, 4x6s) against Hansraj Morarji Shoaib Khan (Al Barakat) - scored 212 (183b, 31x4s) and 140 against Don Bosco and BAK Swadhyay respectively

BOWLERS

Rohit Desai (Don Bosco School, Matunga) - the off-spinner picked 6-22 and 5-11 against IES Modern English and scalped 5-137 against Al Barakat Satyak Patel (Hansraj Morarji) - the spinner took 6-100 against Anjuman Urdu and picked three fivewicket hauls in Harris Shield plate division with his 5-12 against Dhirubhai Ambani International School helping his side earn promotion Rajesh Sardar (Al Barakat, leftarm spinner) - picked 6-22 against BAK Swadhyay and 5-18 against Don Bosco

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

CSK's success due to Dhoni's instincts, behind-the-scenes work, feel Dravid and Srinivasan

Agencies

August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Virat Kohli only Indian again in Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes

News Network

May 30,2020

New York, May 30: Cricket superstar Virat Kohli remains the only Indian in the Forbes' list of world's highest-paid athletes with total earnings of USD 26 million, jumping to the 66th spot from 100 in the 2020 standings.

Kohli's earnings from endorsement stand at USD 24 million and USD 2 million from salary/winnings. The 31-year-old is also the only cricketer in the top-100 list.

With earnings of USD 25 million, Kohli was ranked 100th in 2019 and 83rd in 2018 with USD 24 million.

Tennis legend Roger Federer has toped the list for the first time with earnings of USD 106.3 million, rising from fifth place last year.

Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are second and third respectively with earnings of USD 105 and USD 104 million.

The others in the top-10 are Neymar (football), LeBron James (basketball), Stephen Curry (basketball), Kevin Durrant (basketball), Tigers Woods (golf), Kirk Cousins (American football) and Carson Wentz (American football).

The athletes' earnings have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to suspension of sporting activities all around the world.

Comments

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to feature in the world’s 20 most charitable athletes, as per a list compiled by the US based website in Athletes Gone Good.

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

After declaring Sri Lanka sold 2011 World Cup final to India, Lankan minister says it's his suspicion

News Network

June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

Comments