IPL 2011: SELECTION OF CAPTAIN

Come April and we shall witness some blazing cricket. The euphoria of ICC World Cup would have been over in March and the stage set for the biggest 20 overs extravaganza. TEN teams will rub shoulders with each other over seventy four matches to win the championship.

Most of the players in any team would be from India. Therefore, one wonders whether the captain also should be an Indian player or someone from another country.

The T20 format matches are fast and compel players to play improvised shots in a bid to score quick runs. Players take some time, as the tournament progresses, to understand each other’s game, habits and capabilities to combine and perform well as a team.

There are no hard and fast rules for selecting a captain. A player (preferably with international experience as a captain) with personal achievements and records in T20 matches would be a good choice. In case a few ex captains are in a team, then, country does not matter and the player with repute and better leadership and motivational qualities should be an obvious choice as a captain.

Veterans should also be considered for captaincy as they have tremendous experience which would come handy in dressing room talks and in stressful situations in the field.

Selecting an in form player purely on the basis of his run scoring abilities would be a great folly because a captain has much more to do than just score runs.

What are your views and suggestions on this issue of captaincy please?

IPL WORLD CUP 2011

Hi folks. Good news for cricket fans all over the world....Indian Premier League (IPL) for Cricket starts on 19 Feb 2011.A lot of excitement and action in the form of blazing performances from well known and lesser known cricketers from 12 nations await all of us.

I shall be up dating you all with my views from time to time.

The auctions earlier this month saw old experienced stalwarts like Bett Lee, Brian Lara and Ganguly being dumped and young,upcoming players like Duminy,Angello Mathews and Botha fetching huge amounts. Surprisingly, Indian discards (like Piyush Chawla and Badrinath) who couldn’t find a berth in Indian squad drew large amounts as well. Only time will tell who delivers how much.

One must remember that in 20 overs format, a player’s energy during fielding, motivation, correct timing of the ball and fitness level on that particular day are few of the factors which play a dominant role affecting his performance.

Let us see who sparkles with the bat and ball. I feel majority of the foreign younger players will perform better than their Indian counter parts.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL?