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It's not easy to drop cricket heroes in India, says More
It's not easy to drop cricket heroes in India, remarked Kiran More, the ex- chief selector of the Indian team till about two months back, in an exclusive interview to Gulf News.
- By K.R. Nayar, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 November 21, 2006
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
- Former Indian selection committee chairman Kiran More (right) is happy that he could try out young fast bowlers.
Dubai: It's not easy to drop cricket heroes in India, remarked Kiran More, the ex- chief selector of the Indian team till about two months back, in an exclusive interview to Gulf News.
Answering to a query as to how tough was it to drop the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, More said: "It is not the question of dropping Ganguly alone. The sentimental value that top players enjoy is very huge in India. All of them are worshipped like heroes and dropping any one of them is a very difficult task."
More is here on invitation by the Delhi Private School, Sharjah, to give away their inter-school tournament awards.
"We took that decision taking into consideration the future of Indian cricket. It was based on the principle that the team comes first before any individual," he explained.
More also went on to defend the experiments conducted by coach Greg Chappell. "Experiments were carried out based on the team management decisions as well as the confidence of the players. It is not that a player was told to bat at No 3 or No 7, but decisions were based on the game situation."
Clarifying further, he said, "Last year our experiments helped us win matches. Unfortunately some of them did not click recently. This does not mean that the team or the players have any problem. And should we not try out anything, there are people ready to criticise that too."
According to More, experiments are a must to give opportunities to cricketers.
"We need to look beyond the World Cup 2007. We must take into consideration Indian cricket's standing internationally after Sachin or Sehwag leave.
"That is why we have been trying out players like Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma. For the future we have Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel.
That means, even if a few cricketers stop playing after the World Cup, we still have cricketers with 15 to 20 international match experience," he pointed out.
On why has India's performance slipped in recent matches, More said: "We have not been putting enough runs on the board. If only we put over 260 runs can we can make a match out of it.
"There is a lack of confidence in our batting and that could be mainly because many of our matches were affected by rain.
"The Sri Lanka tour was totally washed out. Even in the DLF Cup a few of our matches were affected by rain. These breaks take away the feel of scoring runs. Once our batting clicks in a few matches, we will be back to form."
More is delighted with India's bowling attack. "Our bowling has come out well. I am happy we have a good bunch of bowlers for the future."
How does he look back at his contribution as a selector?
"I am happy I could try out youngsters like Sreesanth, Munaf, Raina, Uthappa, R.P. Singh, Dhoni, and Piyush Chawla. Many of them are not from big cities. Selecting players like Munaf and Dhoni have sent signals to people even from villages that they can play for the country if they are good."
More also urged the Indian media to discuss techniques and talent rather than concentrate on individuals: "Media pressure is huge in India. Off field activities are very often highlighted more than the players.
"Chappell and More were discussed more than the players and their techniques."
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