***Official*** IPL 2009

[Howsie]

Tendulkar isn't that bad, Yuvraj Singh on the other hand is a tragic captain. He is so useless it's not even funny.

 

[Pratters]

Tendulkar is not that bad as a captain. He made a ridiculous decision yesterday of sending inexperienced players ahead of experienced players. However, he has been decent as captain this tournament. He tries some thing new all the time. It is another thing that what he tries doesn't always pay off. Cue, his decision to bowl himself in the previous game. He does have a very good cricketing mind though, it must be said.

 

[Uppercut]

Tendulkar definitely isn't a choker but he isn't a great captain, he's someone who is constant pursuit of perfection in his own game, he tries to take that approach into captaincy but it doesn't work, you have to be willing to compromise. Captaincy also reduces the amount of time he can spend on his own game, not a good thing for him. Srinath once said that Tendulkar found captaincy difficult because he didn't understand players' limitations because he himself had few, if any.

I don't agree with that. It's a cop-out way of admitting Sachin's a poor captain while trying to not offend the fanboys. Even if he wasn't an imperious batsman, he'd still be a poor captain.

The phenomenon does exist, i think it's evident with Shane Warne sometimes. Look at the super over against KKR, where he gave Kamran Khan a tight off-side field and expected him to land it on a sixpence on a line that offered no width. Khan just didn't have the accuracy to execute a plan like that, but Warne couldn't see that.

But Sachin's just a poor captain, and would be a poor captain whether he was an incredible batsman or not. Tactically, he makes a lot of poor decisions- leaving his best batsmen down the order yesterday, for example. Equally, as SJS pointed out, he doesn't seem to have the calming influence he should have on his players. With the players on his team, they should be annihilating Rajasthan.

 

[Pratters]

I don't agree with that. It's a cop-out way of admitting Sachin's a poor captain while trying to not offend the fanboys. Even if he wasn't an imperious batsman, he'd still be a poor captain.

The phenomenon does exist, i think it's evident with Shane Warne sometimes. Look at the super over against KKR, where he gave Kamran Khan a tight off-side field and expected him to land it on a sixpence on a line that offered no width. Khan just didn't have the accuracy to execute a plan like that, but Warne couldn't see that.

But Sachin's just a poor captain, and would be a poor captain whether he was an incredible batsman or not. Tactically, he makes a lot of poor decisions- leaving his best batsmen down the order yesterday, for example. Equally, as SJS pointed out, he doesn't seem to have the calming influence he should have on his players. With the players on his team, they should be annihilating Rajasthan.

Harsh on Tendulkar IMO. Every captain makes mistakes like Warne did with Kamran Khan as you pointed out. The calming influence is there. SJS is reading too much into the body language of Tendulkar.

 

[Uppercut]

Harsh on Tendulkar IMO. Every captain makes mistakes like Warne did with Kamran Khan as you pointed out. The calming influence is there. SJS is reading too much into the body language of Tendulkar.

The results are there, too, though. Mumbai have perhaps the best side, player for player, in the competition but continue to fail. In the matches I've seen, Tendulkar's captaincy has played a part in that (as did Sehwag's for Delhi last year).

 

[Pratters]

The results are there, too, though. Mumbai have perhaps the best side, player for player, in the competition but continue to fail. In the matches I've seen, Tendulkar's captaincy has played a part in that (as did Sehwag's for Delhi last year).

Mumbai doesn't have the best side in the competition. It is a highly over rated side. Delhi and Chennai are way stronger.

 

[Uppercut]

Maybe not the best, but they're underperforming for sure.

 

[silentstriker]

Yea, not impressed at all with Tendulkar's captaincy.

 

[Pratters]

Maybe not the best, but they're underperforming for sure.

A part of it is to do with the captaincy but only a part. The players haven't come to the party and performed either and there is only so much a captain can do.

Tendulkar has never shown that he is a great captain in his career, even when he captained India. He has always had the cricketing mind which makes it such a pardox. Tendulkar is a captain whom I would rate slightly above average. Nothing special as a captain. He is not bad though. He showed good captaincy acumen deciding to bat first and then making a 50 in tough conditions and then getting his bowlers to win the game early in the IPL for instance.

 

[Burgey]

Just saw the highlights. Warney- still the King. 39 odd years old, bad hammie, still bowling and getting wickets, even throwing himself around for a run out.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I didn't find much wrong with Tendulkar's captaincy yesterday, outcome notwithstanding. It was apparent to anyone following MI throughout the tournament that their major problem was a top heavy batting order. I'm certain carrying over a batting order similar to the one they had in the early stages would have meant a loss by a huge margin.

 

[ret]

Sanath-Sachin's combination looks good on paper but I think it's better to play Tendulkar in the middle order as MI needs some experience there

- Sanath
- Bravo
- Duminy
- Sachin
- Rahane
- Nayar

looks like a good like a decent batting line up .... Sachin batting has become more like Javed Miandad's than Viv Richards' [as it was in the past], imo, which would make him more helpful in the middle order

And it was nice to see RR hold on to its nerve!

 

[Uppercut]

Sanath-Sachin's combination looks good on paper but I think it's better to play Tendulkar in the middle order as MI needs some experience there

- Sanath
- Bravo
- Duminy
- Sachin
- Rahane
- Nayar

looks like a good like a decent batting line up .... Sachin batting has become more like Javed Miandad's than Viv Richards' [as it was in the past], imo, which would make him more helpful in the middle order

And it was nice to see RR hold on to its nerve!

Yeah, i think Sachin's more suited to the middle overs in T20 too. Wouldn't have moved Jayasuriya down though. Also i don't know about Bravo opening- put Rahane up there IMO, let Bravo bat 5 or six. Something like:

Sanath
Rahane
Tendulkar
Duminy
Bravo
Nayar

Two hitters for the powerplay overs, followed by two players who are fantastic at rotating the strike and rebuilding, followed by two players who can hit hard towards the end of the innings.

 

[Jono]

Mumbai have perhaps the best side, player for player, in the competition

Completely disagree. They don't even have a side, on paper, in the best 3 in the competition.

 

[Jono]

Even when Abhishek Nayar hit that last six to relieve the tension palpably and all around him everyone broke into loud applause, and cheering and jumping, he sat impassively like the Buddha or worse, as if he was attending a funeral.

Agree with most of what you said about Sachin's captaincy, but not this.

This happens so often with so many leaders in sport. It says nothing about poor captaincy.

 

[biased indian]

though. Mumbai have perhaps the best side, player for player, in the competition

don't agree,,their problem is that they don't have good domestic batsmen....there is not a good Indian batsmen other than tendulkar,,all other teams have at least 2 good Indian batsmen in their team

 

[Uppercut]

don't agree,,their problem is that they don't have good domestic batsmen....there is not a good Indian batsmen other than tendulkar,,all other teams have at least 2 good Indian batsmen in their team

Abhishek Nayar? He's an excellent lower-order batsman for T20 IMO. Similar to Albie Morkel for me- not a great batsman but so perfectly suited to a particular role that he's often more useful that a technically superior player.

 

[chaminda_00]

Their Indian talent is pretty poor both batting and bowling. Without Khan they have struggled a lot with the bowl.

 

[Jono]

Vettori playing. Good to see, love watching him bowl. Him + Mishra =

Hope NZ fans will be quiet about his exclusion now though

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Hope NZ fans will be quiet about his exclusion now though

Now if only Mills can get a game.......