Pretty good post.
Having read pretty much all of your posts recently I do get the feeling that you are not happy with coaching standards around the world not only in India.
Have to say though, Ashwin seems to have a decent technique at least
I wouldn't go that far. Clearly the standards as well as emphasis varies from country to country. The English copy book technique was always different from the Australian orthodox methods but a lot of the differences could be explained by the difference in playing conditions and the playing surfaces. Thus Australians always tended to be better backfoot players (overall) while the West Indians with their true hard surfaces had more stroke players. One can understand that these things have changed over time.
How is one to judge the coaching standards of other countries, by and large it has to be from the over all techniques of the youngsters coming through at the top level now that the touring teams do not play much against first class sides and one knows next to nothing of the first class level cricketers of other countries.
So it is easier to see what is happening closer to home.
Then there is the influence of the shorter version of the game, the flatter wickets and smaller boundaries it has brought, the orthodox strokes introduced in the smallest version and the, at times, blind rush to copy them irrespective of the much higher than acceptable level of risk. The much stronger bats which alongwith the smaller boundaries have tended to reduce the gap between the above average and the very good. Then comes the test match and a good bowling side and one can see who stands where.
It is still an absolute delight to watch the youngsters coming out of Australia and South Africa. Today we bemoan the lack of fulfillment of promise by Rahul Sharma but that is because he shows all the makings of a top class player as far as being technically equipped is concerned. It is mentally that he is fragile. This is nothing new. One has seen so many players in the past with great promise who fell by the way side. I coluld name some you may never have heard of who were thought to be absolutely marvelous prospects. Gursharan Singh of Delhi and Punjab comes readily to mind.
But the difference between now and then is that we lose Rahul and we feel "oh hell now where are we going to get another player of that caliber from" but when we lost Gursharan one felt sad for the unfulfilled promise but there were so many others coming up who were very good as well that one soon forgot about him. This is not happening any more in the Indian talent pool.
The youngsters, more and more, seem to be coming equipped for the shorter version and that, as mentioned before, brings with it built in issues with technique as well as mental make up.
Similarly in bowling. Yesterday there was a discussion going on about how Indian bowlers can not swing the new ball and wait for the ball to grow old so that they can get reverse swing while the reverse, someone mentioned, was true for the English bowlers. While this may not be hundred percent true, the fact that top order international cricketers think so is mind boggling. Surely, almost every one watching the game seriously hasn't forgotten Wasim and Waqar.
Sreesant may be an idiot (is actually) but he swings the new ball beautifully when brand new and irrespective of which make the new ball is. It has to do with the grip, wrist position, bowling action and follow through. This is not rocket science but if this is what top cricketers are going to discuss on prime time (which is what cricket's test match analysis must be considered) then surely there are wrong things being said every day in the cricketing circles in this country. Otherwise where is this crap information arising from.
In England's first innings, Dhoni standing up to the stumps mised a ball completely and it went through for four byes. The ball had kept a trifle low and the commentator sympathised with Dhoni saying how difficult it is for the man standing up. This is BULL of the worst stinking order. The man standing up has to stay down till the ball pitches and then get up along with it as it rises from the surface. This is the first principal of wicket keeping. If Mt Bhogle doesn't know it someone should have told him in the thousands of hours he has spent on TV.
My grouse is not just with technique which is the coach's job but how little it is paid attention to by those who pretend to be cricketing pundits and who you have to line up on busy telephone lines to ask cricketing questions.
Finally aside from technique, no Indian cricketer on air has gone on to criticise Dhoni's demand for turning tracks let alone make fun of him in light of what Monty did to our pretensions to be the better players of spin besides being better bowlers of it.
The wider public relies on what they hear from those on air to learn their cricket and we are contributing to their dumbing down. The coaches are doing their bit towards the small minority that actually takes up the game seriously :o)
