Looking ahead, the future's so bright I gotta wear shades

Post the England tour, the FTP looks like this

5 ODIs vs England at home
3 Tests 5 ODIs versus West Indies at home.
4 Tests and 8-11 ODIs versus Australia away
3 Tests and 5 ODIs versus Pakistan at home.
3 Tests versus Sri lanka away.
3 Tests versus New Zealand at home.
T20 WC at Sri Lanka
4 Tests versus England at home
7 ODIs and 1 T20 versus England at home.
4 Tests versus Australia at home.
This is the lead up to the Test playoff/Championship in England.
Following this
3 ODIs versus Zimbabwe away
7 ODIs and 1 T20 versus Australia at home.

Doing the sums, between September 2011 though November 2013, India play 24 Tests, 38 ODIs and 2 T20s, most of them at home.. This does not include the games played in the ICC Test Championship, the T20 WC, IPL and Champions League games.

Working with the numbers above, India play 140 days of cricket over a period of 2 years. Which brings up the question of workload, rotation and rest.

Right now, including all of the injured players, India can safely boast of a roster that is 47 deep.

Openers:
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Murali Vijay
Abhinav Mukund
Ajinkya Rahane

Middle Order:
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Cheteshwar Pujara
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Ambati Rayadu
Suresh Raina
Manoj Tiwary
Manish Pandey

WicketKeepers:
MS Dhoni
W. Saha
P. Patel
N. Ojha
D. Karthik

Slow Left arm spin:
Pragyan Ojha
Ravinder Jadeja

Off Spin:
Harbhajan Singh

Leg spin:
Amit Mishra

Right Arm Fast:
Ishant Sharma
Praveen Kumar
Munaf Patel
Abhimanyu Mithun
Umesh Yadav
Varun Aaron

Left Arm Fast:
Zaheer Khan
RP Singh
Jaidev Unadkat

ODI/T20 specialists:
Yusuf Pathan
Siddharth Trivedi
R. Ashwin
Piyush Chawla
Rahul Sharma
Bhargav Bhatt
Iqbal Abdulla
Irfan Pathan
Sudeep Tyagi
Dhawal Kulkarni
R. Vinay Kumar
Saurabh Tiwary
Ashok Menaria

Now, the above categorization is not a strict one ie: players classified as ODI/T20 specialists can pretty easily be moved up into any of the other classifications and vice versa. And it also does not consider some players like Badrinath, who can be slotted into the above list if so desired.

Now, working on the presumption that we need our best XV for overseas tourneys and that the kids need atleast 10 tests before they can find their feet, does this current itinerary allow us to do so?

Does the current itinerary allow us a rotation policy, given that 17 of the 24 tests are going to be at home, as will 24 of the 38 ODIs?

Does this schedule give us the bandwidth to ensure that the emergent kids can take the next step up?

Does the schedule allows us the cushion of managing the retirements of the big 3, and in all probability Zak?

I believe the answer to all the above questions is yes.

The only problem , if it may be called that is, do we have the stomach to absorb a  few defeats along the way? And I qualify that argument by stating that despite the best batting lineup in a generation, we have never been more than  good fighting, attritional side, never a dominant one.

And are we, as a people, ready to go easy on the insta gratification/insta punditry that seems to be our leitmotif when things begin to go even slightly wrong? Are we willing to give ourselves a long enough rope and not go knee jerk every time a kid does not come good?

Because if we are, we not only have the tools and the resources, but also time on our hands. Given the ages of the kids under consideration, a little patience now will go a long way in ensuring our competitiveness for an extended period of time.

And just to make things that much easier, the number of home games mean that the ride will be smoother than we expect.

The future is now in our hands.

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Better to Fall Divided than to Stand United

At least that's the way cricket is run in the 21st century. In an age where American politicians are calling for a more sensible method of determining the national champions (It can be argued that they have bigger issues to worry about) the cricketing world is determined to widen the gap between the haves and the have nots. From 2012 we will get to see a lot more of the top sides playing each other while the rest have to make-do with scrapping among each other. It's not too different from the two-tier system a lot of experts have proposed, but since boards can't afford to antagonise each other without losing votes at the ICC table they've decided to do what was the norm until the 90s. FICA has had a role to play in these matters too - Tim May and his lawyers can't stop talking about how hectic the international schedule is but they have no problem with their clients lending their services to multiple Twenty20 teams.

One might argue that test cricket at its best is a contest between two even teams, but the definition of even has blurred over the years. It seems the parity is decided on balance sheets and not on the cricket field. And since the ICC is as powerless as the United Nations, it can do nothing to bring some sanity to the sport. Can you imagine the English FA ratifying a Premiership schedule in which Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United play each other four times a season and every other club just once? Of course not, but India can play Pakistan four years in a row and not play New Zealand even once during that period. The same can be said about Australia, England and South Africa playing each other more often than they play Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies. Can you imagine Cristiano Ronaldo play for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United and Real Madrid? And yet, players like Herschelle Gibbs, Farvez Maharoof, Andrew McDonald were eligible to play for more than one team in the Champions League.

I proposed a Future Tours Programme at BCC! about a month ago. While I don't consider it to be perfect by any stretch of imagination, I certainly believe it is the template to a systematic and balanced cricketing schedule. Here's why:

1.The best teams play each other often enough over a reasonable period of time (Twice in four years is good enough, as such the Ashes and most other marquee series have a four-year cycle.).

2.For the most part, each country plays at home during its cricketing season. South Africa tour Australia during their season but they're doing it even now in return for monetary compensation from Cricket Australia.

3.Cricketers need not worry about choosing between club and country as there are separate windows for the Indian Premier League and the Champions League, and they only need to be available for three-fourths of their international commitments. This should go a long way in minimising player burnout.

I'd love to have the bored brains here pick holes in this arrangement and help fine-tune it, and if someone has connections in the ICC they can do the right thing and arrange for a meeting between me and Mr. Lorgat.

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Future Tours Programme

Alright, so after much deliberation and research I've come up with what I think is a pretty good Future Tours Programme from 2015 to 2019. The FTP has been drawn up with the following factors in mind:

1.9 test-playing nations play each other in home and away series (T20, ODI, Test) over a period of 4 years.

2.There are separate windows for IPL and Champions League so that players don't have to choose between their national side and their club. However, players have to be available for selection for atleast 75 percent of the bilateral matches their national side is part of.

3.There will be two Twenty20 World Cups (2016 and 2018) and one Champions Trophy (2017).

4.Every country apart from Bangladesh gets to host a major tournament.

5.The FTP will culminate with the Final Four of the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup. The Final Four will be decided based on the points per test (Total points earned divided by number of tests played).

6.Every board contributes a percentage of its total revenue into a pool. The total money is then equally distributed among the national boards. The revenue from IPL and Champions League need not be shared.

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the other bcci...

by straight point

"There are a handful of people who don't want us to run. If there's a divide in cricket today or in future, and only one person has to be blamed, you all know who that person is. I'll never take the name."

Kapil Dev talks about the continuing victimisation of the ICL by the BCCI

Sep 16, 2008
(source cricinfo)

I bet kapil everybody in the world knows it...

If there is anything relating to cricketing matters that’s going bad or can go bad anywhere it's bcci who does it...

so even if icl is born not out of love for cricket but for the lure of encashing big money...we know whom to blame for it...

so if bcci trying to prevent a hole in its pocket by a rival, a common practice, we know whom to blame...

so if all boards kow-towed to bcci line...like dog licks feet of his master...that ‘they’ won't accept any player from ‘rival’ league...we know whom to blame...

So if now-playing-now-injured-the-name-is shane bond decides that his body can no longer take the pressure of putting up even 10 overs and stand in next odi...leave alone playing test cricket for full five days...you know whom to blame...

if a window for dead-n-buried champions trophy has to be found by not disturbing england's but india's ftp...you know whom to blame...

If one day some players suddenly realize they are being treated badly by their own board...don’t see future with them and their parent body keeps sleeping over it...like an ostrich...

oh, don’t bother...your guess is as good as mine...

bcci deserve it by making the amount of money which other boards can only dream of...

how dare bcci do that...and get away with it...

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