Story Manager Diary [ICC 2005]

[crickap]

Manager Diary; Now in the World Cup !

Hi,

I am Asma Khan and I will be writing a manager diary as manager (captain?) of the Indian Cricket team. I think it will be a great idea for us to write manager diaries describing our experiences with our chosen team. I will start with the actual diary from the next post.

Times of India
____________

In a shock move, the BCCI has appointed world cup winning manager of the women's cricket team, Asma Khan as coach of the Indian (men's) cricket team.

July 2005
________

I received a call from the BCCI chairman this morning. I assumed it was to congratulate me on the recent ascent of the women's cricket team to the top of the world rankings. However, it was not! He asked me to manage the men's team and my challenge was to put in a good performance in the World Cup and to take us upto at least no.2 in the Test rankings. I accepted the challenge and am now manager of the Indian cricket team.

Tri-Series
________

Our first challenge is the Tri-Series in Sri Lanka between India, SL and the WI.

The board in its programme of reforms agreed to do away with the selection committee, so now the responsibility for selecting the team rests solely with the manager!

I name the team for the tournament:
Ganguly(C), Dravid(VC), Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Kaif, Laxman, Sehwag, Gambir, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Pathan, Agarkar, Sriram, Sodhi, Joginder Sharma, Dhoni, Venugopal Rao.

I decide to stick to Ganguly as captain for the moment and see how it goes.


IND VS SL
SL-247 lost to IND-247/3 on wkts remaining

Our first match is against Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj has gone down with injury. So, I select the following team:
Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kaif, Dhoni, Pathan, Agarkar, Zaheer, Harbhajan.

Sri Lanka win the toss and elect to bat in overcast conditions.

Attapatu's 96(125) puts Sri Lanka in a very strong position half way through. However a good spell by Tendulkar (3wkts) followed by Zaheer and Pathan bowl out Sri Lanka for 247. Agarkar however went for too many runs.

I decide to open with Ganguly and Sehwag. Tendulkar going in at no.3. Propelled by Ganguly's 32(33), we reach 69/1 in 15 overs. Soon, Sehwag's run-out and Tendulkar getting out to Muralidharan put us in a spot of bother. Laxman and Dravid take us to 247/3 whence we win on wickets remaining. Not convincing, but a win nonetheless!

IND VS WI
Ind-243/7 beat WI-165

Kumble in for Agarkar
After an initial collapse to 149/6, Dravid's 84(90) takes us to 243/7 having won the toss and elected to bat.
Kumble's 5/45 enabled us to bowl out the Windies for 165 and we won by 78 runs.

IND VS WI
Onto our second game aginst the Windies, I retain the same winning combination.
IND-370/8 bt WI-253

We win the toss and elect to bat again.
A 264 run opening partnership in under 35 overs put us in a great position, Sehwag 138(104) and Ganguly 122(110). Dravid's 51(34) took us to 370/8.
Chris Gayle's 55 ball hundred not withstanding, the West Indies crashed to 253 all out.

IND vs SL
Unbeaten so far, I go into the final game unchanged!

SL win the toss and bat first. Zaheer picks up five wkts and we restrict SL to 201/7.
Following Ganduly's early dismissal, I promoted Dhoni to number 3. He duly got a fifty and took us to the target in 43 overs. We look forward to the final having one all the games!

We face the West Indies in the final and I am really keen to wrap up this tournament with a win and my first trophy.

FINAL
_____

IND VS WI
_________

TOSS: India and elect to field.

We win the toss and opt to field.
We restrict them to 198/8. With less than 4 per over needed to win, we back our batsmen to do the job.
We finish the job in 37 overs and win by 8 wkts. My first trophy is in the cabinet and we look forward to the Zimbabwe tour.

___________________________________________________________________

TOUR OF ZIMBABWE
_________________


I retain the same squad of 18 for the tour of Zimbabwe.

 

[crickap]

INDIA vs Mashonaland
___________________

Our tour opener. I decide to play the main team which I intend to play in the test matches - Sehwag, Gambir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Kumble.
Toss : India
DAY 1: IND - 533/6 (Dravid 205, Ganguly 80*, Sehwag 78, Laxman 72)
DAY 2: IND - 586/8 decl (Ganguly 103, Pathan 59)
Mashonaland - 361 (Kumble 4/99, Harbhajan 3/125)
Mashonaland - (following on) 4/0
DAY 3: Mashonaland - 318 (Kumble 4/94, Harbhajan 3/111)
India - 56/0

Match Drawn


I TEST
______

Same team retained by us.
Toss:Zimbabwe
D1 : Zim - 343 (Kumble 4/97, Harbhajan 4/94)
D2 : Ind - 331/2 (Tendulkar 113*, Dravid 105*, Gambhir 59)
D3 : Ind - 675/5 (Laxman 167*, Dravid 164, Tendulkar 131, Dhoni 53*)
D4 : Ind - 785/6 decl (Dhoni 107*, Laxman 183)
Zim - 121 (Harbhajan 5/39, Kumble 4/36)

India win by an innings and 321 runs. MOM - Laxman.

II TEST
_______

Again same team retained by us.
Toss : India
We elect to field first as there is some cloud cover.
D1 : Zim - 217 (Kumble 5/37, Harbhajan 3/54)
Ind - 61/1
D2 : Ind - 393/2 (Gambhir 192*, Tendulkar 113*, Dravid 60)
D3 : Ind - 717/5 (Gambhir 268, Tendulkar 157, Ganguly 105*, Laxman 55)
D4 : Ind - 813/7 decl (Ganguly 130, Dhoni 73)
Zim - 235/3 (Kumble 2/77)
D5 : Zim - 407 (Kumble 4/128, Harbhajan 3/134)

India win by inns and 189 runs MOM: Gambhir

I am impressed by the two emphatic victories and hope to repeat the same in the ODI's.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

INDIA vs Mashonaland
___________________

Our tour opener. I decide to play the main team which I intend to play in the test matches - Sehwag, Gambir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Kumble.
Toss : India
DAY 1: IND - 533/6 (Dravid 205, Ganguly 80*, Sehwag 78, Laxman 72)
DAY 2: IND - 586/8 decl (Ganguly 103, Pathan 59)
Mashonaland - 361 (Kumble 4/99, Harbhajan 3/125)
Mashonaland - (following on) 4/0
DAY 3: Mashonaland - 318 (Kumble 4/94, Harbhajan 3/111)
India - 56/0

Match Drawn


I TEST
______

Same team retained by us.
Toss:Zimbabwe
D1 : Zim - 343 (Kumble 4/97, Harbhajan 4/94)
D2 : Ind - 331/2 (Tendulkar 113*, Dravid 105*, Gambhir 59)
D3 : Ind - 675/5 (Laxman 167*, Dravid 164, Tendulkar 131, Dhoni 53*)
D4 : Ind - 785/6 decl (Dhoni 107*, Laxman 183)
Zim - 121 (Harbhajan 5/39, Kumble 4/36)

India win by an innings and 321 runs. MOM - Laxman.

II TEST
_______

Again same team retained by us.
Toss : India
We elect to field first as there is some cloud cover.
D1 : Zim - 217 (Kumble 5/37, Harbhajan 3/54)
Ind - 61/1
D2 : Ind - 393/2 (Gambhir 192*, Tendulkar 113*, Dravid 60)
D3 : Ind - 717/5 (Gambhir 268, Tendulkar 157, Ganguly 105*, Laxman 55)
D4 : Ind - 813/7 decl (Ganguly 130, Dhoni 73)
Zim - 235/3 (Kumble 2/77)
D5 : Zim - 407 (Kumble 4/128, Harbhajan 3/134)

India win by inns and 189 runs MOM: Gambhir

I am impressed by the two emphatic victories and hope to repeat the same in the ODI's.

Good Idea of making diary sister :

 

[hassan17]

Wow a girl acctually plays Icc 2005 now i have seen everything.....Anyways nice work it is interesting

 

[crickap]

ODI SERIES IN ZIMBABWE

I ODI

I go in with Sehwag, Ganguly, Kaif, Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Kumble, Zaheer, Harbhajan.
Toss:India

Led by Sehwag 128(126) and Tendulkar 118(121), we post a mamoth 297/3.

Zaheer Khan 5/31 helps us bowl out Zimbabwe for 121!

II ODI
I retain the same team, win the toss and bat again!
Ganguly 112(110) and Tendulkar 93(79) take us to 345/2.
Zaheer picked up 3wkts in his opening spell and they never recovered from that - bowled out for 173.

III ODI
Time for some experimentation!
I rest Dravid, Kumble & Sehwag to play Gambhir, Venugopal Rao and Joginder Sharma.

Zimbabwe won the toss and put us in in overcast conditions.
Led by Yuvraj 102*(85) and Venugopal Rao 82(100) we posted 284/4.
Gambhir got out for 22, but Venugopal played a good innings.
Sharma's 6/43 on debut bowled out Zimbabwe for 128.

We win the series 3-0 and have some good finds.

Joginder Sharma(22) is an all-rounder for the future. Venugopal Rao looked good.

 

[crickap]

IND VS SL (I TEST)

I play my usual test team, opening with Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid,
Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Pathan, Dhoni, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Kumble.

SL win the toss and elect to bat on a flat surface.
Zaheer 3/40 and Harbhajan 3/83 bowl out SL for 262 on the first day.


D1: SL-262(Zaheer 3/40, Harbhajan 3/82)
IND - 11/0
D2 : IND - 306/3 (Gambhir 121, Sehwag 101)

D3 : IND - 467 (Tendulkar 87)
SL - 120/1

D4 : SL - 233 (Harbhajan 4/53, Kumble 4/62)
IND - 29/1 (Target : 29)

India win by nine wickets.


I retain the same team for the second test

IND VS SL (II TEST)
___________________
Toss:SL

D1 : SL - 317/7
D2 : SL - 397 (Harbhajan 5/116)
IND - 191/3 (Tendulkar 69*, Laxman 55*)
On a pitch offering sharp turn, SL's total seemed like a handful.

D3 : IND - 425 (Tendulkar 162, Laxman 104)
SL - 67/4

D4 : SL - 328 ( Harbhajan 4/94, Pathan 3/69)
IND (Target 301) - 48/1
Nicely set up for an exciting final day

At tea we are 222/5 needing a further 79 to win with Dravid and
Dhoni at the crease
D5 : IND - 295/8 (Dravid 120)

Match drawn.


III TEST
________

Down to the final one, we retain the same 11.

Toss: SL and put us in

D1 : IND - 236/5 (Laxman 72*, Dravid 44)
Ganguly fails with bat yet again,
D2 : IND - 454 (Laxman 88, Harbhajan 75)
SL - 12/1
D3 : SL - 328/5
D4 : SL - 425
IND - 192/5 (Gambhir 71)

D5 : IND - 271
SL (Target 300) - 211 (Harbhajan 5/80, Kumble 5/70)

We win the test series 2-0!

Now onto the ODI's
___________________

Now onto the ODI's
___________________


I decide to institute a squad rotation system for ODI's so that I can try
out various people before the World Cup in 2007.

My squad of 18 for the ODI's against Sri Lanka :

Ganguly(C), Dravid(VC), Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kaif, Yuvraj, Laxman,
Dhoni, Pathan, Zaheer, Gagandeep Singh, Harbhajan, Kumble, Joginder,
Venugopal Rao, Gambhir, Sodhi, Powar.


I include Powar and Gagandeep Singh for the injured Agarkar and
Sriram who I will try out at a later stage.


I ODI
_____

For the first ODI I play Sehwar, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj, Laxman,
Dhoni, Pathan, Zaheer, Kumble and Harbhajan.

We elect to bat on winning the toss and are bowled out for 185.
IND - 185 lost to SL - 187/5

II ODI
______

Laxman, Pathan & Dhoni for Kaif, Sharma & Sodhi
Dravid to keep wickets.

Put into bat, this time we got to 260/7 thanks to Sodhi's 80(81)
Kumble's 6/48 bowled out SL for 205.

III ODI
_______

1-1 and this is the final game!

I play Gagandeep, Powar and Rao for Sehwag, Zaheer & Yuvraj.

We were put into bat again.
But fifties by Dravid, Venugopal and Powar took us to 278/6
Harbhajan and Powar pick up 3wkts each to bowl out SL for 227.

We win the series 2-1 !

Onto Pakistan now!

 

[James_W]

Wow, you must be moving up the rankings a bit!

 

[crickap]

I retain the same squad for the tour except for Powar who is injured.
I pick Madhusudan Acharya of Vidharba in his place.



IND VS KARACHI WHITES
______________________

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly,
Dhoni, Pathan, Zaheer, Kumble, Harbhajan.

KW : 356 & 306
INDIA : 468/9 decl and 197/2 win by 8 wickets.


I TEST
______

I go in with the same team, but warn Ganguly that he has to
perform in this series or lose the captaincy.

Pak win the toss and elect to bat

D1 - PAK 374/7
D2 PAK 576 IND 83/1
Our primary task now is to save this game.
D3 IND - 382/8
With Ganguly failing again, I am considering removing him in the
middle of the tour. But that will have to wait for the moment.
D4 IND - 396 PAK - 218/5 decl IND (Target:399) - 24/1
They got Sehwag, and I sent in a night-watchman Zaheer Khan
The pitch is taking turn and there is uneven bounce.
So, we are in a spot of bother.

D5 IND - 276/9

Match Drawn : Saved despite Ganguly's cheap dismissal again.

II TEST
_______
I decide to keep my faith with the same combination.
This tour is going to be Ganguly's last as captain, unless he
redeems himself.
We win the toss and bat.
D1 : IND - 260/2 (Dravid 103*, Gambhir 128)
D2 : IND 532/4 (Dravid 243*, Ganguly 111*)
D3 : IND - 720/9 decl (Laxman 104, Ganguly 159) PAK - 132/2
D4 : PAK - 345 PAK (following on) - 135/3
D5 : PAK - 251

India win by an inns and 124 runs!

III TEST
________

We go into the final test needing just a draw to take the series home.
I bring in Joginder Sharma for Zaheer Khan who is out of form.

Toss:India

D1: IND - 285/5 (Ganguly 110*, Tendulkar 81)
D2: IND - 592 (Ganguly 203, Dhoni 146)
D3: PAK - 143/0
D4: PAK - 437/9
D5: PAK - 441 IND - 170/5 decl PAK (Target 322) - 165/6

Match Drawn

INDIA WIN SERIES 1-0

____________________________________________________________________________

ODI SERIES
__________

I play my first choice ODI team

1) IND - 238/8 PAK - 144
We lost the toss, but Harbhajan (5 wkts) took us to victory.

2) We win the toss and bat this time.
IND - 370/3 (Sehwag 188(153)*)
PAK - 154

With the series in the bag, we experiment a little in this game.
I play Gagandeep Singh, Rao, Kaif, Gambhir & Acharya (Left arm spinner)

3) We lose the toss and field first.
Ganguly picks up three wickets and we restrict them to 213.
PAK - 213/7
IND - 215/4 (46)

A comfortable victory to wrap up the series 3-0.


_____________________________________________________________________________

IND VS ENG
____________



I TEST
_______

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dhoni,
Joginder, Kumble, Harbhajan, Gagandeep Singh.

We win the toss and wlwct to bat

1) IND - 348/1 (Sehwag 194*)
All set to post a huge total on the board.
2) IND - 509 ENG - 144/7
3) ENG - 201 ENG - 160/4 (following on)
4) ENG - 310 IND (Target 3) - 3/0

II TEST
_______

Same team retained for the second test.
England win toss and elect to bat.

1) ENG - 242 IND - 42/1
The wicket is offering a lot of turn.
We need to post a decent first innings lead to maintain
a chance of winning.
2) IND - 317/6 (Dravid 130)
3) IND - 335 ENG - 166 IND (Target 74) - 74/1


We have the test series 2-0 and for the final game, I can try out a few
other players!

III TEST
________

I decide to rest Laxman, Ganguly, Sehwag, Kumble & Tendulkar
I play Vashisht (OS) , Acharya (SLA), Venugopal Rao, Rayudu & Yuvraj Singh
Dravid will captain and open with Gambhir.

We win the toss and bat

1) IND - 243/5 (Dravid 100*)
2) IND - 528/7 (Dravid 184, Joginder Sharma 160)
3) IND - 562 ENG - 152 ENG (following on) - 70/1
4) ENG - 234/8
But for the rain interruptions, we would have finished on Day 4
5) ENG - 251

Win by an innings this time with virtulally India 'A' !!

Series win 3-0.

________________________________________________________________________

ODI's
____

I ODI
____

We win the toss and bat:

 

[crickap]

2nd ODI




Having wrapped up the series we go into the 3rd ODI





TOUR OF WEST INDIES
____________________

I have a hard time selecting my 18 man squad for the West Indies tour.
But, then I decide that it is primarily a test series and pick the side accordingly.

Gagandeep, Sodhi, Powar omitted.

Batsmen:
Ganguly(C), Dravid(VC), Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kaif, Yuvraj, Laxman, Gambhir, Venugopal Rao.
Wicket Keepers : Dhoni, Patel.
Seam bowlers: Zaheer Khan, Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Munaf Patel
Spinners: Kumble, Harbhajan, Acharya.



I TEST
______

After Yuvraj's great knock, I cannot drop him. So, Laxman is out.
In the bowling attack, I decide to play Zaheer, Joginder, Harbhajan and Kumble, after briefly thinking about playing three seamers and dropping Kumble, I ditch the idea.

Day 1 :

An excellent day. We hope to get to about 500 in the first innings to seal the game.



First innings scorecard




FINAL SUMMARY


II TEST
______

We go into the second test 1-0 up and I retain the same squad.



Shock loss in the second test.

III TEST
_________

Gambhir is injured and so I bring in Laxman, who will open with Sehwag.



We are well placed after two days. But we need to capitalise on it.



We win the series 2-1.

ODI SERIES
__________

Onto the ODI's now.





Rao has been phenomenal and we must make a place for him in the 11.

Onto the third ODI :



___________________________________________________________________

END OF FIRST SEASON AS MANAGER.

__________________________________________________________________

In my first season, we have won away test series in Zimbabwe, Pakistan & West Indies.
We have also won home series against Sri Lanka and England.

We won all the ODI series and won the Tri-Series in Sri Lanka.

Consequently, we have moved upto no.4 in the rankings.
We are also no.4 in the ODI rankings.
_________________________________________________________________

In 2006-7 we go to Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand and host Sri Lanka again!

Immediately after, we have the World Cup for which I must prepare the ODI team.

 

[crickap]

TOUR TO BANGLADESH
___________________

We win the test series 1-0.

SHOCK LOSS in ODI Series 3-0 to Bangladesh.

Following, the shock loss I reacted by sacking Sourav Ganguly from the
captaincy for both ODI and Test cricket.

For the tour of South Africa I pick Dravid as captain and announce my squad for the SA tour which includes Ganguly.

Dravid(C),Sehwag(VC),Tendulkar,Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj, Kaif, Rao, Dhoni, Gagandeep, Zaheer, Kumble, Acharya, Joginder Sharma, Powar, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan,
Gambhir.

I TEST
______

Ganguly is dropped for the first test.
I play Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Zaheer, Gagandeep, Harbhajan, Kumble.

SA win the toss and put on 534 on the board.
Sehwag and Gambhir put on 109 and we ended the 2nd day at 109/0.



On the fifth day, a few minutes before tea Pollock declares setting us a target at just below 2 runs a minute.

However, we manage to get there! (Amazingly enough!)




II TEST
______

After Gambhir's failure in both innings, I ask Venugopal Rao to play and Dravid will open with Sehwag.



III TEST
_______

It is the final deciding test match!
I play Sharma for Zaheer but the same team otherwise.
I decide to open with Sehwag and Laxman this time.

They elect to bat first and are bowled out for 228 on the first day. If we do not let them come back from this, we have the series!
Sehwag and Laxman set the ball rolling by adding 219 for the first wicket.

A strong position after two days.



A great win and we have won 2-0 in South Africa!!

Dravid is turning out to be a good captain!!

Onto the ODI's
_________________________________________________________________

I ODI
_____


II ODI
_____

I play Acharya in place of Powar.



We post a good total thanks to Dhoni's innings.



We retain the same team for the third ODI:



IV ODI
______

Now, we can experiment a bit.




V ODI
_____



So a resounding whitewash in South Africa. We move on to host Sri Lanka after which we go to New Zealand.

We hope to continue the winning streak into the World Cup.

We are now 2nd in the Test rankings and 4th in the ODI rankings.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Hi Asma Baji
U should allow other people to post their diary in ur thread otherwise no one takes interest

 

[James_W]

They can start a new diary thread if they want too... I'm enjoying the read.

 

[crickap]

Thanks for your encouragement James.

To answer your question, Muhammad Saad - I am not preventing anyone from posting on this thred. Also, as James pointed out you are free to go ahead and start your own diary if you wish to do so!

Meanwhile, I think I shall carry on at least until the World Cup in 2007!

Asma

WORLD CUP PROBABLES
________________________

Before hosting Sri Lanka, I announce a list of World Cup Probables. The final squad for the World Cup will be picked from this list after the tour of New Zealand. I announce that Dravid will remain captain for the SL, NZ series and then for the World Cup itself.

1) Rahul Dravid (C)
2) Virender Sehwag (VC)
3) Mahendra Dhoni
4)SachinTendulkar
5) Sourav Ganguly
6)V.V.S.Laxman
7)Gautam Gambhir
8)Yuvraj Singh
9)Mohammed Kaif
10)Venugopal Rao
11)Anil Kumble
12)Harbhajan Singh
13)Gagandeep Singh
14)Irfan Pathan
15)Zaheer Khan
16) Joginder Sharma
17)Reetinder Singh Sodhi
18)Romesh Powar
19)Madhusudhan Acharya
20)Ajit Agarkar
21)Parthiv Patel
22)Ambati Rayudu
23)Aavishkar Salvi
24)Sridharan Sriram
25)Munaf Patel

 

[crickap]

IND VS SL
________

TEST SERIES
___________




ODI SERIES
_________





Wow! A great series and we are hitting peak form.

In my reign so far, we have defeated Sri Lanka & England at home and Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, South Africa & West Indies away from home. Only New Zealand and Australia remain unconquered.

We head to New Zealand hoping to scale the penultimate summit and also prepare for the world cup.

TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
_____________________

New Zealand is a hard place to tour.

Thankfully, we get a flat wicket for the I test :



We repeat the feat in the second test :



We are now 2nd in the Test rankings.

ODI SERIES
__________










A fabulous victory!
We are now well placed to launch our assault on the World Cup next summer. I must get busy making preparations for it.

I have already made a list of probables for the tournament and now we I must get to the task of actually selecting the side.

 

[crickap]

INTERVIEW WITH ASMA KHAN

Indiacricket.com's Rajeev Yadav caught up with the victorious Indian manager Asma Khan following the highly successful tour of New Zealand from which she returned only yesterday.

RY: Congratulations on your splendid victory.
AK: Thank You.

RY: You have led the team to overseas victories in South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe,
West Indies and now New Zealand besides home wins against England and Sri Lanka. What have you done right,
which has enabled this spectacular form over the last 18 months or so.
AK: Ever since I came in, I increased the emphasis on discipline, fitness and fielding.
Our fielding and running between the wickets is now better than ever.
The abolition of the selection committee has also been an important step. Now, only I am
responsible for selecting the team and I select the players based not only on performance, but the potential
I see in them and their attitude and interactions with other members of the team. The newcomers are not subjected
to the vagaries of the selection committee. If I see potential in some players, I continue to pick them and give
them confidence ........

RY: You replaced the captain after the tour of Bangladesh where we lost 3-0.
Is Dravid up to your expectations as captain?
AK: Dravid is a good captain and he is going to be the captain for the World Cup.
With Dravid, I have a captain who listens to me and follows my instructions. The main issue however, was that
I wanted it to be known that failure would not be tolerated. So, Ganguly had to go as captain after the ODI series
loss in Bangladesh.

RY: How do you get on with Dravid? And who does what in the management?
AK: Very well! On the field, he is in charge. But, off it, I am. I decide on the playing 11 and the batting order.
I try to have as much input as possible while fielding for field settings and bowling changes etc.

RY: What specific preparations are you making for the World Cup?
AK: I announced a list of 25 probables earlier this year. All 25 will attend a camp at Bangalore from the 8th of March
for 15 days. I have managed to get some people as consultants for the camp. Sanjay Manjrekar will work with the batsmen,
Bishen Bedi will work with the spinners and Dennis Lillee will be working with the seamers. After that, 5 players will
be ejected and we will take 20 to another camp in Barbados. We will spend ten days there and play a few practise games
after that. Then I will make a decision as to which 5 to send back. The remaining 15 will battle it out for the World Cup.

RY: Any comments about the likely composition of that final 15?
AK: Well, Dravid is the captain and Sehwag is the vice-captain, so they will definately be there.
We are certainly going to have 7 batsmen, 1 keeper, 2 spinners, 3 seamers. In the remaining two spots,
there are all-rounders, or we might choose to have an extra seamer or batsman. We have a very talented bunch of
players and I have to make the choices ultimately.

RY: Who will open the batting and what would the typical 11 be like in the World Cup?
AK: Sehwag and Tendulkar would be the first choice. But, we will also take another opener ? Gambhir or Ganguly.
We would need to have squad rotation, since we play 9 games before the semis and I don't want to tire people out.
The middle order will have Dravid at no.3 and Yuvraj at no.4. The No.5 spot is up for grabs! At no.6 we can play either a
batsman like Venugopal Rao, or Laxman or Kaif (all of whom are in contention for no.5 as well) or we could play an all
rounder like Sodhi, Powar or Acharya or even Sriram. That is going to be an important choice we will have to make. While,
having 5 bowlers is going to be helpful, Yuvraj has been doing a decent job with the ball, and we can get Sachin and Sehwag
to bowl a bit. At no.7 Dhoni and then two seamers and two spinners. Occassionally, we might play 3 seamers and a spinner
depending on the conditions.

RY: Do you prefer to chase or bat first? And will you be deciding what to do if you win the toss?
AK: Yes, definately. I have no specific preference. If the conditions are overcast, then we bowl first. If it is a flat
batting pitch, we bat and aim to get a hugh score on the board. Likewise, if it is a turning track, it is likely to
wear even more in the second innings and so we may bat. There is no fixed rule.

RY: What is your strategy - thinking when you bat first and likewise when you chase?
AK: If we bat first, I always aim for 300 - attack in the first 15 overs, them aim for a steady phase and a score between
150 and 175 in 30 overs. From then on, depending on the number of wickets in hand, launch a final assault.
While chasing, we aim to keep the asking rate below 6 an over at all times.


RY: You have blodded a number of youngsters like Acharya, Gagandeep Singh, etc. What has been your experience with them?
AK: Yes, and Powar, Sodhi, Joginder Sharma, Venugopal Rao, Rayudu. They are all excellent cricketers and will form the
nucleus of future Indian teams. Joginder, Venugopal, Gagandeep and Acharya have been specially exceptional. All deserving
players will get their chance in due course.

RY: Did you consider any other players while naming the 25, and if so who are the other rising stars?
AK: Vinod Kambli topped the domestic batting averages. While, he has batted well, I think selecting him would be a step
backwards, as he is already 36 and has been out of international cricket for a decade. I considered the seam bowler
Sreesanth, wicket-keeper Pankaj Dharmani, batsman Yashpal Singh, left arm spinner Murali Kartik..It just turned
out that other people came ahead of him in the pecking order.

RY: Which teams will you be on the lookout for?
AK: All of them! Australia are the one team, we have not beaten in my reign in ODI's barring Bangladesh who unfortunately
are in our group.

RY: What would be the deciding factor as to whether you can win the World Cup?
AK: We have to field well. Our batting would have to fire and the bowlers will have to keep a tight line and length. If we
make it to the semis it is touch and go from there. We need discipline and hard work and collective effort. Individuals
who do not work with the group will be excised from the 25 we now have.

RY: Finally, can you win the World Cup?
AK: We have an excellent team and I am confident that we can win.

RY: Thank You Asma and all the best for the World Cup.
AK: Thank You
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