New Front Page Article: From the captain's deck

[Zunaid]

From the captain's deck
Zeeshan Mahmud

Ahoy mates! It's your beloved Gopalda again. Shakib-al-Hasan left for Zimbabwe in an eddy of controversies, but he returned home as the leading performer for his side. Although his solid stats should be enough to silence the critics, he still has seven seas to travel before he matures as a tough pilot of the same ranks as Dhoni or Ponting. So get your sextants and spyglasses ready and allow me to take a cruise through the captain's log.
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Gopal da right?

[rinathq]

Great read.....

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[BANFAN]

Shakib has performed superbly as a player in the Zimbabwe series as evinced by the numerical bulwark; however, captaincy is an area that he needs to improve upon by crafting diplomatically to take his game to the next level.

Good to read, very nicely written ZM.

But I don't agree that he has performed superbly. Not even by his own standards. And if we leave the last two ODIs, it may look even worse. So, yes, I think he performed well within the team.

And I think, captaincy issues could have been addressed in depth, as the title suggests.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by BANFAN

And I think, captaincy issues could have been addressed in depth, as the title suggests.

If you have thoughts on this matter,w e would love to entertain an article! This goes for everyone else - Bangla or English.

[Ace of BD]

no need to look further than dhoni..considered the greatest captain....but now...considered as the worst..why cause his team couldnt deliver....whatever happens....all captaincy decisions, and field placings will indeed look stupid if ur players cant back it up..even the most of ordinary field placements will be glorified if u got a mcgrath or a warne......and even the most greatest field postionings will be ridiculed if u have got indian bowlers bowling like how they did against england...end result....a captain is as good as his team....but yes, he can DO bring abt a change, but that can't cross a certain limit which is dependent on how the players live up to those planning, and potential

[rinathq]

I have no problem with Shakib's captaincy in ODI. Except sometimes when he switches his field way too quickly after getting hit by a boundary, he gets everything else quite accurately. The problem however remains in test. True, our bowling attack isn't even close enough to test standards, he made numerous mistakes in the last test as a captain. His bowling changes were questionable while his fielding placement were straight up wrong for most part. I might sound harsh and even foolish when I say let someone else lead the test side. Any a lot of you might say give him more time. But for me, he doesn't have to right mindset for the format altogether. His batting shows that too. So why wait? The sooner someone else takes the role, the sooner we adjust. Because it's 5 day cricket. A coach can't direct a fielding set up or bowling changes the whole time. The captain has to get it himself.
And having Shakib as an ODI captain and maybe Mushy as a test captain doesn't sound bad to me. It allows us too see the difference

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[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by rinathq
And having Shakib as an ODI captain and maybe Mushy as a test captain doesn't sound bad to me. It allows us too see the difference

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Agreed. In fact the whole point of this article was the lateral thinking aspect of captaincy as well as selectors and board. But we need a smooth transition for Mushfiqur to lead in Test.

I don't think the upcoming series would be ideal time to experiment but- based on the subsequent results board may consider it.

[rinathq]

Originally Posted by ZeeshanM
Agreed. In fact the whole point of this article was the lateral thinking aspect of captaincy as well as selectors and board. But we need a smooth transition for Mushfiqur to lead in Test.

I don't think the upcoming series would be ideal time to experiment but- based on the subsequent results board may consider it.

Yea we only have a month and it's not enough time for the transition. But at the end of the series we have like a 2 month break until Paks arrive. So unless Shakib gets a brainwave, that would be an ideal time for a transition.

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[Tigers_eye]

Excellent penmanship.

However, I do not agree with most of the points that was put negatively on his broad shoulder.

As for Ashraful part, why forget the mess that this site and the media discussed in great length. Wasn't he portrayed as a LIAR? His hand tied in the back, with selector in the tour how much flexibility did he have?

As for outside the box thinking: 1) paan thekey chul khosley ore namey HULIA ber korar jonno manush ek paye darai asey. One move on the field and if that didn't work, same people would sharpen the knives to cut him in to pieces.

2) Immaturely calling for a different captain. a) Performing consistent captain amader bhalo lagey na. We need an inconsistent captain who's position in the team can not be confirmed in the first place. b) Captaincy is like underwear, right? Change it whimsically and all things will be fine. Do you know the problems it creates when a leadership position is switched every other series? c) Two captain system never works. You can't have two leaders for any organization.

3) We always focus on the wrong thing. Instead of focusing on the real issues we try to find the non-issues and focus on that one. In my captain's log, main parts would be feature 1) Selectors mitthachar. 2) Tamim's loud mouth. 3) Each players failure Imrul, Junaid, Ashraful, Raz, Shafiul and how it impacted on the results.

4) Comparing Shakib with Dhoni and other captains and not comparing their arsenals they possess, is a crime. Shakib has a top order to deal with which 80+% of the time reads 4/40 or 5/50 or 6/60. How can his pressure mount to dhoni's?

5) Successful captain's don't understand diplomacy. Their visions are much greater than all non-successful captains, players, fans, media outlets, politicians, country leaders COMBINED. Plus they have some valuable players who can assist the captain with shear performance. We have a team of zero 40 average batsmen in any format of the game. Yes, Tamim's test average has fallen as well.

Answer: We are not only on good hands but in the best hand BD can be. The problem lies with the board. I am not going to blame the selectors yet cause they have done some good work already barring few decisions.

[WarWolf]

Good work

[simon]

purata na porei FB te "Like" diye disi
premeditated shot !

[riad]

T_E, Agree 100% with ya.

Also the new threat Shakib has to face is the "load up a pseudo-powerplay field setting". I was fearing that for a long time and ZIM implemented that .....

Nice write up though from Zee.

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Excellent penmanship.

However, I do not agree with most of the points that was put negatively on his broad shoulder.

As for Ashraful part, why forget the mess that this site and the media discussed in great length. Wasn't he portrayed as a LIAR? His hand tied in the back, with selector in the tour how much flexibility did he have?

As for outside the box thinking: 1) paan thekey chul khosley ore namey HULIA ber korar jonno manush ek paye darai asey. One move on the field and if that didn't work, same people would sharpen the knives to cut him in to pieces.

2) Immaturely calling for a different captain. a) Performing consistent captain amader bhalo lagey na. We need an inconsistent captain who's position in the team can not be confirmed in the first place. b) Captaincy is like underwear, right? Change it whimsically and all things will be fine. Do you know the problems it creates when a leadership position is switched every other series? c) Two captain system never works. You can't have two leaders for any organization.

3) We always focus on the wrong thing. Instead of focusing on the real issues we try to find the non-issues and focus on that one. In my captain's log, main parts would be feature 1) Selectors mitthachar. 2) Tamim's loud mouth. 3) Each players failure Imrul, Junaid, Ashraful, Raz, Shafiul and how it impacted on the results.

4) Comparing Shakib with Dhoni and other captains and not comparing their arsenals they possess, is a crime. Shakib has a top order to deal with which 80+% of the time reads 4/40 or 5/50 or 6/60. How can his pressure mount to dhoni's?

5) Successful captain's don't understand diplomacy. Their visions are much greater than all non-successful captains, players, fans, media outlets, politicians, country leaders COMBINED. Plus they have some valuable players who can assist the captain with shear performance. We have a team of zero 40 average batsmen in any format of the game. Yes, Tamim's test average has fallen as well.

Answer: We are not only on good hands but in the best hand BD can be. The problem lies with the board. I am not going to blame the selectors yet cause they have done some good work already barring few decisions.

[mali007]

Originally Posted by Ace of BD
no need to look further than dhoni..considered the greatest captain....but now...considered as the worst..why cause his team couldnt deliver....whatever happens....all captaincy decisions, and field placings will indeed look stupid if ur players cant back it up..even the most of ordinary field placements will be glorified if u got a mcgrath or a warne......and even the most greatest field postionings will be ridiculed if u have got indian bowlers bowling like how they did against england...end result....a captain is as good as his team....but yes, he can DO bring abt a change, but that can't cross a certain limit which is dependent on how the players live up to those planning, and potential

[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Excellent penmanship.

However, I do not agree with most of the points that was put negatively on his broad shoulder.

As for Ashraful part, why forget the mess that this site and the media discussed in great length. Wasn't he portrayed as a LIAR? His hand tied in the back, with selector in the tour how much flexibility did he have?

As for outside the box thinking: 1) paan thekey chul khosley ore namey HULIA ber korar jonno manush ek paye darai asey. One move on the field and if that didn't work, same people would sharpen the knives to cut him in to pieces.

2) Immaturely calling for a different captain. a) Performing consistent captain amader bhalo lagey na. We need an inconsistent captain who's position in the team can not be confirmed in the first place. b) Captaincy is like underwear, right? Change it whimsically and all things will be fine. Do you know the problems it creates when a leadership position is switched every other series? c) Two captain system never works. You can't have two leaders for any organization.

3) We always focus on the wrong thing. Instead of focusing on the real issues we try to find the non-issues and focus on that one. In my captain's log, main parts would be feature 1) Selectors mitthachar. 2) Tamim's loud mouth. 3) Each players failure Imrul, Junaid, Ashraful, Raz, Shafiul and how it impacted on the results.

4) Comparing Shakib with Dhoni and other captains and not comparing their arsenals they possess, is a crime. Shakib has a top order to deal with which 80+% of the time reads 4/40 or 5/50 or 6/60. How can his pressure mount to dhoni's?

5) Successful captain's don't understand diplomacy. Their visions are much greater than all non-successful captains, players, fans, media outlets, politicians, country leaders COMBINED. Plus they have some valuable players who can assist the captain with shear performance. We have a team of zero 40 average batsmen in any format of the game. Yes, Tamim's test average has fallen as well.

Answer: We are not only on good hands but in the best hand BD can be. The problem lies with the board. I am not going to blame the selectors yet cause they have done some good work already barring few decisions.

Wow. That is an article by itself.

Let's see. As far as Ashraful part I personally feel (read: opinion) that it was gross indecency by selectors for taking him in the last ODI and that's why I mentioned it was waste of space. Granted he did perform well in the Test with a half-century (73) but so did Shahriar Nafees and he was excluded. And this is the same person who has the highest average against Zim, right?

Secondly, out of the box thinking. Well as a captain you must show SOME guts at least and if that involves not paying heed to the upstairs guys but following your instinct and brains and do things _your_ way then so be it. It's analogous to the soldier who doesn't listen to his general but at the end of the day because of his lateral thinking emerges as war hero. Of course it's a risk that one has to take and at the end of the day you have to give jobabdihi for all your actions and own up like a man.

Third, immature calling for different captain. Well that was a fail of some sort on my part.

Fourth, it was bit of hasty generalization on your part. I did not compare him to Dhoni and Ponting but I just laid out the fact that he has a long way to go before he even reaches their caliber.

Fifth, well it all depends what you mean by 'successful captain'. In our culture we have to be diplomatic. It's a culture where 'gurujon adesh kore jaha shei kaj kori mon prane'. And you need to have rapport with everyone or else it'd backfire through such channels as top connections and media backlash as we are seeing day by day. So it doesn't hurt to curb your ego off-field and release the aggression on field and maintain good relations with everyone. Note: Ashraful is a master of this with his late night ilish binge parties at home.

All in all, I think I wasn't portraying him negatively. In fact I was actually backing him up.