Tale of Two Coaches : Lawson Sacked by Pakistan, Maradona Appointed by Argentina

Apparently, there is nothing similar between Geoff Lawson and Diego Maradona. But, the recent developments involving these men have a stigma of desperateness around them. Earlier this week, the Pakistan Cricket Board hurriedly decided to remove Lawson from his post of Head coach of Pakistan Cricket team. And since yesterday, the news of Maradona being made Head Coach of Argentina's national soccer team is making rounds.
Lawson played as a fast bowler for Australia in eighties with moderate success ( 180 wickets in 46 tests ). But the PCB thought him fit to be their national coach after the turmoil that followed Bob Woolmer's mysterious death during the world cup in 2007. Maradona on the other hand, is a living football legend. He led the Argentine national team to world cup victory in 1986 and took the team to finals of 1990 world cup. But his unceremonious exit from the football scene resulted from his affair with drugs related abuses that literally pushed him to the brink of death on more than one occasions. All of a sudden we find him again on the centerstage as he is entrusted the task to guide Argentina to 2010 world cup in South Africa.
One can't but feel sorry for Lawson. One can understand if the coach is sacked if the team does badly under him. In Lawson's case the Pakistani team hardly played any cricket in the last 15 months (Lawson's tenure as coach). The unstable political scenario and terror attacks in Pakistan meant that no foreign team visited Pakistan. The team had only 5 tests against the minnows and to add to the woes, team's star performers Shoaib and Md.Asif got in drug tangles. New government means new cricket set up in Pakistan. Miandad, reportedly close to the new dispensation in Islamabad is tipped to take over as coach for fourth time. Lawson sadly had to make way for him.

For Football crazy Argentine public, Maradona is god. They adore him despite his erratic behaviour and drug related offences. But even the ardent Maradona fans must have been shocked to know about his appointment as coach. There is no doubt about the footballing skills of Maradona. One feels that this move is a high risk one as Argentina are lagging on the third position in the qualification round for the world cup and Maradona has virtually no experience of coaching. Will his skills as a player be sufficient to see Argentina through to South Africa? For a man who could not manage his own affairs properly, it will be a huge ask to lead the second most soccer-passionate country.

The football federation of Argentina seems to be hoping that the same Hand of god that won them their last world cup comes to their rescue. It seems to an inspired move to appoint Maradona, but it will be nothing short of miracle if he indeed succeeds!

Is the Captain as good as the Team OR Does a better Captain bring Best Out of the Team?

Even as the Indian Cricket crazy public is rejoicing over the Indian team's thumping victory over the Aussies in Mohali Test, the Selection committee headed by K.Srikanth must be having sleepless nights. They must be hoping that Anil Kumble doesn't get fit for the upcoming test matches and the selection committee is saved from the dilemma over the team combination as well as captaincy.
The success of MS Dhoni in the role of stand-in captain brings us to this question. Is the Captain as good as the Team OR Does a better Captain bring Best Out of the Team? Kumble is India's test captain for the last four series. Under him, the team could not put it across a below par Pakistan team. He did display statesmanlike qualities in tumultuous Autralia tour earlier this year, but could not win the series for India. India did win the rubber against South Africa on the basis of win in one test in which he was injured and Dhoni stood as captain. The team's performance was extremely dismal in Sri Lanka just a few months ago. Even in the first test against the Aussies, the team had barely scraped through to a face saving draw.

It is hard to believe that the same team with nearly the same combination played last week. Only thing that was different was the team had a different captain. Does the captain make such a difference to the team's fortunes? Cricket critics always use this adage : Captain is as good as the team. Is it really so?

Take Saurav Ganguly. the team that he inherited was no different from the team captained by Sachin Tendulkar. When it comes to Cricketing brain and intelligence, Tendulkar is no less that Ganguly. Yet the fact remains that while Sachin failed miserably as a captain, Ganguly is regarded as one of the best. So also Kapil's world cup winning team was not much different from the one that lost badly to Pakistan.

Elsewhere too, such examples of losing teams suddenly performing better under exceptional captains can be seen. Mike Brearly's legendary leadership skills are well documented. England's dramatic turnaround under Kevin Pieterson is the latest instance. Like the basic cricket skills, batting, bowling and fielding, the captaincy is also a specialised skill that everybody cannot possess. Hence Indian Board's policy to appoint the senior most player as the captain makes little sense. Dhoni has shown time and again that he has a natural flair for captaincy. So the selectors sould come out of their dilemma and pass on the captaincy mantle to him.

Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand | Interesting Parallels

It is not often that two Indians attract sporting headlines internationally on the same day. October 17, 2008 is one such rare day when two of the greatest sportspersons India has produced, Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand both grabbed international attention by fantastic performances. As Sachin went past Brian Lara's record to become highest run-getter in Test Cricket, Anand today drew first blood in World Chess championship match now going on in Germany by spectacularly beating Vladimir Kramnik.

I find very interesting similarities in Sachin and Anand. First and foremost, both are the most dignified ambassadors for India. In their long careers spanning almost decades, both are widely respected even by the opponents for their humility and dedication towards their profession. Both of them hail from a typical Indian middle class background. They acknowledge huge role of their family members in their success.

Their careers began almost simultaneously. Anand became World Junior chess champion in 1987 while Sachin made his international debut in 1989 with promising show against strong Pakistani team. Anand's undisputed proficiency in Rapid and Blindfold Chess is equivalent to Sachin's exploits in limited over edition (ODI) of Cricket. In his illustrious career, Anand has won every honour in the field of International Chess and is widely regarded as the most complete Chess player. Sachin too, is unequivocally regarded as the best batsman in the world today.

Both Anand and Sachin are the face of India in the post liberalisation world. They epitomise the confident and aggressive new generation. Both have inspired many youngsters to follow their footsteps. Anand became India's first Grandmaster. Today India has a battery of Grandmasters and is recognised as Chess Superpower. Cricket, on the other hand had already captured the imagination of Indians with world Cup victory in 1983. But Sachin has led Indian Cricket to Golden age. Indian Cricket today rules the world.

Ironically, both these Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winners, because of their soft and dignified nature seem to give impression that they lack that killer instinct to deliver the knock out punch at the most crucial moment. While Anand fans were hugely disappointed when he lost to Kasparov in World Challenge Final in 1995, Sachin let India down in 2003 world cup final against Australia.

Both of them were in similar situation as they went into their current assignment. Sachin had a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka just before the ongoing series. Anand too was at his worst in the Bilbao tournament just a month ago. But today both came into their own and displayed their old brilliance. Today Sachin is on top of the world. Anand too with today's brilliant victory is well and truly on course to become the undisputed World Champion. All the Indians are proud of their most beloved sporting heroes.