The Rock says

I am a die hard indian cricket fan and i am also a keen observer of the game. I was observing the indian cricket from last 12 months closely and I had compiled the list of things that is lacking or to be required to have in indian cricket. If we want to see India winning more matches and get the world No. 1 ranking, then below are some of the things that has to be looked into.

1. Zeal to win the match

Many of the matches can be won only if there is a "zeal to win" attitude inside every cricketer. It makes the cricketer to go an extra mile to achieve it. This is more an responsibility of the team management and captain to have this kind of attitude in every cricketer.

2. Applying pressure on opposition

Cricket is always a mind game and to win You have to make sure your opposition is on the back foot. You always have to push the opposition on the back foot. Never ever allow the opposition to attack you.

Why does India take 3-4 wickets early and still allows the opposition to score around 200? Why does india cannot bowl out the opposition completely? Why does india cannot restrict the opposition in between 100-150? When we are able to take 4-5 wickets for 30,40 or 50 runs, why cannot we take another 5 wickets for another 50 runs?

The answer is that we get complacent after taking early wickets. 2nd reason is we allow the opposition to socre runs in middle overs. Our spinners who bowl in middle overs are not really agressive enough to take wickets at regular intervals. Opening bowlers can take early wickets or restrict the batsmen in scoring but most of the work has to be done by the bowlers who bowl in middle overs. During 20-40 overs is the time when captain has to think a lot and change the game plan accordinlgy and apply pressure on oppositon. We always do not do this and allow the opposition to score runs freely.

3. Thinking cricketers

Cricket is more a mind game. Every cricketer need to be thinking and reading the opposition batsman/bowlers's mind everytime and always try to put pressure on the opposition.

4. Dynamic Game plan

The game plan is somthing which is very crucial to winning. You need to have a game plan before the start of the game and it has to be revised over the course of the game and do ammendments to it (if required) depending on the situation of the game.

5. More cricketers in pool

We need players who had played and proved their skills in different environments. We do not have a pool of cricketers to select from. We need to have skilled and exp. players in different conditions such as bouncy, slow, spin and flat pithes. We need to have pool of batsmen and bowlers who are experts in each of these conditions. Then it will be easy to take the best from the avaialble pool based on the conditions.

6. Aggressive captain

A captain who chats with team members during the game, discuss with expereinced players and take suggestions and implement them in the game. Captain has to be agressive, motivate players, talk to them and take their suggestions. Give them the field they want, be supportive. Chat with other senior players, take their views and implement them.

7. Not playing normal game

If you cannot play a normal game, then its always difficult to get your best out of it. Irrespecitve of pressure, you need to play your normal game but with little more careful.

8. Performance Benchmark

There should be a performance benchmark for batsmen and bowlers and this has to considered before the start of the series. Any player (senior or junior) who is not meeting the performance benchmark should be dropped form the team and ask him to prove in domestic cricket and has to go thorugh the evaluation process again. Sometimes some senior players may not be meeting the benchmark, but the cricket body has to be strong and agressive and take harsh decisions.