Meticulous planning needed to win Ranji Trophy

I have realised that winning a grueling championship of this quality requires meticulous preparation and with inputs that are the best available amongst our resources, writes Vijay Mohan Raj, former opening batsman

Hyderabad: To do so, we have been blessed to have at the helm of affairs over the years three International Test players besides several other former cricketers who have either been selectors, coaches and administrators.

As a former first class player who has been a member of three Ranji Trophy Championship winning team, twice for Bombay and once from Hyderabad, I have realised that winning a grueling championship of this quality requires meticulous preparation and with inputs that are the best available amongst our resources.

The good news is that Hyderabad has an history of having won the championship twice apart from being amongst the best two or four teams on numerous occasions. Another good news is that we have over 200 club teams participating in various local tournaments organized by the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The most encouraging factor, which is that there are over 100 coaching camps that exist in the jurisdiction of the HCA which provide an opportunity to children five years and above to play and learn cricket.

We have an International level cricket stadium apart from an independent infrastructure to house the Hyderabad Cricket Academy of Excellence. This Academy functioned with several of our NCA trained coaches and senior cricketers for a period of time.

All of the above are requirements and essential traits for any association to prepare and produce champion cricketers and enable the representative teams to win championships.

The point that arises is that we seem to have forgotten about what we have as stated above and are focused on other issues that are not relevant to the preparation of a champion team which is supposedly the primary concern of a cricket administration. I also wish to add to the points arising from the above statements that if we have to become winners of the Ranji Trophy Championship once again then we have to ensure that our resources which are utilized are in the hands of the best administrators, coaches, selectors and other staff members who are adequately qualified to hold their positions.

I have learnt a useful lesson from my formal education and years of leading several commercial and social organizations. If your team does not function despite of providing all the resources as available to you then it is time to introspect on your leadership qualities before casting aspersions on the people you are managing.

I believe that Hyderabad has the capacity to produce a champion team provided we shift our focus to preparation of the players to be done by the best available personnel like the coaches, selectors and support staff.

(The author is a former Bombay and Hyderabad opener)

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