‘Administrators are running the game’ – Former India cricketer claims captains don’t take decision during a game anymore
India vs England First Test (Image Credit: Twitter)
Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja has made some sensational revelations on the state of Indian cricket at the highest and grassroots levels. While speaking on the increase in support staff over the years, compared to when he played the game. There was a time when teams had only one coach or even the managers before that. However, in the last few years, there are coaches for batting, bowling, fielding, and whatnot.
Speaking on this change, Jadeja, who worked as the mentor of Afghanistan team in the ODI World Cup last year, said that it is unfortunate to see players or rather captain having a lesser say in the decision making.
“I think it’s unfortunate. Because when we grew up the captain was the one who led the side and he was responsible, he was the guide, he was the one who thought how you are going to play, how you will approach the game. Unfortunately now it’s not the boys, it’s us – the administrators who are running the game at the moment,” said Jadeja, who was one of the speakers at the ‘Cricket: Spirit of the game’ session at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) on Thursday.
We want our players to be perfect: Ajay Jadeja
The former India player added that the cricketing system wants our players to be perfect rather than accepting their mistakes.
“Unfortunately now we don’t accept mistakes. We want our players to be perfect. So the same boy gets to go through all this and has five coaches all along and seven-eight years into his cricketing life he is now say captain of India, would have always been assisted by somebody. So how does he ever grow up and make decisions on his own? So you are losing out on individuality, which I feel is the saddest part of the sport.”
Recalling his playing days, Jadeja said, “In our time when those 11 men walked out on the field, they all had different collars, different sleeves, different ways of walking. Now you see them as robots coming out to play. Many things have changed.”
