Indian Cricket Team: I also want a place

I am serious. These are my service guarantees:

• I will not throw away my wicket. (Read: Like Dinesh Karthik and Ajit Agarkar. I wonder what these guys were thinking. Experience seems to be only on paper for Agarkar. He seems to play like a school boy cricketer everytime he goes out to bat.)
• I will not get out edging the ball which is outside the off stump. (Read: Like Wasim Jaffer and Sachin Tendulkar. I wonder why Jaffer played that shot outside the offstump. He was looking compact till that time, but then there was a sudden rush of blood.)
• I will not attempt to clear the third man fielder and hit the ball for a six everytime the ball is outside the off-stump. (Read: Like M.S.Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik. Well, they were attacking the ball duh … duh… duh. Especially, Karthik should be rapped on his knuckles as the team was recovering at that stage and the first ball from Kemp he tried to hit him out of the ground. And please don’t say that that is the way Dhoni plays and it is his natural game. But, Dhoni at least took the attack to the opposition which everyone except Pathan failed to do so.)
• I will get hit if required, but will not get bowled.
• I will carry drinks to the field if required.
• I will take care of the Hotel Bookings. (No extra charges)
• I am willing to leave the ball alone on the length of the delivery itself and not worry about the line.

What I want in return:

• My airfare/visa/acco charges should be borne by the board.
• Nominal match fees to cover my living expenses and loss of salary.
• And obviously the kit and other stuff required for playing cricket.

I am at a loss of words to explain the way in which the top order surrendered meekly to the South Africans yesterday. At 23/0 it looked a decent score, but a couple of dot balls and Jaffer thought that he had to force Ntini through the cover and got out and the same story started repeating. At least, Pathan showed some resolve to take the score to 160 odd. Anyway, the Indian team for the test series gets selected today and Sourav Ganguly is sure to make a comeback into the test side.

Experience vs. Youth:

The Indian team seems to be going the way of the French Football team before the world cup. I am not sure how many people followed the qualifiers before the world cup 2006, but the French had a youth policy and not many players above 30 were playing. But, it just didn’t work for them and they were struggling. Coach Raymond Domenech felt that experience is more useful than raw talent and assembled a team of 30+ players and they made it to the world cup finals.

India seems to be going the same way. Well, we tried Kaif, Raina, Mongia, Venugopal Rao etc, but no one seems to make the cut. So, it is time to fall back on tried and tested players and recall them irrespective of how they are performing at this moment. So, Laxman and Ganguly are in prime position to make a comeback. At least on paper the Indian team would look much better even if their fortunes don’t change on the field. Personally, I feel that Ganguly shouldn’t be in the test team but the selection committee knows better than me (or at least I suppose so). But, one thing is guaranteed, if Ganguly makes it to the test team then the media attention will be focussed on Ganguly and other players can play their game without being under media scrutiny. The ‘Bad Boy of Indian Cricket (Read: Attitude)’ will garner all attention and act as a stress reliever to other players.

I suppose the test team will be:
Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni, Kumble, Harbhajan, Pathan, Munaf, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Karthik/Kaif/Raina and Yomahesh (He is a very good prospect.).

Request to Sachin:
You have been playing for nearly 17 years and the strain and the loss of strength due to injuries is showing everytime you go out to bat. In 17 years you have destroyed attacks, decimated bowlers, instilled fear in the opposition and inspired the Indians many times. But, in the last 17 years you haven’t learnt the fact that there needn’t be any respect for the Opposition bowlers. You seem to respect Pollock too much. The same applies to McGrath and Vaas. Respect off the field is a must, but on the field is just not required. You respect these guys too much that you try to preserve your wicket rather than attack these guys and this only helps them by putting you on the defensive. You needn’t look beyond your good friend Lara for advice on this regard. McGrath or Pollock they are just opposition bowlers and you job is to belt them around the park. Please take the attack to the opposition and not sit back and wait for the opposition to go in the defensive.

At this moment, I am reminded about my favourite dialogue from one of my fav. movies The Shawshank Redemption. Andy says “Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” But, then in the same movie Red says “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man crazy.”. Andy succeeds in the end and Red changes his mind. Hopefully the same thing happens to the Indian Cricket team sooner than later.

Picture Courtesy: Rediff