The world cup 2007 is history. Reams of paper are being wasted discussing on what needs to done to revive Indian cricket. Experts have put forward the same old remedies (domestic cricket needs to be made more competitive, preparing sporting pitches so on and so forth), said many a times in the past. Hailed as great strategist Greg Chappell was shown the door for the teams’ poor performance. Are the selectors and board president above law? Are they not accountable for the team’s poor performance? Greg’s presence threatened the careers of some of the key players who took their place in the team for granted. He tried to bring a shift in Indian cricket with emphasis from individual flair and brilliance to a kind of teamwork, in the process rubbed many people on the wrong side. In India merit is often superseded by sycophancy. Sir Vizzy upstaged Lala Amarnath by currying favor with Viceroy Lord Wellindon and his wife with flattery and gifts. Vizzy who never played first class cricket was elevated as captiain. He used to bribe rival captains to go easy against his team. Senior Amarnath who stood for principles lost out.
In spite of not so good performance in all major sporting events abroad, Politicians continue to stick their chairs (to use late prime minister Rajiv’s word) like nymphets. Officials outnumber players for Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth games. How can the country expect gold medals, when ignorant officials, who fail to distinguish between a hockey stick and a walking stick, head them? Politicians irrespective of their party affiliations must be barred from heading sports bodies, this will only salvage the Indian sports from the present morass. Alas! We are neither an industrial nation nor a sporting nation. The state of sports has gone from bad to worse. Excepting in cricket we don’t count in any sports and games. Sharad Pawar’s performance has been least impressive both as a minister and as head of BCCI, with farmers continuing to commit suicides across the country. Finally when the dust settles down Pawar and his men will back playing what they are good at - musical chairs.
While analyzing our world cup performance we have missed a point. One-day cricket has changed tremendously and we have not kept pace with the changing times. Any keen observer might have noticed the changing nature of the game. Cricket is fast becoming like Hockey. We were caught off guard, with the emergence of total hockey in the 70’s. Today international cricket requires fitness of very high order, that where Indians are found wanting. The present crop of players thinks twice before they dive. Aussies success mantra of playing aggressive cricket, with stress on fitness is being replicated by nations coached by former Australian players and the results are before us.
What amazes me is the cricket fans flock before television, even after team’s continued indifferent performance. Cricket fans continue to put their money on the team, which has not won a major international tournament in the recent past. Our cricket fan’s memory is proverbially short, with a win against a low rated team on under prepared wickets at home; our players are back in the reckoning. Some things don’t change with Indians.
I belong to a generation who grew up watching all time greats like G.R.Viswanath, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandersekhar I can vouch cricket has declined in India. There was not much money in the game but older generation players played the game with their heart and soul. G.R.Viswanath’s wristy flicks and flashy square cuts, Chandra’s lethal googlies and EAS Prassana’s graceful run up to the wicket, Venkatraghavan’s floaters were cricket connoisseurs’ delight. Surendra Amarnath hailed, as the most stylish left-hand batsman in the 70’s, his talent was never allowed to blossom. Today, watching players like Dhoni hitting across the line, I wonder am I watching cricket or something else. Slam bang, has replaced Style and techniques. Cricketers playing at the highest level are not technically sound. Let us be frank some of the present crop of Indian players are not up to world class standard. Will cricket fans have the fortune of watching the likes of Neil Harvey, Denis Compton, and Colin Cowdrey, Vijay Hazare and Rusi Mody?
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Superb piece!
Most of the officials who man our cricket administrative set-up have played only 'gully' cricket. They hold these posts only to milk the (rich) holy cow, i.e., Indian cricket. How can we expect them to do what it takes to build a great team? The obvious step towards any progress is to boot out non-cricketers from the administration of the game and hand over the reins to former cricketers, who should be vested with authority to devise, plan and implement a good domestic structure which can produce great cricketers like of the past.
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