Cricket Mania(c)

I was just browsing through a regular blog of my friend’s and there I read this analysis of his about the Indian cricket’s debacle at the world cup. I do not know if I am a cricket fanatic. However if tested for fanaticism, guess I should score an easy 7.5 on a scale of 10. That much is enough I guess to have me have upset over the recent developments in Indian cricket. But I try hard to put away the emotions and try and find out some logical answers and if possible some solutions.

I always thought to drop Mohd.Kaif was the biggest loss to Indian team. One of the major & oft repeated criticisms is that he was not consistent. So what? It was and is a problem with any player in the team. Sure consistency is something which is of prime importance and is something which can be collectively worked upon. But by dropping him we only dropped virtues like commitment; never say die, being-patient, and above all we dropped some stupendous fielding characteristics from the team profile. Also don't forget the magic he can create in by building partnerships with people like Yuvaraj Singh. I just can't stop imagining what a bloody combination it would be to have kaif and Dhoni on the crease. Definitely the bowlers would have their nightmares. Blame it on the short sightedness of BCCI. But when at all weren’t they?

I firmly believe that this debacle is definitely a collective responsibility. I do not believe in singling out one factor be it the coach, BCCI or any individual. But on a fair assessment definitely it is the playing eleven which should morally take the major share of responsibility. The reason is simple. End of the day it is all about the focus, attitude, and application of mind for a particular match or tournament or even a farther vision of a career (Indians again here have got it totally wrong. Career for them is more about Ads and being celebrity. Though they can’t be again blamed singularly. Here I would blame more the media) or even longer which matters. However the BCCI, Selection Committee, Coach and various other factors have a considerable share in affecting the prima facie which in any circumstance should be the Performance of the team.

The BCCI have blatantly got it wrong. Being the Richest cricketing body it is obvious that Indian cricket should be having the right and the best conditions to develop. However BCCI is just like any other failing institution in India. BCCI has its own reason as to how it has to work within the limitations of political sentiments, regional sentiments, and people’s sentiments. Damn those reasons. Cricket is a sport and the moment you speak words like sentiments you are giving the essentials like talent and other factors a back seat. That in itself does the majority of damage for the Indian Cricket. Professionalism per se would not sink in the current BCCI format.

I firmly agree with the people who defend the coach and will sure buy the argument that it is the players who need to perform and a coach cannot play for them. Agreed! It is humane to fail. It only becomes inhumane when we fault again and again. Repeat of mistakes is unpardonable. And that sums up Greg Chappell’s way of working. I do not want to speak more about this useless guy and all his lousy insipid chopping, experimenting styles. Now to sum up things we see that he has ended up only taking Indian cricket steps backward and have seriously disturbed & damaged the career of one or two players. So that the useless he was always let us put the issue aside and delve on the broader issue being that of appointments of foreign coach. Whenever in the past or even now I see interviews of cricket players and where in they talk about the inspirations for them , I could hardly remember any cricketer mentioning a foreigner’s name. Tendulkar still maintains that Vengsarkar was a big inspiration for him, and he in turn himself has been an inspiration for lots of players who are currently playing. Apart from that the one other big or the biggest ever inspiration for any Indian cricketer is the picture of Kapil Dev holding the 1983 world cup in the Lord’s. We derive all inspirations from all these great legends of our own, but we deny learning the tricks from them. I am not blind to the fact that there have been Indian coaches in the past. But the point I am trying to make is that why do we every time have to argue and debate between a foreign coach and an Indian coach. Why don’t we believe in our own people and allow the team to be coached by their inspirations. Just a thought of that is only raising hairs in my body. Also by that way we would make them do better jobs than being hypocrites on some channels. One thought I would like to strongly share is that foreign coach is one among the several factors which the BCCI uses to project its pseudo professional image.

Henceforth we can go blabbing about the willies of the Indian team. But on a serious post mortem (though I did have this notion very much before the world cup) at least I am clear that this was not at all the good team composition. I am not even discussing anything about whoever was not fitting to have been in the team. But Kaif, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Romesh Powar could have been a couple of characters who if not for wonders would have definitely made more meaningful contributions. But let by gones be by gones. World cup is not the end. We did not deserve it and so we did not get it. The logic is simple and is more important than just emotions.