HOME | CRICKET | FORUM |
NEWS
|
|
Readers sound off on:Sachin and AzharIndian team for Dhaka Sachin's response to ouster A time to experiment
January 6, 1998 Anil Wadhwani <anil@spherelink.com>
Instead of just complaining about the selectors lack of substance, this
is a great move to come up with good possible solutions. Where do we go
from here?
Mukund Ramadoss <RMUKUND@prodigy.net>
Hats off to Sachin for refusing to take any more nonsense. Sachin is a
glorious cricketer who has an excellent cricketing brain. By making
him captain and then interfering with captaincy affairs, we have not
given him complete control and flexibility.
Ganesh Sivaraman <Sivaraman@TTACS.TTU.EDU>
Here's my suggestion for the Indian one day team (squad of 14) for 1998:
Above all, we need accountability -- any player, no matter what his reputation, who fails to display the right spirit and attitude should be dumped at once. K Mohan <kmohan@mediaone.net> It is very rare to find someone who thinks clearly when it comes to writing about Indian cricket. Shalab Kumar seems to echo my views. More often, you find half-baked comments on the various discussion groups, that actually put you off. Here is to more Shalab Kumars! Binu Mukherjee <mukherjee@rmc.ca> I have enjoyed the article "A Time to Experiment", and write mainly in support of the ideas expressed. Ever since Azharuddin's poor tour in England and his changed stance at the wicket, his game has been a chancy one and it is perhaps time to move on. I would like to add that it is essential to give the team time to settle in, and for partnerships to develop in batting. With this in view, I wonder if we could not try Laxman as an opener for some sustained period and see if he and Ganguli can develop into a good pair? Further, this would make room for both Kambli and Dravid in the middle order. I have long felt that Kambli, with his particular facility to play lofted shots, is a good bet in both the Test and one-day teams. His record in the matches that he has played speaks for itself! I look forward to reading other comments. Srinivas Murthy <smurthy01@sprynet.com> I didnt understand why the author of the article "A time to experiment" preferred Mohanty over Venkatesh Prasad, who is more experienced, has lots of wickets in his kitty and has more pace. Unless I see a regional bias here, which has already taken a toll of Prasad. Partha Saranathan <sarthy@worldnet.att.net>
I live in the U.S. I have lived here for more than 9 years. Am basically
from Madras and used to be cricket fanatic while I was in India. I was
not following cricket for almost 8 years, before I watched a few 1996
World Cup matches. Now I am making an effort to follow all one day games
very closely thanks to the internet.
Shrikant Dharap <rimjhim@xtra.co.nz>
Great article, Prem, on the national selectors. But how dare you try to run down the Selection
Committee which is god's gift to India?! Don't you know that in the
game of cricket only one master batsman has to score runs time and again
and more importantly, that we don't need bowlers to win matches? Don't you
know that the selectors are so busy that they can not remember what they
said a minute back? And of course you don't know that Shivlal Yadav and
Bannerji are by virtue of their towering accomplishments the right persons to judge ordinary batsmen and even more ordinary captains like Sachin Tendulkar.
Madhavan Iyengar <pbmadhavan@hotmail.com> I dont know what these guys are up to. They are not even a bunch of jokers, merely a bunch of idiots who are apparently way below the Plimsoll Line of rationality when making decisions. It is disheartening that Chauhan is not getting the full backing of the BCCI -- that came as a shock to me, especially now that he is developing into a very good bowler. It is the same bunch that dropped players like Kambli and Dravid on the argument that they were not regular members of the playing eleven -- how then is it that Laxman figures in the squad? Or Harvinder Singh? Or Kanitkar? This particular argument of the wise men is brilliant, really -- any fool would know that when you pick a squad of 14, three of them do not figure in the final eleven. Those three are reserves, meant to step in if one or more of the playing eleven suffer injury or loss of form. Dropping someone because he didn't make the playing eleven therefore is a total blunder. When the selectors justified the selection of Mohanty and Harvinder saying that they wanted to groom the side for the 1999 World Cup and that they wanted the boys to gain experience by bowling alongside Srinath, it is somewhat convincing. However, I thought for the Dhaka tournament, Srinath would be rested and Prasad brought in to lead the attack, in order to keep Srinath fit and fresh for the series against Australia. Isn't it the selectors' duty to make sure that Srinath does not burn out -- as the South African selectors do in the case of Allan Donald? But these guys never learn, do they? Mohit Bhargava <mohitbhargava@hotmail.com>
Next, the selectors will show players how to hold the bat and play the forward defensive stroke, or how to bowl the inswinger.
Sheetal <sheetal@misa.irf.ph.net>
I am very impressed with this site, totally hooked on to it. Here, in
the Philippines, this is my main source of cricket info.
Vaidyanathan <skrishna@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in>
I have been watching Indian cricket since I was 12. I sincerely feel all these
talks of Politics, Regionalism and such are mere crap.
Satish Sundaresan <ssundare@top.eng.utoledo.edu>
I cant belive this!!! I have seen quite a few selectors who were true
Jokers, but this bunch seems to be the worst of the lot, truly pathetic.
Madhup Rathi <Rmadhup@aol.com>
I am so disappointed and disgusted, that I do not want to write about our
Board. No words can express their ineptitude. Mohinder was wrong, these are not jokers but downright idiots -- and I don't mean the selectors alone, but the whole of the BCCI.
Prashant Srivastava <srivast5@egr.msu.edu> Time and again, you are reminded of Mohinder Amarnath's words -- the selectors are a bunch of jokers. How very, appropriate these words are today! Akshay <ptewari@is2.dal.ca> I read your article about Chauhan being sent to learn how to bowl -- excellent article. BCCI cannot speak for its own, it does not have the guts to stand up for their own players. We all saw what Sri Lanka did in a similar situation and if it had been Pakistan, there would have been a greater uproar. We Indians, however, are faint-hearted, we have no pride in ourselves and our country, and where there is no pride, how can there be the determination to stand up for ourselves? Ven Hari <vhari@sun.science.wayne.edu> Many people have written about Azhar being India's most successful captain. If Sachin or anyone else had players like Kapil, Amarnath, Binny, Prabhakar and Vengsarkar to name just a few, they too would have been successful. I admired Azhar as a player till recently. But I feel now that he lately, he has never come through for the team when it mattered. In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that he threw away his wickets at Sharjah and against Sri Lanka in the home series so that Sachin would be sacked. I think India would have won against SL if both Sidhu and Azhar had been dropped, and their places taken by Dravid and possibly Kambli or some other committed player. I am sorry to see that both Dravid and Kambli have now been dropped from the Dhaka games. I suspect there is also some truth to the rumours that Prasad and Dravid have been dropped because of the quota system -- both are from Karnataka. Vikram Dendi <agni@acm.org>
The fools in the boat (read Board) are trying to sink it as best as they
can. I hope it does go under, but without taking Indian cricket with it.
Uchani Deivachilai <usd0002c@hotmail.com>
There is no use getting frustrated with this circus -- these jokers are beyond all reason.
Shreenivas Kand <skand@actracorp.com>
What the hell are the selectors doing? Even a common man understands that their actions are wrong. The media helps out with analysis, which they obviously don't read, or if they do, they don't pay any heed to them. Their egos are the problem.
Shrikant Ramachandran <srikr@rocketmail.com> You have been writing about these idiotic selectors for quite some time now and I really appreciate that, but what is required now is a mass campaign against these idiots. Its time you take the responsibility to either conduct a public poll or sue them for their actions, representing the cricket loving people of India. Please do it for the nation's sake, and for the future of Indian cricket. Please don't shy away from your responsibility. If you could do something, the cricket fans of India will always be indebted to you... Ramachandra P Tekumalla <rptekuma@spock.ecs.umass.edu>
I wanted to bring to your notice a factual error in your report titled
"Chauhan Chucks". Mr Prem Panicker writes as follows: "Now, the ICC has barred Chauhan again. The official letter says that
the technical committee of the global body has unanimously
decided (does this
mean Kapil Dev is a party to the decision, and has thus
reversed his earlier
stand?) that the bowler's right hand gets straightened
just before delivery, thus
constituting a "throw"."
Prem Panicker replies: The report does not say, as fact, that Kapil was part of the committee. Rather, it asks the question. The background is, it is a known fact that Kapil is India's representative on the ICC throwing committee. It was the throwing committee that decided on the action at Chauhan. At the time of writing the report, it was not known whether Kapil had been involved in the decision. Therefore, a question was asked, and that is all. If there was any ambiguity in the wording, my apologies. Shrikant Dharap <rimjhim@xtra.co.nz> I just read Sachin Tendulkar's response to being axed from the captaincy. A superb reply, suiting his batting prowess and his stature. Sachin, please don't waste any more breath on idiots like this. Milan <Milanoss@aol.com> As a fan of Indian cricket, I am shocked at the unprofessional way the BCCI and the selection committee have gone about the task of sacking Sachin. I have stayed in Australia for the past couple of years and can only appreciate the difference between the two set-ups. Though the Aussie way is not a fool-proof way of team selection and also, team selection is only a step towards winning matches, the most important thing in local cricketing matters in Australia is transparency. The people know who are the certain selections and they know who are the next best. Conversely, if a player is out of form, the people know that person is under scrutiny and if he fails again for a couple of times, he is going to be dropped. Importantly, the player is also told about his situation, he knows how many more chances he has. For example, Mark Waugh knew he was facing the axe unless he scored against New Zealand. Thirdly, and most importantly, the way things are handled when a player needs to be dropped needs mention. Firstly, the selectors inform the player directly unlike here where Sachin knew about it from the news. Here also, sacking is strongly avoided, the players are given a chance to resign first as was the case with David Boon. I was shocked that the selectors were at pains to prove a point to the media that Sachin had been sacked and the decision was theirs. To Sachin's credit, he has taken the decision in good spriit, but it is not good for team harmony anyway. All in all, we are not giving our talented team a chance to do its best. And in this situation, even any wins in the future will be more through luck than by plan. Renate Bhaskaran <saji@fta.com>
It is with much frustration that I read about these moronic people
called "selectors". Maybe it is time to fire these idiots
who seem to me to be more and more corrupt, unscrupulous, greedy. The public should strike, they should not attend any more cricket matches as long as these people are in charge, the players should strike as well, and refuse to play.
Virender Gupta <guptav@vossnet.co.uk>
Who says there is no God? Who says we can't see him? Come with me to the Indian team selection room and I will show you God, with five faces. Let me explain. God is someone who can do anything. So can the selectors. God is someone whose decisions are inexplicable to ordinary mortals. So, too, the decisions of the selectors.
Ranjita Padmanabhan <>
Prem, the solution to India's cricket problems is simple: Pack the three D's responsible for Indian cricket's debacle over the
last year (Dalmia, Dungarpur & Desai) and throw them into the Arabian
Sea. Each day, they make Amarnath's statement that the selectors are jokers gospel truth -- to the detriement of Indian cricket. And the pain of the Indian fan increases, almost beyond bearing.
A brief addition from Prem Panicker: While on Bobby Simpson, his functioning as match referee provides one further point of interest. While he was quick to call for videos of the action of bowlers who he felt were not quite there with their actions -- totally ignoring the fact that it was none of his business anyway -- he never did bother to follow up on the audible obscenity uttered by Sri Lankan medium pacer Pramodaya Wickremasinghe. The television image was very clear, the sound audible over the stump cam. That evening, Simpson said he had taken note of the incident -- a clear contravention of ICC's own code of conduct, which the match referee is supposed to enforce. End of story -- neither was the errant bowler pulled up, nor did Simpson have anything more to say on the incident. Maybe he was too busy checking out bowlers' actions? Anand T Krishnan <anand@emprl.psu.edu>
The sacking of Sachin Tendulkar was expected, as the BCCI and the selectors have been laying the
groundwork the past few months. Sachin, more than anyone else, should not
be surprised.
Ravi Krishnan <rkrishna@shrike.depaul.edu> I read Prem Panicker's recent articles, and the readers' response to the same. Thanks a bunch for Raj Singh's address. But i feel that Rediff, indeed the whole Indian media, and former stars preferably under the leadership of Mohinder Amarnath, should begin a concerted campaign aimed at sacking this ruthless bunch of selectors. We should all believe that this can be done. Let us make a begining. Hopefully you can formulate a way to do this. But please do not give up by saying that press has its limitations. Around the world we have seen the overthrow of governments. To overthrow a bunch of cricket selectors cannot be too difficult.
Prem Panicker replies: Our mailbox has been bulging at the seams, with outraged readers demanding that something be done to cure this malaise.
On a related issue -- we have been attempting to carry reader's mails at the earliest. However, the sheer volume makes it impossible for us to carry each day's mails the very next day. Bear with us, therefore -- all mails will be carried in full, and replies provided where needed.
Previous mail on these subjects
| |
HOME |
NEWS |
BUSINESS |
CRICKET |
MOVIES |
CHAT
INFOTECH | TRAVEL | LIFE/STYLE | FREEDOM | FEEDBACK |