Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Pahele Aap,Bade Miyan

It was a sad sight to see the cookie crumbling.The Indian cricket team collapsed on the last day of the third test and allowed Pakistan to level the series by playing defensive cricket whereas they should gone for the shots and played aggressively.
When you consider yourself to be a team of international class challenging the very might of the Aussies,how can you play such a pathetic game?.To me,the answer is very simple.It is a contrarian view.And I will be criticized for hitting below the belt.The fact of the matter is that BCCI is persisting with a captain who has lot his touch both with the bat as well as his strategic skills for which possibly he has been able to hang on to his captaincy so far.Saurav Ganguly has let the team down and the country.Even in the tests at Mohali and Eden Gardens we did not come out in flying colours.The current Pakistani team is not a great team.They lack a strong bowling attack though they have good batsmen.And Inzy is not the smartest of captains.But he has outwiited our 'Dada' or 'Maharaja' if you would like to call him so.
It is time for BCCI to replace Saurav.You don't have to go too far.Rahul Dravid is knocking at the door.We want captains to lead by example.Not drop catches and get fooled by googlys.We want them to talk with the bat and/or ball as the case may be or both.And not make gallant statements about out superiority.We want them to pose less as models for the various fmcg companies and concentrate on what really matters.
I think Australia can be kept as the role model.They have fantastic teamwork and don't chase individual landmarks.Their captain Steve Waugh has led by example and is certainly one of the greatest captains test cricket has seen.They are a fit lot who never say die.
Let us change our captain and open a new leaf.Miandad summed it up beautifully when he said that we lost the match because of the 'mind'.We panicked when a few wickets fell,our captain couldn't remain in the crease for long,and Kumble had to show our socalled batting stalwarts a few lessons in batting.
And importantly, even the bigwigs have to be accountable for their performance.Just because you have made it,does not mean that this is a pensionable job.
We have in characteristic Lucknowi style passed on the baton to our honourable guests-the Pakistani team.For them it is a great morale-booster and will go a long way in reestablishing their supremacy in international cricket.

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