Another cricket related post. But I won't keep at it, I promise.
one could call this also a tale of two teams; england on the one hand had all in the media writing them off, faced problems of being plagued with injury and thus losing out on some of their key players, got a real whacking at the hands of the aussies in the first test at the Gabba and how did they respond? now, at the adelaide oval, they seem intent on making the aussies take them with a little fear and respect. as i write now, the aussies are still trailing by over 200.
And India on the other hand, got a thrashing at the hands of the Proteas and have in the final ODI given those few of us who happen to sometimes follow their fate, the distinct feeling that they and the proteas were batting on different grounds. not only is this complete surrender, i'm sure most of the players just want their mama now, especially sehwag.
now there are several routes i could take; dissect the performances?(not really possible since i haven't seen the batting, just followed the scores on cricinfo) write on the continued low form of sachin?(this is hurtful especially since some other contenders to the title of best batsman are currently in sublime form), talk of the futility of all the experimentation? or lament on the overall state of indian cricket?
all these are worthy of writing pages, no doubt. but what i wish to focus upon, now, is the general reaction of the indian junta. Suddenly, everyone wants ganguly back, all want sachin and sehwag out of the team, irfan pathan to get a hiding(literally if possible) and last but certainly one of the most popular opinions out there - sack chapell.
why?
i really don't understand this mentality. if your kids are doing dreadful in school, then does it necessarily mean that the teachers are terrible? would you want them sacked? if a certain train is late, is it necessarily Lalu's fault? apportioning blame onto one individual is one of the easiest ways out. and here blaming chapell is especially simple since he doesn't seem to be the meek, taking-the-crap-on-my-face kind. he doesn't seem to have 'respect' for indian tradition and culture(well you can always say that about anything, can't you?), etc.
some people would jumpt to say that chapell is not the only one going to get it, but his sacking is necessary as a punishment to him since he is being paid so much?
now, i would like to ask: ok. suppose we do that what next?
do these people with all their frustration coming out like that have any ideas about that? no, of course.
oh, yeah, as if suddenly ganguly or laxman are going to swing the whole thing completely!
what for instance, if ganguly were to fail? will these same people get out the ax again?
while i do agree that this has brought the team to a point of much introspection, or certainly should, it doesn't by any stretch mean that they aren't trying. seeing a couple of ads with these guys only seems to irritate us further, though really, it is no fault of the players there.
one thing that struck me as hilarious is when i saw a clipping of the speaker, somnath chatterjee say to the lok sabha, ' see, even a cricket coach is now abusing us!'
what cry babies!!
the moment that man gave a sharp retort to all the crap that came from the media and the politicians and they had nothing smarter to retort, they take the easy route!! incidentally i think all chapell said when asked what he had to say since there seemed to be a furore in the parliament over his position as national team coach was, ' well, they of course would criticize; they are paid to do that'...
is anyone talking about the BCCI's inability to bring in any real changes in the structure of the team?or the kind of facilities they have? or the kind of pitches they get to practice on? for being the richest cricket board in the world they are certainly the least efficient.
why blame the players alone? my anger is all directed at the BCCI for this. They are the real
culprits in all of this. and no one has the guts to say that in public. maybe some politicans will, if they want to get back at sharad pawar. and that tells us all that is truely lamentable; not one person with real power in his hands even has any real concerns over the game. we are stuck with a bunch of pathetic spineless opportunists incharge of the BCCI and for that, the poor 15 in SA are paying the price...
before i actually tell these fellows who are baying for chapell's blood to $!#&^@!, let me add this: the cricket board in australia went through a similar patch, where they were no match to england or the west indies till they set up their academy and made their process of selection , what it is today. and one of the architects of that movement was greg chapell.
if you doubt his sincerity, then there is no way to prove that. saying that he has yelled or spoken rudely with some players/officials etc is no real reason of any sort. a lot of things happen in the dressing room(in fact that is probably why it is called a dressing room; people can get a dress-down there!); not all that should be exposed to the public.
it is easy to explain why so many want that man off; he isn't brown! talking of slavery and all that is real bull since that makes no sense.
to me, this is outright racism. explain why it isn't.....