Aliens and BCCI : Communalism, regionalism, racism- Part of the Infrastructure.

Disrespect and racism is the product of BCCI’s ways of working. The board must do away with its delirium as quickly as possible or cricket may soon be following hockey’s footsteps to absolute disorientation.

We spend fortunes searching for extraterrestrial intelligence believing it exists out there somewhere. We Earthlings, however, are still struggling for our own identities. We are scarred of each other, unsure and uncertain to an extent that we go on and even term each other as ‘Aliens’.

We see aliens around us all the time. Latest example is that of a man from Orissa who sees an alien in Greg Chappell. These thoughts are instilled deep in an average Indian and an average cricketer alike by our cricketing infrastructure. We see selectors locking horns with each other all the time over demands of better representation of their states in the national team. This man who slapped Chappell was not happy with non inclusion of Orissa cricketers in the team, apart from other things. He thinks he has been able to get his message across and now the ‘plight’ of his state’s cricketers will be noticed. Communalism regionalism and racism are descendants of the same forefather that is ‘Bias’. We need to do away with this system as soon as possible.

BCCI may want to guard against complacency here. Hockey- a religion once- is struggling for survival today. Fan following CAN disappear thus can’t be taken for granted.

Lets do away with state representation as an issue. A centralized point system is the way to go. Let the veterans fight for their states as they understand the local and traditional ways better, but let them do that from their states only. Have a central body with its chapters in each state from where these people would operate. Let the cricketers be rated and watched with their data maintained centrally. Central body will also help maintain standards pertaining playing conditions, pitch, facilities etc uniformly. It will help every aspiring player play and practice in conditions that are same as anywhere else in the country. Reach schools and colleges with your programs. Make the cricket more accessible for people at that level. Let’s not leave the aspirants at the mercy of somebody who ‘has a say’.

Mould the system so as to enable the aspirant to represent himself.

Cricket veterans may not like this idea but I would rather opt for ‘no Gavaskar’ over ‘a biased Gavaskar who openly backs Mumbaikars’, I didn’t like it when Sidhu would go gaga over Ratinder Sodhi, and many such incidents. These are passionate cricketers of past and if their hearts go out to the youngsters who grew up in front of their eyes, these are human beings we talking about. But if all that is coming in the way of the game’s progress it should be done away with.

Coming back to the unfortunate incident- an indolent BCCI wont do here. Chappell is Team India’s coach and he is their responsibility. Chappell is the responsibility of the whole country in fact. Unruly crowd having its way, bottles thrown at foreign cricketers, mismanagement, suffering viewers, lack of amenities at cricket grounds, we’ve seen it all, and this is not something you would expect from the board which is richest in the world. BCCI keeps passing the buck to local authorities but why. They have been sitting on the money they have for quite some time. Its time they started using it FOR THE GAME. If they don’t know how to do it, hire somebody who does, this country is not short of brains.

To conclude I would say, such an incident wouldn’t have happen with John Wright. He was calm and a genial character. Look at him and you would say Cricket is really a gentlemen’s game. You face aggression when you opt for it. To hold your nerve is the key here. Ganguly faced what Chappell is facing today. Dravid and Wright however had better approach in this regard. Ganguly and Chappell 'working togehter' were a recipe for disaster and we all saw that.

Winning is a habit

India v South Africa
Third test, final day - 6 January 2007, Newlands, Cape Town,
We lost by 5 wickets

We got to see a lot of things in the SA v India series decider. There was a plan behind all that – you would think !

Tendulkar was bowling well and was most likely amongst all the bowlers to get a wicket, but that’s is not his job. He was getting enough purchase from the surface to trouble the batsmen and ruffle up their psyche but he was wasting crucial time which could be used for testing the 'bowlers' instead.

The ‘bowlers’ who were straying in their line and length had to keep bowling because that is their role in the team. Add to this an unfit bowler and the team gets to learn how to deal with a situation like that in an series decider.

Irfan Pathan was a better batsman than most of the batsmen in the team; he was sent back and for once an absolutely unknown Ishant Sharma was almost on his way to SA while Harbhajan looked on.

Dravid and Chappell spent hours out in the center and studied the pitch (while Ganguly was in nets, he probably didn’t know the plan). They really knew something which I couldn’t comprehend as Harbhajan was strategically kept out. The opposition, however, felt the urgency and called upon a spinner even though we are considered as amongst the best players of spin.

Sehwag played well batting down the order, but he is an opener. If he wants to bat he has to do that up the order otherwise he is useless- according to the plan.

They all must practice and do the tasks that have been planed for them. If they fail, experimenting and testing out as many players as possible has been higher on our priority list off late. We will find new recruits. If we loose a match or two (or more) doing that, we can most certainly afford that.
People shouldn't make a big deal of it. We may not be able to name five trustworthy bowlers and openers etc. having done all that, but ask our management and they will say its all worth it. Our team may not be performing up to it, but they seem to have a plan. They are planning for the world cup - I guess.

We shouldn't disturb them.

Having said that, I couldn't help but cherished the moments of jubilation our players had having won the first test match in this series. I like it when our player are happy and feeling what a win feels like.

Vengsarkar, outside the party hall, sharing his thoughts on that win quite rightly said "Winning is a habit!"

I cant help but pray the same doesn't apply to loosing.

Durban Test: Team can do better playing it on its merit

Not playing it as the second test in the series but a test that they are playing having done a lot of practice in these conditions would do our team a lot of good. Kumble is always lethal on last few days' pitch. Sreesanth should keep his cool. He bowled well but more than his bowling prowess, it was SA batters' uncalled for heroics that let their team down. If you see SA's second innings, they played better. Better than us. Zaheer enjoyed the feast but he still strays and sprays bolls on both sides of the wicket, when would he learn to be disciplined. I would like to see Munaf back in the squad but only if he is match fit. Our batters are all due for performances, I think passing the buck wont do anymore each of them have to contribute. They've had enough practice. Rahul should score and lead from the front which I think he WILL do. Catching/fielding was good in the last match, lets not loose that touch. Tendulkar should stop trying, he should now do it. More so to alleviate the pain from his fiasco last time he was here as a captain. Kallis, Pollock and SA as a whole has a very good record with 8 wins and just 2 defeats in last 16 matches that they have played here. India on the other hand has nothing in past to look at. But a lot has changed since, and the players are much more experienced than before. They actually have not much to learn from the last test either apart from grit and a few bowling performances. More than we won it, it was they who lost it. Last test cant tell us miraculously something we couldn't figure out in years of playing competitive test cricket. No doubt our team has a lot of potential, we should just put our potential and experience to good effect.
What do you say?