Aug 23, 2001 09:35 AM
2646 Views
Everytime I hear about an Indian loss, there are shouts and recrimination from all over. I think that we should step back a little and ruminate. Let me give my bit.
Firstly, we have never had a good leader. Every captain, right from Pataudi to the present Ganguly, have been captains by circumstances. They have never done anything inspired or led by example. For example, when a long partnership is going on, they never try anything different. They never seem to have a plan. Take our one day. It is almost predictable that each bowler will get his 5 overs in a go, unless he gets badly hammered. If a bowler takes a wicket, he is never taken off for another four or five. It is very much like our street cricket.
Take aggression. Ganguly is perhaps our first aggressive captain. But, unlike Steve Waugh, he can never back it up with performance.
Our batsmen are paper tigers. One big score, followed by many failures. Then we talk of dropping them, till they score another laboured 50 to 100 runs, which insures thier place for another series!! Sachin is perhaps the only exception and he is unfortunate that today the entire team is dependent on him and him alone. Take him away and you have nothing left. There is no single batsman in our team, who can be relied upon in a crisis. We take one solitary example (like VVS innings at Calcutta) and build our dreams around that. Instead, look at S. Waugh. Time and again, he delivers unfailingly.
Our bowling is a pathetic story. Never have our bowlers looked like being capable of bowling a side out twice. Plus, in a one day, our batsmen seem to be shy of finding the ropes when needed,but our bowlers always give at least one loose delivery every over. They simply do not have the caliber.
I think, we overestimate ourselves. Perhaps, we do not have more than 2 or 3 cricketers who are world class in the true sense. We always remember one great innings of every cricketer and make that our norm of expectation.
My message is, do not be disheartened. We are a mediocre team, which can be sometimes dangerous. Do not expect consistency. Be happy whenever we win and do not worry when we lose, because our standards are simply not there.
We make heroes out of our cricketers, who get paid amounts which no cricketer in the world makes. It is our mania which feeds these jokers. Once we become rational, stop cheering them at all occasions and stop going to the grounds to watch them, they will become better. Today, there is so much money that there are all kinds of influences which go in to team selection. Once the money factor comes down, then perhaps merit may have a role to play.
Let us not build expectations around a bunch of eleven mediocre club level players.
