Prayers for a Miracle (Cricket World Cup)
In search of a miracle
The world cup starts in less than a month, and India has put forth a prayer for a miracle as our squad, after unlimited resources, 4 years, the best pool of talent, this is the best India could muster. The honest cricket loving people of India dont deserve this.
We have one player Shewag who is woefully out of form (since god knows when), he is in a fragile mental state incapable of playing in a school match, but he will be doning the role of the opening batsman for India. We have another, Pathan who is being bludgeoned in local club matches but somehow we think he will be able to restrict the rampaging South Africans and Australians, Yuvraj hasnt played in many months and his fitness is in doubt, the old issues of Ganguly in the locker room with Dravid and Chappell are back, Kumble has been beaten up in the latest series of one dayers but we persist with him, and we are turining to him after writing him off the one day scheme of things, Harbhajan has ceased to be the bowler he was or rather could be and is just taking a vacation in the beaches of West Indies, Munaf is hot and cold and liable to break down anytime.
The selectors can cry themselves hoarse that this is the best 15 available, and maybe, unfortunately, it is the sad truth, but what needs introspection is how was it allowed to get to be the best 15 available. The planning was screwed up long ago and we are just seeing the fruits or rather the poissons of that now. Everybody knew that Shewag had lost his cricket, everybody knew that a year ago but why wasnt a replacement groomed instead of persisting with him till the last month and then sending him back home, shoudnt a message have been sent earlier that he needs to shape up or ship out, the same with Pathan isnt it a case of too little too late. We know we need a dashing opener and a capable allrounder well if we were so intent on making it a we need Shewag and Pathan shoudnt more time and resources have gone into developing them. I personally dont know what dirt they have on whom but their selection is a sham, a slap in the face of equality of opportunity. We knew Yuvraj was injured and his return was doubtful, and what was our answer to strengthning our middle order - prayers to the cricketing gods to make Yuvraj better.
A prime example of what was done right is Zaheer Khan, He was given the marching orders more a year ago, and we have seen a rejuvinated bowler the last few series, now thats how long it takes to get results, and the esteemed selectors dont know that. They persist with players who made their name in ancient times. Woudnt we have seen a more confident India with Uthappa having been given more exposure, Dinesh Karthik given time to adjust to the middle order? We did experiment, by moving Shewag down the order, to protect him as the little baby is scared of the fast ball, and so that he can play in the middle overs when there is more running to do but we all know how well he runs between the wickets. Foolish stupid and pointless experiments in the name of experimentation qualify only as feeble attempts to fool the cricket fans.
I think India got it spot right by being one of the last teams to play in the West Indies before the world cup, giving them a good knowledge of the conditions to expect, but after that everything that can be done wrong has been done worse. I am surprised that India hasnt even sent one person to the West Indies to check out how the venues are coming along, coudnt we send one knowledgable person to the venues to talk to the cricketing people there to see what sort of pitches are shaping up and what we can expect come match time (Australia did). Someone said, in a battle if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didnt plan your mission properly. Was our board counting the pennies it would take to send an experienced analyst or maybe even a retired player to check out how things were shaping up. Information is the difference and having all the resources we ignored it, have we entrusted the honour of our nation to morons?
I think one of the greatest misgivings is that we think we had a great campaign last world cup, but in reality the last world cup was a big failure, India sneaked in to the finals on the wings of two wins over Kenya after several teams didnt make the cut due to other political issues. We were spanked and disgraced by Australia , England was defeated by the conditions of swing coming from bowling second and one inspired spell from Nehra, the only quality win being the one over Pakisthan due to a stroke of genius from Sachin and a solid partnership between Dravid and Yuvraj. Everything else was forgettable, it was a marketing blitz that labeled those losers as champions and everybody found it convenient to ride along. What started then as a Team India marketing blitz has led us to this, a prayer for a similar miracle four years hence.
The team might win a few, you never know, luck plays such an important role in many matches, the toss might win the game or by mere chance somebody might have an inspired performance, but we dont need a billion people and the richest board to send in prayers for miracles, in my dictionary we have already lost, we are sending a disgrace out to represent us and everybody is to blame, the players who didnt work hard enough, the captain who backed the wrong people, the coach for not planning or preparing the players, the selectors for turning a blind eye to reality and the biggest blame of all should fall on the cricket followers of India who didnt ask for better.
I am ashamed these people are representing my country.
The world cup starts in less than a month, and India has put forth a prayer for a miracle as our squad, after unlimited resources, 4 years, the best pool of talent, this is the best India could muster. The honest cricket loving people of India dont deserve this.
We have one player Shewag who is woefully out of form (since god knows when), he is in a fragile mental state incapable of playing in a school match, but he will be doning the role of the opening batsman for India. We have another, Pathan who is being bludgeoned in local club matches but somehow we think he will be able to restrict the rampaging South Africans and Australians, Yuvraj hasnt played in many months and his fitness is in doubt, the old issues of Ganguly in the locker room with Dravid and Chappell are back, Kumble has been beaten up in the latest series of one dayers but we persist with him, and we are turining to him after writing him off the one day scheme of things, Harbhajan has ceased to be the bowler he was or rather could be and is just taking a vacation in the beaches of West Indies, Munaf is hot and cold and liable to break down anytime.
The selectors can cry themselves hoarse that this is the best 15 available, and maybe, unfortunately, it is the sad truth, but what needs introspection is how was it allowed to get to be the best 15 available. The planning was screwed up long ago and we are just seeing the fruits or rather the poissons of that now. Everybody knew that Shewag had lost his cricket, everybody knew that a year ago but why wasnt a replacement groomed instead of persisting with him till the last month and then sending him back home, shoudnt a message have been sent earlier that he needs to shape up or ship out, the same with Pathan isnt it a case of too little too late. We know we need a dashing opener and a capable allrounder well if we were so intent on making it a we need Shewag and Pathan shoudnt more time and resources have gone into developing them. I personally dont know what dirt they have on whom but their selection is a sham, a slap in the face of equality of opportunity. We knew Yuvraj was injured and his return was doubtful, and what was our answer to strengthning our middle order - prayers to the cricketing gods to make Yuvraj better.
A prime example of what was done right is Zaheer Khan, He was given the marching orders more a year ago, and we have seen a rejuvinated bowler the last few series, now thats how long it takes to get results, and the esteemed selectors dont know that. They persist with players who made their name in ancient times. Woudnt we have seen a more confident India with Uthappa having been given more exposure, Dinesh Karthik given time to adjust to the middle order? We did experiment, by moving Shewag down the order, to protect him as the little baby is scared of the fast ball, and so that he can play in the middle overs when there is more running to do but we all know how well he runs between the wickets. Foolish stupid and pointless experiments in the name of experimentation qualify only as feeble attempts to fool the cricket fans.
I think India got it spot right by being one of the last teams to play in the West Indies before the world cup, giving them a good knowledge of the conditions to expect, but after that everything that can be done wrong has been done worse. I am surprised that India hasnt even sent one person to the West Indies to check out how the venues are coming along, coudnt we send one knowledgable person to the venues to talk to the cricketing people there to see what sort of pitches are shaping up and what we can expect come match time (Australia did). Someone said, in a battle if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didnt plan your mission properly. Was our board counting the pennies it would take to send an experienced analyst or maybe even a retired player to check out how things were shaping up. Information is the difference and having all the resources we ignored it, have we entrusted the honour of our nation to morons?
I think one of the greatest misgivings is that we think we had a great campaign last world cup, but in reality the last world cup was a big failure, India sneaked in to the finals on the wings of two wins over Kenya after several teams didnt make the cut due to other political issues. We were spanked and disgraced by Australia , England was defeated by the conditions of swing coming from bowling second and one inspired spell from Nehra, the only quality win being the one over Pakisthan due to a stroke of genius from Sachin and a solid partnership between Dravid and Yuvraj. Everything else was forgettable, it was a marketing blitz that labeled those losers as champions and everybody found it convenient to ride along. What started then as a Team India marketing blitz has led us to this, a prayer for a similar miracle four years hence.
The team might win a few, you never know, luck plays such an important role in many matches, the toss might win the game or by mere chance somebody might have an inspired performance, but we dont need a billion people and the richest board to send in prayers for miracles, in my dictionary we have already lost, we are sending a disgrace out to represent us and everybody is to blame, the players who didnt work hard enough, the captain who backed the wrong people, the coach for not planning or preparing the players, the selectors for turning a blind eye to reality and the biggest blame of all should fall on the cricket followers of India who didnt ask for better.
I am ashamed these people are representing my country.
posted by adarsh adarsh at 3:34 PM
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