The downward slide of Team India. Review on Cricket

The downward slide of team India has many reasons, here's my take,

1. BCCI

a. BCCI has tough task of selecting 16 players from a combination (& permutation) of 1 billion, 25 states, 4 zonal cricketing powers, 5 Political affiliations, few cricket war lords hmmm...right, it's really tough task. What is the guarantee that all 16 are really meritorious with so many restrictions on selections?.

b. BCCI, ex-players and great cricket thinkers always feel a foreign coach can make difference to team India, right we (Indian) always fascinate foriegn skin. We are good in listening to foriegners than our own Indians, Thanks to our sucking diversity of region,religion, caste, creed etc etc..... So it's final "FOREIGN COACH IS BEST FOR TEAM INDIA".

c. BCCI loves senior cricketers, a double ton two years-ago, means ticket to play for few years in all forms of cricket. BCCI is 'most respecting' cricket body (Crick-Aus kicked out Ponting when he was not doing well, and they have kicked out many).

1. Greg Chappel : John Wright passed his baton to Greg and said whack their back for fine performance (and it's easy to whack all players, John had caught Shewag by his collar for getting out irresponsibly) !!! Greg was in great spirit to take into task all non-perfroming players, first it was Ganguly, Shewag, Bhajji...etc etc..he gave them thinking hats, he told them how important is playing for a country like India, he had them trained by Yoga teachers, he bought best physio-therapist, best doctor, best analyst, best video analyser, trained them at Pegasis Institute (real world & militiary style training to up team spirit, it's called Outward Bound Learning). He did all even loosing sleep, thinking that he will do justice to a billion. But this poor idiot crossed all limits, even showing finger to Kolkota fans, instantly spoiling his image and attracting condemnation from all possible angles . His hard way of dealing with players might have not yielded fruits because we have so called senior players in team India who get nasty if you point finger at them :) !!.

1. Mr.X : Mr.X is the person who leaked the confidential e-mail to media and public, this man is the MAIN culprit behind the team India slide from good to worst. This man spoiled Ganguly, Greg, Spirit of Team India. This man also brought left movement into cricket affairs. No amount of punishment is justifyable to this Mr.X, given the intensity of cricket following in our nation.

1. Ganguly : Ganguly didn't welcome Greg into Team India even though he was captain, Greg was in hurry to discuss important things with Ganguly first hand. But then Dada was playing insignificant cricket for English county. Greg found Dravid was more respected guy in the team and thought reliable wall is better than sluggish Dada. 5 match ban came to Ganguly when he was struggling in his form and Greg somehow convinced Dada is not fit to be in team. It's Univeral truth that an ex-captain and new captain don't go along well. Greg just wanted to avoid these two playing together.

5. Tendulkar : This 'master' in team is more de-moralizing, since two years he is playing III class cricket and everytime he walks back to pavilion as if he's man without shame. A senior cricketer with such disgusting form is very dangerous to the team. Critics know well that Dravid & Tendulkar don't go well, and it is fact. His body language under Dravid and infamous 'gifting' of wicket against Pak in Pak is in bad taste, remember Tendya walks into field with one Xtra tricolor sticker on his helmet. But in reality he sucks :(

1. Sehwag : 'Live in past glory' is the mantra for his survival, his body language and commitment is not only a big question, but people wonder how he's still in the team with such poor performance (consistently).

1. The Wall : The wall stands tall amidst all the mess, doing his best for the team and country, has good support only from few low rung players, he sacrificed Kumble for a good quality player in ODI, but then the old horse still bowls tightly and beautifully, hence attracting critics from his own state :) The wall can just take game, but may crumble under politics, mess, differences and everything other than sports. I suppose the wall should just take/play game, else I pray for it's crumble. The wall has done more than decent job in the worst conditions.

8. Kapil : Devil is back and says "Dravid is old fashioned", not long ago the devil was sobbing and weeping in BBC interview for his guilt in betting/fixing. The devil has no moral right to talk about the reliable WALL. Hope the shameless devil is sent back to where he should belong :)!!

9. The Barkings : Lots of resource is wasted discussing Indian cricket by media, critics, 'me & you', ....whatever we discuss we are "barking at the wrong tree" .

The best way to improve our cricket is to over-haul the system,

1> Just make four zones instead of 25 odd states. So that 'regional bias' and other biases can be minimized while selecting final 16.

2> Every year sponsor a dozen of 18 -20 yrs age-group players for county/club cricket all over the world, afterall BCCI is having lots of cash. These experienced cricketers will be like buffer and could be inducted at will.

3> Improve infrastucture all over India, after all cricket is in blood for most Indians.

4> Lastly, team India should have policy to kick out any non-performer at will, irrespective of his 'past glories'.

Best wishes to Team India in their Quest for WC2007 :)

That's my barking :)

Thanks for reading

Manju

Bangalore