India Shining ?
India won the last of the 7 ODIs against England today to win the series 5-1, thanks to the efforts of the new set of youngsters and the ever dependable Rahul Dravid. Ever since, Dravid has taken the reins of the Indian Cricket Team, so many new people have been playing for the Indian team and many of them have capitalized on such opportunities. While Dhoni and Pathan have turned into becoming excellent all-rounders, others like Sreesanth, RP Singh, Suresh Raina and the latest member Robin Utthappa have done well so far. The work done in the background by the Coach Greg Chappell and the support staff has been exemplary. Of the senior players, Kumble's efforts have been really wonderful. He's the Mr. Persistence. Harbhajan has been doing quite ok though not as much as we should expect from one of our main bowlers. Two people from whom we have come to expect a lot have been failing quite consistently - Sehwag and Mohd. Kaif. It's well understood that these two are amongst the best talent in Indian cricket as of now; it's important for both these guys to understand the importance of playing for India and start coming good sooner than later. I certainly hope they will. Sachin Tendulkar has been one of the greatest players of all times. However sad it may be, it's equally true that his life as a competetive active cricketer is all but over. There's an end to all things. People should not get emotional on this subject. Nobody would want a 50 year old Sachin in the team just because he was playing well long time back. Just with most sports or for that matter, any matter related to life, only the best at any given moment should be in the team - only the CURRENT best ! People should learn to retire gracefully. They have a glorious past behind them. Don't screw up the team just to fulfill one's own desires of being in the team for ever. And this advise applies to one and all alike - including Rahul Dravid (seniormost) and Robin Uttappa (juniormost). If only Ganguly had some common sense, his exit from Cricket wouldn't have been so shameful. No doubt he was one of the best players in his time.
Hope we get a strong set of around 20-25 people in time for the next World Cup in 2007. We should have redundancy for each position. Then we will be in a position to field the best side in the world cup. We have all the right talent and the right combination in place. Selectors are doing a good job in providing so many opportunities for youngsters.
I would suggest that senior ex Cricketers like Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Srikanth, Amarnath, Vasan, Siddhu, Srinath and others spend more time on increasing the skill set of the youngsters in lieu of bringing in a division in the team by making unnecessary comments that affect the morale of the players. Just because these players played before for India doesn't in anyway increase their stature. I feel that some of the current players outclass most of these former players hands down. Just to be fair to all, comparison of any kind between players from the past and the present will be wrong.
To end this post on Indian cricket, I pray and hope that Rahul Dravid and his team peak right in time for the world cup. We have the right ingredients to make the most successful team in history. All we need is perseverance, hard work, little more sincerity from every one and good luck. About "luck", wishes of billions of Indians would contribute a fair share of that. :-)
India won the last of the 7 ODIs against England today to win the series 5-1, thanks to the efforts of the new set of youngsters and the ever dependable Rahul Dravid. Ever since, Dravid has taken the reins of the Indian Cricket Team, so many new people have been playing for the Indian team and many of them have capitalized on such opportunities. While Dhoni and Pathan have turned into becoming excellent all-rounders, others like Sreesanth, RP Singh, Suresh Raina and the latest member Robin Utthappa have done well so far. The work done in the background by the Coach Greg Chappell and the support staff has been exemplary. Of the senior players, Kumble's efforts have been really wonderful. He's the Mr. Persistence. Harbhajan has been doing quite ok though not as much as we should expect from one of our main bowlers. Two people from whom we have come to expect a lot have been failing quite consistently - Sehwag and Mohd. Kaif. It's well understood that these two are amongst the best talent in Indian cricket as of now; it's important for both these guys to understand the importance of playing for India and start coming good sooner than later. I certainly hope they will. Sachin Tendulkar has been one of the greatest players of all times. However sad it may be, it's equally true that his life as a competetive active cricketer is all but over. There's an end to all things. People should not get emotional on this subject. Nobody would want a 50 year old Sachin in the team just because he was playing well long time back. Just with most sports or for that matter, any matter related to life, only the best at any given moment should be in the team - only the CURRENT best ! People should learn to retire gracefully. They have a glorious past behind them. Don't screw up the team just to fulfill one's own desires of being in the team for ever. And this advise applies to one and all alike - including Rahul Dravid (seniormost) and Robin Uttappa (juniormost). If only Ganguly had some common sense, his exit from Cricket wouldn't have been so shameful. No doubt he was one of the best players in his time.
Hope we get a strong set of around 20-25 people in time for the next World Cup in 2007. We should have redundancy for each position. Then we will be in a position to field the best side in the world cup. We have all the right talent and the right combination in place. Selectors are doing a good job in providing so many opportunities for youngsters.
I would suggest that senior ex Cricketers like Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Srikanth, Amarnath, Vasan, Siddhu, Srinath and others spend more time on increasing the skill set of the youngsters in lieu of bringing in a division in the team by making unnecessary comments that affect the morale of the players. Just because these players played before for India doesn't in anyway increase their stature. I feel that some of the current players outclass most of these former players hands down. Just to be fair to all, comparison of any kind between players from the past and the present will be wrong.
To end this post on Indian cricket, I pray and hope that Rahul Dravid and his team peak right in time for the world cup. We have the right ingredients to make the most successful team in history. All we need is perseverance, hard work, little more sincerity from every one and good luck. About "luck", wishes of billions of Indians would contribute a fair share of that. :-)
posted by Kiran at 6:38 PM
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