Men In Blue

Well am a bit late to post this, but could't help... Speaking about the current issues in Indian Cricket (i know its kinda boring to read about this topic now, but it is a topic any sports maniac would love to write on)

as the Indo-English series ends, questions are already being raised on Dravid's captaincy. He already has got a idea how ruthless can the crowd be if u dont perform... just a few months ago Dravid was backed by the three fourth of the nation and now most of them are doubting his ability. The Mumbai crowd chanting "saurav saurav" at the presentation when Dravid came up to speak just summed up the entire story of how frustrated the crowd was and proved that they could just not tolerate the poor show put up by the team. so who are to blame? The Captain, The Coach or the entire Team??? Well, i would say the selection committee coupled with some aweful decisions by the captain can be blamed...

Former England Skipper Boycott rightly describes Kiran More, the captain of our selection team, "a joke" and rightly so. More is certainly the one to be blamed for the poor show of the team. As More qouted that the team will be selected on the basis of current performances and not on the records of the players. Well Mr. More, I would like to say that pls pls keep this selection criteria for all players and not just one or two... wat are people like Sehwag doing in the team when they are not performing fdor such a long period?? Sachin Tendulkar has already got a warning that he has to perform after the crowd booed him, and he was the only batsman who looked like sticking on the crease against those English Bowlers.

Well talking about the team selection, I think that Piyush Chawla was selected a bit too early. Undoubtedly, the lad from U.P. has immense talent, but rather than involving him in such high profile matches, the selection committee should have let him play a few matches for India A team or the ODI squad. Selecting the youngster for ane test series and then dropping him would affect his confidence immensely. Rather they could have selected a little more experienced players like Romesh Powar or anyone else. The talent is there in plenty, but they quite unfortunately dont know how to utilize it.

Speaking about the captaincy, well no real issues here, but the decision made by Dravid to field first was completely wrong and i am sure most of you agree with this unless you try to understand what was Dravid thinking at the time when he won the toss and put England to bat... Also the ommission of Kaif in the second test was also a debatable issue. Kaif showed some good form in the First Test, but was dropped to let Yuvraj Singh in the team. Again, one just can't blame Dravid for these decisions, even the coach and the seniors team members can be blamed for this.

When we talk about Indian Cricket, the crowds cannot be kept out of the picture. It is afterall the crowd who creates the heroes for the game and bring them to ground if they do not perform. But, one of the main things that the crowds should understand is that they shouldn't be to harsh on the player. Last thing Tendulkar would have expected is to be booed by the crowd, atleast at his home ground. People should know that they are players and as everyone has a lean period in their job or profession, this is just another bad patch for Sachin and you just can't doubt the abilities of the man who has served thecountry for such a long period. Another thing that kind of amaze me is that the people who didn't want Ganguly in the team a few months back, are demanding his return in team...

The crowds should be mature and give players a chance to prove themsevles. It is not that our team is playing bad cricket. Obviously, we aren't ranked third in the world for nothing. We just need to have faith in our team, trust the abilities of the player. Afterall its the right selection and right decisions that will help India win the World Cup.