Now, I am not saying the Men in Blue will face the music — I was tempted to say ‘face the blues’ but then retained composure for respect of the reggae-loving Caribbean folks. The West Indies, let’s face it even after all the due respect etc, are these days, as good or bad as say Bangladesh at home. But a team led by Suresh Raina, who wasn’t even a certainty in the team before the semi-final in the World Cup?
A team without Dhoni, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Gambhir, Sehwag, and who have you?
A team set on playing its first series for the country after the World Cup without its main players?
A team playing for the Tricolour without players who played with all fire and gore in the money-churning IPL recently?
A team fielding only its best “available” set when more people are looking at the cricketers to dominate world cricket like the Caribbean’s of the late ’70s and ’80s, and the Australians of ’90s and early part of the millennium after their World Cup victory?
Some things are just not done because they look odd. This is one of them. I do not mean to demean the skills of Manoj Tiwaris, S Badrinaths and R Ashwins here. They need to play their part, and they surely have deserved that spot in the India squad. But how about showing some respect to the fans and the flag for which these ‘star’ players claim to play? What about the angst of the followers and prestige of a world-champion if the trial set fails?
As a fan, I have no problem if the management says, and says it firmly, that this is the best we have at our disposal and we will play with them for the whole tour. Victory or defeat, it will be ‘my’ team playing for my country — and good or bad, the youngsters will be ‘my’ players.
But then the senior players, the so-called stars, cannot suddenly join the tour midway through the series and stake claim to their ‘place’ in the side. They cannot go on leave on their sweet will, and decide on making a comeback when they feel like it.
If Tendulkar — despite his age, experience and service to the national team — was fit to play for the Ambanis (read Mumbai Indians), there is no reason why he should deserve a break immediately afterwards, when the team sets out on national duty. Same with the others.
Equally, Gambhir, as is clear now, had hidden his injury during the IPL only to go on playing for Kolkata Knight Riders. Why should disciplinary action not be taken against the southpaw, who, incidentally, was to lead the Indian team to West Indies as per earlier plans?
The Windies under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, or the Aussies under Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and to a large extent under Ricky Ponting were invincible was because they fielded their best side in every match, and tried to crush, not just beat, the opposition into submission. India has the opportunity to do just that, with the set of players it has got. But do the players, and the Board administrators, have the mentality? Do they care more about crushing opposition than counting money?
More importantly, do we have our priorities all mixed up in cricket, just as we do in the political circus?
The country deserves an answer, and it deserves the answer from the boys who became men and made us proud, not some administrator or one of Sharad Pawar’s minions walking around in safari suit and posing to be one.
PS: Skipper Suresh Raina at press conference in Mumbai on May 31 (Tuesday) before leaving for the West Indies: “The tour to the West Indies is very important for young players who are keen to do well.” (as quoted in cricketnext.com).
Mr Raina, it’s not a training session we are going for, or practice match for breeding experience among the greenhorns. This is the Indian national cricket team, playing for the Tricolour.
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