One would think that the 4-0 shameful whitewash at the hands of England this summer would sting everyone interested in cricket to take a hard look at where we are and how we should proceed from here.
It is not that India lost the No. 1 Test side rating, or even that they lost all the tests; but the way they lost the matches:
Under such circumstances, I don’t know what the obscenely paid cricketers, officials, administrators are thinking or if are feeling any shame even, but I do know this - the cricket lovers (at least in my part of Chennai) have started to skip the sports pages. Doesn’t matter they read English or Tamil newspapers; the inevitable reaction when they come to sports section is one of disgust accompanied by a violent flip.
Needless to add that after the defeat in the 2nd test, none of us, cared to watch the matches on TV.
Not wanting to mimic their actions, being more curious and on Google Reader, I dare to scan the sports headlines till my mouth droops.
:-(
Even my nephew who is a fan of Pietersen (strike that, he thinks Pietersen is the God of cricket) and who should be whooping with joy seeing England do well, is morose and actually spits in disgust at the mention of the Indian team (out of sight of his mother, of course, the spitting, that is).
Less said about a couple of guys I know who read Hindi papers is better. Suffice to say that I’ve never heard such a swear of black and blue even as a sailor.
Under these circumstances one would only guess that sports - cricket - commentators and writers would verbally lash the players, their fitness levels, their attitude, mental strength and lack of preparation and offer a piece of their mind to the selectors and administrators in the bargain.
If at all anything good has to be written, it can only be of Rahul ‘the wall’ Dravid, who was the only consistent and able Indian batsman in this test series with scores of 103*, 36, 117, 6, 22, 18, 146*, 13.
But what do I know!
I almost fell off my chair when I read this fawning article on Sachin Tendulkar - the useless batsman who managed scores of 34, 12, 16, 56, 1, 40, 23, 91.
Viola! Tendulkar scores 91 and the fawning immediately starts. This idiotic piece by Ayaz Memon in today’s DC waxes eloquent how he could ‘see’ the old Tendulkar. Effing Hell. One BCCI official (not office bearer, mind you) told me yesterday that Tendulkar was the beneficiary of 4 dubious umpiring decisions and 2 dropped catches in the 91. While dropped catches should not be held against a batsman, dubious decisions will always sour the batsman’s final score - to impartial viewers of the game.
Personally, with that the case, I cannot understand how anyone can ‘see’ anything of the Tendulkar of yore. This is simple fawning, is idiotic and subversive to the well being of Indian cricket. If we cannot call a spade a spade, even in the time of crisis, but keep saying the spade still smells of roses of last summer - we are fooling no one, but ourselves.
A friend who pointed out the article to me had this to say, “You know the painted guy who keeps appearing in all Tendulkar, India matches? His way (flight, accommodation, tickets, etc.) is paid by Tendulkar. Maybe ...”
I don’t think that ‘maybe’ way at all. We have enough idiots in the media to fawn over Tendulkar without him having to fork over for it.
However, my wicked half whispers, ‘If Paid News is abhorrent and is to be curbed, Are Paid Fans cute and are to be encouraged?’
Yuck!
It is not that India lost the No. 1 Test side rating, or even that they lost all the tests; but the way they lost the matches:
- 1st Test: England v India at Lord's - Jul 21-25, 2011
- England 474/8d and 269/6d; India 286 and 261
- England won by 196 runs
- 2nd Test: England v India at Nottingham - Jul 29-Aug 1, 2011
- England 221 and 544; India 288 and 158
- England won by 319 runs
- 3rd Test: England v India at Birmingham - Aug 10-13, 2011
- India 224 and 244; England 710/7d
- England won by an innings and 242 runs
- 4th Test: England v India at The Oval - Aug 18-22, 2011
- England 591/6d; India 300 and 283 (f/o)
- England won by an innings and 8 runs
- twice we’ve been beaten by an innings and more
- in the other 2 tests the victory margin is a huge ~200 runs or more
- the margin of defeat in the 2nd test - 319 runs - is more than the runs scored by us in any one of the 8 innings
- in 8 innings we couldn’t bat out even 100 overs - we were bowled out in 95.5, 96.3, 91.1, 47.4, 62.2, 55.3, 94, & 91 overs, while a nominal match is of 450 overs
- only in the 2nd test we managed to bowl out England - 8, 6, 10,10, 7,*, 6, * - 47 out of available 80 wickets is the tally
(the last 2 points added later in the day)
Needless to add that after the defeat in the 2nd test, none of us, cared to watch the matches on TV.
Not wanting to mimic their actions, being more curious and on Google Reader, I dare to scan the sports headlines till my mouth droops.
:-(
Even my nephew who is a fan of Pietersen (strike that, he thinks Pietersen is the God of cricket) and who should be whooping with joy seeing England do well, is morose and actually spits in disgust at the mention of the Indian team (out of sight of his mother, of course, the spitting, that is).
Less said about a couple of guys I know who read Hindi papers is better. Suffice to say that I’ve never heard such a swear of black and blue even as a sailor.
Under these circumstances one would only guess that sports - cricket - commentators and writers would verbally lash the players, their fitness levels, their attitude, mental strength and lack of preparation and offer a piece of their mind to the selectors and administrators in the bargain.
If at all anything good has to be written, it can only be of Rahul ‘the wall’ Dravid, who was the only consistent and able Indian batsman in this test series with scores of 103*, 36, 117, 6, 22, 18, 146*, 13.
But what do I know!
I almost fell off my chair when I read this fawning article on Sachin Tendulkar - the useless batsman who managed scores of 34, 12, 16, 56, 1, 40, 23, 91.
Viola! Tendulkar scores 91 and the fawning immediately starts. This idiotic piece by Ayaz Memon in today’s DC waxes eloquent how he could ‘see’ the old Tendulkar. Effing Hell. One BCCI official (not office bearer, mind you) told me yesterday that Tendulkar was the beneficiary of 4 dubious umpiring decisions and 2 dropped catches in the 91. While dropped catches should not be held against a batsman, dubious decisions will always sour the batsman’s final score - to impartial viewers of the game.
Personally, with that the case, I cannot understand how anyone can ‘see’ anything of the Tendulkar of yore. This is simple fawning, is idiotic and subversive to the well being of Indian cricket. If we cannot call a spade a spade, even in the time of crisis, but keep saying the spade still smells of roses of last summer - we are fooling no one, but ourselves.
A friend who pointed out the article to me had this to say, “You know the painted guy who keeps appearing in all Tendulkar, India matches? His way (flight, accommodation, tickets, etc.) is paid by Tendulkar. Maybe ...”
I don’t think that ‘maybe’ way at all. We have enough idiots in the media to fawn over Tendulkar without him having to fork over for it.
However, my wicked half whispers, ‘If Paid News is abhorrent and is to be curbed, Are Paid Fans cute and are to be encouraged?’
Yuck!
awesome article !!!
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