From: karnik@atto.cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: In the defense (was Re: Vinod Kambli
Date: 11 Nov 92 20:17:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: atto.karnik.721513066
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <1992Nov11.014921.3290@news.acns.nwu.edu> sidi@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf) writes:

>	There are many points that could be made in this article, but since
>this was discussed specifically in the context of Bombay, I thought I'd
>give a pure Bombay's POV on it.

	Attaboy Sadiq! Let the bombing begin :-)

>In article <5NOV199221285893@utarlg.uta.edu> d188sid@utarlg.uta.edu (S RAMACHANDRAN) writes:

>I don't believe anyone could have a much better Ranji season than Kambli
>had last year - he seemed to be getting a century every time out. 

	And, if I might add, he showed his critics that he has the ability 
to play long innings as well. The temperament question has been answered for
anyone to see...


>>I think had W.V.Raman been a Bombayite he would have got a better deal 
>>from the selectors. He was dropped after making 83 on debut in Madras
>>against W.I and Winston Davis, Patterson and Walsh. Believe me if a 
>>Bombay player made 83 on debut all hell would break loose if he were 
>>dropped the next match. Raman made a couple of good 50's in NZ ..and since 
>>then he was given a proper deal. Bombay cricketers like Kambli,Bahutule,

	Well, Sandip Patil scored a superb century in his last Test innings,
and that too, against Imran and co. I think he should not have been dropped
at the time, but that's another grouse :-> Raman might have made a couple of
good scores, but Raman isn't a Gower, heck, he isn't even a Patil! He is in
the team as a specialist opener, and if he can't average better than 35, he
isn't good enough to make the team! Even if he plays attractive cricket! 
Someone like Gower, OTOH, produced the big innings regularly, and thus was
persisted with despite his airy, wafting outside the stumps.


>	Now, there are lots of Bombayites who could give you entire lists
>of players from Bombay who were given a raw deal. Heck, I could name a few
>myself :-) ( Zulfikar Parkar, Raju Kulkarni etc) . Talking about debuts,
>Kulkarni made his in Bombay, being called up early morning of the test

	Yeah, the case of Kulkarni really strikes a raw nerve in the 
Bombay fan! He was consistently a better bowler than all the others who were
tried and discarded in these last few years - Wassan, Razdan, Rashid Patel,
Sanjeev Sharma, etc. If he had been persisted with, he would undoubtedly have
settled down to be a perfect complement to KDev.

>	Rather than bias for Bombay players, there is often a bias against
>them ! This isn't because of any great conspiracy, but simply because of
>the quota system - there has to be someone from every zone, and not an
>overwhelming number from any one zone. Why was Kambli dropped from the
>Australian tour, and then personally called by the Chairman of BCCI ?
>Because, despite his terrrifc performance in the previous games (Sarjah),
>there had to be an extra representative from the East (Ganguly). Now,
>Ganguly is a very talented player, but he was clearly pushed in over his
>head and far too early in Australia - clearly Kambli ought to have gone in
>his place. 

	Absolutely! This has happened so often in the past, that when for once
Gavaskar managed to bully the selectors into taking more than the quota of
Bombay players along to England, there was a big hue and cry!


>Kambli possesses more talent. I just think that our selection process has
>long been screwed up, at all levels of the game - a lot of it having to do
>with the quota system. And I believe Bombay cricketers have suffered rather
>than benefited because of it. 

	At the very least, IMHO it is not fair to say that Bombay cricketers
have benefited from the selection process.


>>Viv Richards- " S.Manjrekar, N.Hirwani and W.V.Raman seem exciting
>>and promising players..." - after Final test in Madras 1989 and end of 
>>series.
>>
>	It did seem like it at the time. But, just after the Australian
>tour, it seemed like Vivvy was wrong on all three counts :-) :-) 


	Heyyyyy, whaddya mean all three counts ? Manjrekar sure has made it
big since then!

>	Sadiq [ lead soldier - Bombay Bombing Brigade :-) ] Yusuf

	Neeran [another Bombay bomber :-)] Karnik

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Neeran   Karnik  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dept. of Computer Science,      | Email: karnik@cs.umn.edu
University of Minnesota         |        karn0001@student.tc.umn.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~