From: Sanjay.Naik@launchpad.unc.edu (Sanjay Naik)
Subject: Re: Indian team -- What now?
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 04:46:59 GMT

In article <1993Jan12.174825.20794@quintus.com> sitaram@quintus.com (Sitaram Muralidhar) writes:
>
>
>They have treated players shabbily, not made any meaningful changes to
>the domestic competitions, not done much for school cricket, not
>improved the quality of the pitches, etc. Inspite of this Indian
>cricket has provided its fans many wonderful moments. This is only
>because of the pure talent of its cricketers. I am not saying that
>they have done nothing right. They have just not kept up with the
>times.
>
>For instance, what is the Board thinking while appointing different
>managers/coaches for each tour? Under what scenario would this make
>sense? I can't think of any. It makes for a lack of continuity and
>accountability. The managers are never given the chance to foster team
>spirit, respect for each other, and a program, ingredients necessary
>to build a winning attitude.
>
Couldn't agree more. The only commendable thing they've done recently is to
stick with Azza. At least he can't complain of being dumped unfairly like
Srikkant. Then again, they've appointed him for just one test which is
terrible. Reminds me of the selection process the English were going  through
a few years ago. It became farcical, with Cowdrey's debut as captain and his
subsequent dismissal being the height of stupidity. I still find it hard
to believe. Then they appointed Emburey as captain for just one test. He
showed his appreciation by taking off to SA for the second time and the
selectors were impressed. They've picked him for the Indian tour. Now, at
least our selectors aren't that bad. Having said that, they're not far behind.

	[ Stuff deleted. Again agreed with everything - emphatically ]
>
>Finally, there is the attitude of the people. This really can't be
>controlled in any form, but it is surely a factor. Take the people on
>this group for instance. There are some who hurl obscenities at others
>and immediately pounce on submissions from people from other
>countries. There are those in India who deify Indian cricketers and
>put immense pressure on the individual to perform. Worse still, there
>are those that think that since Azhar is muslim, he is not performing
>well for India. I wonder if that issue ever came up with Alan Lamb, or
>Wessels or the countless others who played for other countries. What a
>shame! This sort of thing can happen only in India.
>
	The attitude of the people. Yes, we get the smart asses on this net
who suggest that India should stop playing test cricket. You'd laugh this off
normally, but there are people in high places who share this opinion !
Stop playing cricket, yup, that's gonna solve all our problems. A few months
ago, I wrote an article saying that India were rather unfortunate in that 
they'd hardly played at home in recent years. But I bet that the players
weren't complaining. Winning isn't enough for some people. When we were in
the process of winning a one-dayer against SA on their inauguaral visit to
India, fans (or should I say the idiots) started throwing missiles at our
players. If I'm not mistaken, poor Sidhu got whacked on the hand, forcing
him to come to Australia very late. Not surprisingly, he failed.

Who can forget the Calcutta test of '83. A few months earlier the players
were being hailed as heroes, they were gods. How things can change. 
I remember reading Gavaskar's book (Runs 'n Ruins), where he described this
pathetic incident. Kapil refused to duck in the bus as the animals (and
that's what they are) threw rocks at the players.

We had an Australian 'friend' a few weeks ago who accused Indian nettors of
always blaming the umpire when we lost. How wrong he is - we had another
guy who thought because he hadn't raised a voice against a poor decision by
Prue, Indian nettors should refrain from recounting poor decisions by Aussie
umpires. God almighty. 

Both the above have no idea what kind of crap the Indian cricketers have
to. Along with the Pakistanis, we throw more unfair abuse at our own players
than anybody else.
 
>So as you can see there are a lot of short and long term issues that
>have to be addressed before cricket in India can live up to its
>potential. In the mean time we will have to rely on the talent of our
>cricketers to win a few here and there..
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>  Muralidhar Sitaram      EMail: sitaram@quintus.com 
>  Quintus Corp.           Phone: 415 813-3849       
>  2100 Geng Rd.           FAX:   415 494-7608       
>  Palo Alto, CA 94303                             
>----------------------------------------------------

Bye,

Sanjay Naik.
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