From: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao)
Subject: Ramblings (Re: NEWS FLASH - Azhar captain)
Reply-To: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 15:48:14 GMT

rajiv@dvorak.amd.com (Rajiv Malhotra) writes:

>In article <00961638.C8199DA0@vms.csd.mu.edu> 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:

>>Somehow Wadekar does not inspire a helluva lot of confidence.............. 
>>But, only time can tell, eh?

>Wadekar really does not inspire a lot of confidence.  For a few
>series, as long as he was winning, everything was okay. When
>things were not going so well, he quit. In the past
>Azhar has not been able to discipline the team. A strong
>personality for a manger would have complemented Azhar's very well.

Why this pervasive anti-Wadekar sentiment on the net?  First of all
Wadekar did not quit -- he was dropped.  After that debacle of 42 in
England, the selectors desparately needed a scapegoat.  So naturally
they responded by deposing the most successful captain in the history
of Indian cricket (if you look at fraction of series won:-).  OK, now
one could perhaps agree with this decision (I don't), but dropping
Wadekar as a player was ridiculous.

He was India's best left-handed batsman then, and inspite of that
disasterous tour was worth a place on the team.  The SELECTORS dropped
Wadekar as a player, and not the other way around.  Then like a
gentleman, he retired from cricket rather than accpet further
indignities -- maybe thats a quitter, but not in my book.

Also, if tere in one area in which Azhar is lacking as a captain it is
as a tactician; I seem to remember Wadekar as a superb tacticion (I
think I am "dating" myself:-) --- doesn't any one else remember the
West Indies tour of 1975-76 when "Ajit Wadekar, Prophet
Extraordinary" made his predictions --- and these were not of the
Zakir Abdi type.

Before the series began, Wadekar (who was writing a column for
Sporstweek or the Indian Express - I forget) said that India would
lose the first two Tests at Bangalore and Delhi, and then win the next
two Tests at Calcutta and Madras, and he refused to say anything about
the new pitch at Bombay (except that a 6 day Test would hurt India
more than the WIndies).

And then, after the first 2 Tests in which India got whipped (OK, the
first was a thriller -- most people remember Greenidge and Lloyd's
heroics, but its Kalli's fantastic gem I treasure), and then Chandra
was dropped for Test 2 and King Richards announced his presence to the
world..

.. well Wadekar wrote a column urging that Chandra and Prasanna be
recalled for the Calcutta Test; the rest is history as Chandra (with a
little help from his friend Vishy:-) won the next two series for us
(make no mistake, it was Chandra who started that rout; and Vishy won
all the praise Pataudi gave the lion's share of the credit to
Prasanna).  And, he (Wadekar) showed his class, by writing another
column in which he praised Pataudi to the skies for persisting with
Chandra when Chandra was being carted all over the place -- and
suddenly in that 5th over Chandra came "on" and took 4 wickets (Kalli,
Richards, Lloyd and Murray) -- Bedi wrapped up the tail and India was
2-1...

And, speaking of the jokers (err selectors) playing captaincy games,
is there a player in the history of cricket who has had a rawer deal
than Venkat.  First, he was truly unfortunate to be around when the
only 3 spinners in the world who were better than him were playing for
his own country, and had their peaks just a few years before his so he
toiled in their shadows.  Had he been around now, or played for
another country at that time, he would have been a superstar.  And,
the selector's treated his absolutely horribly.  For example, in that
series, he was 12th man for the first Test at Bangalore, Captain for
the second test at Delhi, and 12th man again for the 3rd Test and did
not make the Eleven during the series...  A throughout he never
complained.  Part of it was that Pataudi absolutely loved Prasanna and
never thought Venkat was all that good --- while I grant that Prasanna
was better (more attacking and what flight) Venkat was d**n good too..

This has got really looooong, so good day all.

Bharat