From: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu (Murali Iyer)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: Ramblings (Re: NEWS FLASH - Azhar captain)
Date: 1 Oct 1992 16:16:56 GMT
Organization: Marquette University - Computer Services
Reply-To: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: vmsd.csd.mu.edu

In article <BvG98t.Iw1@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao) writes:
>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.

A while ago, when I saw Spaceman Spiff's post asserting that Wadekar did not
quit but was dropped after the 1974 series against England, I started a reply
but could not complete it. Well, I seem to have created the impression that I
am anti-Wadekar by that one sentence where I said "Wadekar does not inspire 
a helluva lot of confidence....". I would like to correct that.

I do agree with Sunil and Bharat that Wadekar was meted out a very raw-deal by
our selectors, and that his very attractive left-handed batting abilities
should have ensured his place in the eleven. No doubt about that at all. I
remember feeling sick at the behavior of our selectors and fans in Bombay when
Wadekar returned from England. I also remember the procession he was taken in
after 1971. The pictures are green(though they were all B & W) in my memory.
Wadekar with all those garlands around his neck, waving to the crowd who had
gathered at the roadside to greet the team....... Public memory is so short, I
thought. And I had more reason to consolidate that impression in later years. 

The reason I said he does not inspire confidence, is that this Indian team
needs a top-notch man-manager who can command respect from everyone, starting
from the captain. Wadekar may be a very good tactician, but I don't know how
good he is with players who are crossing the line separating decency and
hooliganism. And rebellion. Wadekar does not have a Col.Adhikari by his side to
stem the rot.......

Also, I read Pras's One More Over at a very impressionable age, and his
opinions have stuck in a corner of my mind, I guess. I try to be objective and
not let emotions affect my judgement, but I guess I did not exercise that
control this time......

(All the wonderful stuff Bharat wrote at the risk of dating himself deleted for
brevity. Good job, Bharat. I liked every word of that post. And I don't dispute
any of that. Hey my son shares his first name with Wadekar's, folks. I can't be
anti-Wadekar!). 

-Murali
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket