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Change Your Life! |
Are Indian Cricketers Loyal To Their Job? |
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April 7 200
The Indian cricket team returned from Sharjah last week with their bags full of goodies from the much-hyped Dubai Shopping Festival. No problems with that. After all, who does not like to do shopping.
This column is not meant to criticise the players who returned honourless from the Coca-Cola Cup triangular which Pakistan clinched by beating South Africa in the final. It is the manner in which they returned which was disgusting. Reportedly, Sourav Ganguly, Syed Saba Karim,
Javagal Srinath, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble returned in one batch. Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar followed later while the coach Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja took a flight straight to Delhi. No one knows whether former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin has returned as yet.
How can a team which went to Sharjah together come back in bits and pieces? And how can the powers that be tolerate such acts? One can put forward the argument that the players belong to different parts of the country, hence they opted to take different flights. But a team which plays together has to be together till the very end. Surely, the board can afford to book the players into one of the many five-star hotels before they can take their respective flights home. Imagine an English, Australian, South African team returning to their country in groups. Not in their wildest dreams this will happen. A tour is not over when the last ball of the last match is bowled. It ends at the airport where the captain tells his team "well done" or in India's case, "hard luck guys. Let's try harder next time."
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar showed how much values he has and had in his playing days in his fortnightly column the other day where he slammed some members of the Indian team for skipping the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series function where former and present cricketers get their benefit cheques. Gavaskar wrote: "What a pity that these players did not think it necessary to stay back and applaud the former players as they went up to receive their honor. "It is amazing that none of these players feel the rush to go back home when they are kept in the reserves of a Test match, for then they would lose the 'perks' that being in the squad means, but when it comes to staying on to honour their seniors, they are in an almighty rush to go home. The Cricket Control Board must take a serious view of this and ensure that in the future all the players not only stay on for the benefit function but also attend it. The only exception should be if there is a first-class match played in India, only then the players should be allowed to leave."
Gavaskar, whose respect for senior players is unparalleled had just hit the nail on the head. Moreover, one of the former players who was honoured was Chandu Borde, the present chairman of the national selection committee. This shows the players have scant respect for even the man who picks them.
On the flipside, one must commend the Board as well as the team management for releasing Mohammed Kaif and S Sriram to fly down to their homes to represent Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively in the Ranji Trophy. Domestic cricket deserves paramount importance and it was good to see messrs Sourav Ganguly and Kapil Dev playing true to form. Sachin Tendulkar has been a great campaigner for first-class cricket. He does not miss a match for Mumbai, who will be strengthened when they play the Ranji semis on April 11.
Saba Karim provides another story of commitment. He returned from Sharjah on the morning of March 30 and was at the Wankhede Stadium the very next day to assist his employers Tata Sports Club in the four-day Times Shield 'A' division final. Agarkar too turned up for Tests. That his firm ended up winning was Karim and Agarkar's apt reward for their commitment. Such loyalists are few and far between in Indian cricket. Let their tribe increase!
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