Indian Cricket woes...:(

I just don’t like the way Indian cricket is going at the moment. This Test series against Zimbabwe has given our cricket administrators/players to display their stupidity, inanity, and other synonyms. And things have reached the zenith (or nadir, depending on how you look at it) after the news on someone (possibly Greg Chappell) having asked Ganguly to step down as captain.

My take on the whole issue – I am surprised that Greg or whoever it was that suggested that Ganguly should step down, didn’t realize that Ganguly should actually be thrown out of the team. Of course, Ganguly thinks that his century yesterday has played a good part in silencing his critics, and considers it his way of “hitting out at them”. Balderdash!!!

All that Ganguly did yesterday was “pulled a Tendulkar”, which to the unenlightened masses, is an innings where you strive very very very hard for a milestone, totally ignoring the team’s needs, and then, once you have attained your personal goal, throw away your wicket. But I won’t be surprised if the public in India begin lauding him. You already have the precedent set by Tendulkar…how big a step is this if they embrace Ganguly under the same umbrella as well! Eh?

Also, what the heck was Yuvraj doing playing instead of Kaif??!!! Kaif is a perfect team player, and has a good defense that would help him in Test cricket. Yuvraj, on the other hand, for all his talent, is still vulnerable against the moving ball. Of course, the best option would be to give both the youngsters a chance, and dump the most consistently failing batsman in our lineup – Ganguly. But this logical move doesn’t seem so logical to the decision-makers…sigh!

But such cruel injustices happen to Kaif and their likes. There are some eternal dead-weights in the team who seem to be getting a million chances based on criteria that are surely non-cricketing. A case in point being Ajit “Laddoo” Agarkar. I don’t even want to get into the “all-rounder” argument when talking about Laddoo, as that would be a criminal offence. Has he done justice to his bowling talent, i.e. giving him the allowance that he does have talent? How exactly are his performances captivating or matchwinning enough to get him so many entries into the team? A 6-for in Adelaide, or a century in a losing cause in Lord’s…are these sufficient? What about people who get a look-in for just a single series, and are dumped forever. And by “look-in”, I mean their stint as a water boy, and not actually as a player.

Given that Nehra was injured at the last minute…but is Agarkar our next best option?? Why can’t we try out some new guy like a Munaf Patel or a J P Yadav (who actually seems to be a true all-rounder) just to see how good/bad he is! Oh wait…he isn’t from the same zone? #$$%^%$^

Ganguly, Jagmohan Dalmiya, and the entire cabal need to be expunged from Indian cricket. That is the only way we will move up. But I think I am hoping for too much here. So, all I can do till then, is enjoy the efforts for the team that the likes of Dravid, Laxman & Kumble put in. You got to take what you get. Tough…