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ASSEMBLY POLL '98
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'Let Sachin rest!'
E-mail from readers the world over
Date: Monday, February 08, 1999 3:58 PM
Take a look at this. From the leading Pakistani daily newspaper The Dawn: "It would not be wrong to sum up the Test by saying that Pakistan didn't lose to India but to a hostile crowd, poor wicket and poor umpiring." Yeah, right! The Indians cooked and fixed the whole game and, moreover, won the toss with a coin that had only the head on both sides. This is just one quote in the Pak media that has other reports full of every excuse in the book. Barring an occasional quote from an otherwise "pompous" Akram in praise of the Indian effort, there is no gracious comment to credit anything that the Indians did on the field. In contrast, the Indian media and commentators have been admiringly appreciative of the Pak team and its talented players like Saqlain, and the spirit in which the games have been played. And, what a bunch of whining losers to so easily forget the reception they got in Madras, despite the fact the Indian fans were shell-shocked at enduring a close defeat. What did the Pakis expect from Indian crowds, anyway? Ladoos and pedas, do you think? Two differing thoughts occurred to me as I sampled Pak media reports: One, why even play against a country which is so utterly immature -- and I am basing that on those incredibly childlike reports I read in Pak's leading dailies. Second, should India decide to continue playing Pak, then do them this favour: After getting rid of all negative players like Azhar, go to Pak and... for once, resoundingly beat them in their face, on their turf, before their "pleasant and sporting" crowds, and facing their "fair and just" umpires.
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 4:30 AM
You are absolutely right. It is clear that these are coming out of frustration, but the way they have taken upon A V Jayaprakash and the Delhi spectators is outrageous. The only thing they haven't said was India played with 12 players including Jayaprakash! They have said everything else and accused him. They have crossed the limits in saying that something must have transpired during lunch on the fourth day between the umpires and the players that prompted Kumble to bowl from the end where Jayaprakash was officiating. They nearly called Indians "cheats." We can discuss, argue and explain the difficulties with umpiring, human errors etc, but truly, it appears that they are really finding excuses and just want to brag about it. Consistently they have mentioned about the umpiring verdicts against Pakistan while they do not mention anything about India's sufferings in that end. They have even mentioned that A V Jayaprakash earned a lot of bad press for giving Tendulkar, the lbw verdict, and that is why he gave a bunch of Pak players lbw. And they've also wondered how the BCCI picked an umpire who is not even qualified to officiate in a club match. That is really ridiculous. They have shown enough animosity against this guy, and badmouthed him to skies. If you cannot take a defeat in sports, then why play at all? Practically speaking, Bal Thackeray may have been right in not wanting this kind of stuff, even though in principles he was not right in what he was saying. I also read a report after the match was over at Delhi, Ijaz Ahmad gave hell to press reporters in the presence of Miandad and Akram. Please do write in Rediff if you have any inside information on what came out during this meeting. These things have to come open. You are quite right about Sachin's omission for the Asian Test Cup. I totally agree with that. He needs to be rested. It also gives an opportunity for the remaining Indian batsmen to come good without the Tendulkar effect. His omission from these games will not be a loss to India, but will be a gain for the important one. It might be better for India to even drop Srinath for this contest, in order to conserve his energy for the big one and keep him fit. Will the selectors do this? Venkat Venkataramanan
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 3:27 AM
A cynic that I am, I wonder if the score of 1-1 in the recent Indo-Pak Test series wasn't a little too perfect. I do concede we had brilliant individual performances -- Saqlain throughout, Afridi, Sachin, Ramesh, Saurav abd of course Kumble. But I do hope this 1-1 score was decided purely on the ground than in some back-office. After all the stakes have been and are a bit too high for anyone's comfort and a score that is any different would have consequences on either side of the border -- so I do hope this was not scripted elsewhere. The information concerning match-fixing etc and especially involving people from the subcontinent sometimes makes one lose faith in the results. Still, it was an enjoyable series and I do share your view: Let Sachin rest. Venkat S Mantha
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 9:45 AM
The article on Sachin and the Indian team selection will help in waking up our selectors. As you had rightly pointed out, there is every chance that Sachin will have to sit out the World Cup if he is not rested/treated adequately now. We hope the present physiotherapist will not become a copy cat of Irani and become an overnight celebrity. Your example of South Africa paying Allan Donald for not playing is very apt. Also our neighbour and current world champions Sri Lanka also rested their key players Jayasurya, Silva, Muralidharan etc. Your free-flowing & exciting way of presentation will certainly be an enigma to other writers in cricket. Your love for cricket is amply reflected in the first half of your name. We hope to read a lot more of your creations. I am ending saying Yeh dil maange more. P H Santhosh
Date: Monday, February 08, 1999 8:31 PM
It's been some nice reporting by Prem Panicker, but you know, sometimes he really drags it, though. Anyway, my point here is that as soon as I got the Indian victory news, I immediately opened up Pakistan's Dawn newspaper online, and was met with the type of biased reporting that I was expecting to read. I believe, there was no partiality shown by the umpires.
Date: Monday, February 08, 1999 7:37 PM
We invariably win at home on turning tracks where Kumble is usually in his element. Take him abroad, he is very much an average bowler and India lose to the likes of even New Zealand and Zimbabwe. We need to prepare truer wickets at home to be a competitive outfit both at home and abroad. Our real test will come then. I would be very surprised if we do not get thumped later in the year in Australia. Sriram
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 2:51 AM
Your columns are very enjoyable. Please write a report on the abysmal standard of umpiring in this series so far. Prashanth
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 10:36 AM
No question about it, winning feels good. Much better than losing -- less talk about "should have", "could have", head-shaking. Feels so good that I must write despite failing-laptop-batteries-and-10-minutes-to-catch-the-plane. Even from 20,000 miles away without benefits of any visual material, I can break out into a smile upon reading about Anshuman Gaekwad leaping over the fence and running across the field, or Prasad running up to Srinath and asking him to bowl wide. The last time things felt so good was when India beat, you guessed it -- Pakistan, in the quarter-finals of the 1996 World Cup. But a couple of thoughts, in addition to all the celebration around " Saare jahan se accha, Kumblistan hamara ". In reading all the dispatches of the various ups and downs of the Indian team from afar, I've noticed how quick we are to create the cult of the individual during success and banish the entire team during failure. Many newspaper reports berated the entire team in New Zealand and Madras, and are now singling out Kumble for India's success. I was amused how many people praised Tendulkar and Mongia for the fightback in Madras and conveniently ignored the fact that Venkatesh Prasad was responsible for having created a winnable target for India with his spectacular burst. Likewise, Kumble is definitely the hero for Kotla, but people should not forget Saurav Ganguly or Sadgoppan Ramesh for having made the difference in setting a total that left us with a 90% chance of victory, instead of a 60% chance. So, for once, I'm hoping the media showers praise on the entire team for winning and doesn't just select out one or two individuals. Sunil Gavaskar was right in saying that the Indian bowlers should get much of the credit for their performance in the series. They have been criticised in the past for bowling too short, too wide, too straight, too much top spin, etc.. but they seem to have pulled together and not allowed a relatively rich batting side like Pakistan to cross 300 runs. They seemed well-balanced -- Srinath's pace and Prasad's guile, Kumble's tight spin and Harbhajan's flight.. I think we have the nucleus of a good bowling side. I would hate to see the selectors mess with this -- which they have in the past by selecting/dropping Prasad and Harbhajan. The other interesting thing to note is that barring Azharuddin, the rest of the team is under 30, a good sign for the future. In retrospect, the 1996 tour of England seems to have been a good one for India's team -- we discovered Dravid and Ganguly (and now the batting feels stronger than it has for a while), Srinath and Prasad became a real duet, and Sunil Joshi came through as well. I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet -- for one, we still seem to lack a second opening batsmen. Laxman faced the Pakistan attack 3 times (including his India "A" assignment) and failed to cross 40. He probably will get one more chance in Calcutta but should he fail there, I think we may be going back to the drawing board here. I also think that we need a good #5 bowler -- four bowlers are just not enough for the long haul. Tendulkar and Ganguly seem to fit bowler #6 better than #5. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the #2 opening batsman was also the #5 bowler? May be J P Yadav or Reetinder Singh Sodhi is worth a shot here. Else, I think we're back to promoting Mongia to #2 (or trying to jawbone Ganguly or Dravid to open) to create space for a #7 all-rounder slot. Hopefully someone like an Ajit Agarkar or Sunil Joshi could become a better batsman or Hrishikesh Kanitkar could become a better bowler. I was a little perplexed that the selectors didn't add to the list of 14, given that Sachin Tendulkar may be unfit and could have to be replaced. In those circumstances, a strong second opener could be used, with the option of Laxman dropping to the middle order or someone like Shukla/Kanitkar being given a chance. I agree with your assessment that Ganguly is being wasted at #6, he should come in at #5. Sunil Gavaskar suggested that he could also be a back-up #3 to send in when the team is off to a good start and needs to maintain its momentum. In the long run, Azhar will retire and concede his #5 spot. At that point, the team would have the opportunity to use his slot for a balanced all-rounder. The team would also have another interesting choice -- that of a new captain. My vote would be to have separate captains for the 1-day and Test match teams. Probably Ajay Jadeja for the one day side, and Sachin Tendulkar for Test. Despite his fair-to-poor record, one cannot fault Sachin for being a defensive captain. He attacked consistently, despite having weak bowling line-ups. Anyway, thanks for listening. I have to stop now -- my batteries are failing and I really must board my flight!
Amar Hanspal
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 10:44 AM
Prem and I think alike. I had also been surfing to see the Pakistani coverage of the 2nd Test. My reaction was pretty much the same as Prem's. The only difference being that I had expected them not to take this defeat graciously but to find scapegoats. So it didn't come as a big surprise to me. I am in San Francisco and read your ball by ball update. Two comments about your coverage: First, it is informative. Not only do I get the score but also your opinions, which I like. Second, I wish you used plain, simple words and simple sentence structure so that your writing can be understood quickly. During the match, I had two windows open on my screen one was your coverage and the other was cricket.org's chat line where instant coverage of each ball is available. The value-add of your coverage over the chat line is that you add your opinions and other commentator's views. The chat line is better in the sense that I do not have to wait for the screen to refresh. It gives coverage of EACH ball and gives it much quicker. The window size of your live coverage is quite small. If it can be made a bit bigger it would help, too. Shyam Amlekar
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 4:00 AM
Yeah, Right. Wasim Akram lost the toss after calling "Head"??? The reporter could not think thus far. Shame.
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 6:45 AM
We Indians have paid TOO much attention to Pakis lately. Vajpayee taking the bus to Pakistan, we inviting them to play cricket etc etc. This series, as you wrote, was meant to build bridges of friendship. But, these bridges won't be built until both sides are co-operating. Look what the Paki media wrote. It'll just make things worse when India visits Pakistan next time. Will we die if we don't play Pakistan? We pay too much attention to Pakistanis. They don't deserve 1/4th as much. To be big, you gotta think big and have company with big people who have made it to the top and Pakis ain't one of em. By the way, Kumble didn't take 10 wickets, its all a cover up to boost the Indian morale. :) Congrats to the superb bowler.
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 1:22 AM
This is the second time in a week I find myself having no choice but to email you. Once again you stole the thoughts right out of my mind. After reading the accounts of the Test in the Indian newspaper over the 'Net, I decided to check out what the Pakistani media had to say. I was appalled with what I read on Dawn's web site (www.dawn.com). Any ounce of integrity this Dawn sportswriter must have had disintegrated when he wrote that it was not the Indian team but the crowd, the umpiring and the pitch that caused Pakistan's defeat. I was steaming and wanted to fire off an email to this disgrace of a journalist. I would have loved to engage in a debate with that idiot, but, unfortunately his email address was not available. Admittedly the pitch was awful, but then how did India score 300 odd runs in the second innings? How did a newbie like Ramesh score well in both innings? The simple truth is that India, for a change, truly applied themselves in this Test match. Like you pointed out, the umpiring was blatantly atrocious, but both teams were equal victims. One final point -- the way Kumble was bowling, even if Afridi and Ijaz had gotten the benefit of doubt, it was just a matter of time before they folded. On the other hand, had Saurav Ganguly survived that awful decision in the 1st Test, the final score might have been India: 2 Pakistan: 0. Amar Parikh PS: By the way, Akram and Miandad were so gracious after their Madras victory. Now they lose the second Test and everybody from the pitch to the umpire to the crowds to the BCCI is to blame. Indians showed a complete lack of application in their Madras loss, but at least they accepted defeat gracefully.
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 3:19 AM
We here in US of A relished the Test series. Had fun looking at what Kumble did to the Paki's second innings. After the first Test, we all "Hindu" guys were proud of the Madras people for being game enough to cheer the Paki team on their victory lap. But does Paki's feel proud of it? I don't think so. Today I went through Paki newspapers which had the most 'moronic' remarks similar to that you disclosed in your article. We opposed Bal Thackeray so bitterly to play this 'friendship' series. Well, after reading the Paki media crap, we are forced to think whether the obnoxious Thackeray was indeed right!!! Anoop
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 3:47 AM
Good that you brought it up, but I am surprised at your surprise. The Indian team receives hostile treatment in Pakistan -- nothing you write will change that. May be we should also give hostile treatment to the Pakistanis? Why do we not reciprocate their treatment? Many Indians cheer a Pakistani team -- until they see/hear how much the Pakistanis hate us. A friend of mine was cured of the affliction (i e cheering for the Pakistani team) when he watched an India ODI live in a Chicago restaurant -- hearing what the Pakistanis present said completely cured him of this illness. Treat others as they treat you. We Indians lack a killer instinct, and part of it comes from wanting to treat others well regardless of their treatment of us. Anup
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 11:03 AM
Your column is one of the most analytical and informative of all the sports writers I have come across. It makes interesting reading and is different from others. Your commentary in the 2nd Test was very interesting as well. Good luck. Jamini
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 5:07 AM
My name is Junaid Siddiqui, and I live in California. Originally from Pakistan, I am a keen follower of cricket. An Indian friend of mine told me about Rediff a couple of weeks ago, and I have been following your articles and comments with a lot of interest since then. I definitely enjoy them, and I believe you do a great job in presenting all the facts, fictions and stories. Indeed Rediff is fortunate to have a cricket journalist of your calibre who is so thorough. I am writing this letter in reference to "Rest Sachin", and I fully agree that it is in the best interest of Indian cricket to rest him. And as you stated, South Africa did a great job with Allan Donald in this regard. But what really caught my attention in your article were your comments and observation about the Pakistani press. Like you, I also spent some time reading different viewpoints: Indian, Pakistani, even British and Australian newspaper. I do agree that your observations about the Pakistani press were reasonably correct: that poor umpiring, hostile crowds, and other things were mentioned, and not only mentioned, but also explored in great detail. However, I must say that the emphasis was not on BIASED umpiring, but POOR umpiring. In other words, most of the Pakistani people believe that it wasn't fair to appoint a rookie umpire with just one Test experience to handle a pressure match like this. As you have noted a few times yourself, bad decisions by an inexperienced, local umpire definitely open doors for further, warranted and unwarranted criticism. Furthermore, the Pakistani press was very appreciative of the Madras crowd, and I guess the one big reason they termed Kotla's crowd hostile was due to its insensitive behaviour towards Inzamam. Personally, I fully agree with you that this series should go a long way in building the much-needed bridge of friendship between the two countries. I also believe that both the Pakistani and the Indian press should show more maturity in their reporting for the sake of long-term friendship between the two countries, a balance that you seem to maintain with the utmost ease. Keep up the good work. All the best. Junaid Siddiqui
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 7:13 AM
I was pleasantly surprised to know that you read those preposterously biased reports that appeared on the Pak media. I browse through the Pak media all the time just to get a feel on what is being reported there not only on cricket but also on political matters. You should see some of the letters they publish in their reader response column. It's laughable to see those people criticise India on secularism, democracy and what not. Anyway that's besides the point and I'll just stick to the cricket of it all. It's ridiculous on their part to paint this Test as a contrived result, thanks to the connivance of the "local guy Jayaprakash". Publications like Dawn went to absurd lengths suggesting that the post lunch session saw a dramatic change in Kumble's fortunes because he changed ends where Umpire Jayaprakash was officiating. They go on to say that he ( Kumble) was the same bowler who got trashed by both Saeed Anwar and Afridi but suddenly got into a wicket taking spree thanks to the dubious decisions by the "local" umpire (you'll find the usage "local umpire" in many places throughout their reports). They go even further to accuse that Jayaprakash is a lousy umpire who not only is unworthy of officiating a Test, but should not even be considered for club matches. Sachin Tendulkar, they said, was not given out in the second innings after the Indian media severely criticised the umpire for the LBW decision he gave in Sachin's first knock!! Imagine, this is one of the most reputed newspapers in Pakistan!!! Did you see their match report after the first match? Bad umpiring merited just a passing mention because after all Pakistan won that match. Suddenly umpiring errors were termed as equal on both sides. The spirit of the Madras crowd when they stood up to appreciate Pakistan after their fluke victory is unthinkable from the Pak spectators even in a neutral (?!?) venue like Sharjah. One can imagine what the Pak media would have said had that match been lost by Pakistan. Anyone who saw the match on television or read the live commentary on the Internet can tell the quality of Steve Dunne's umpiring in the first Test or even Steve Bucknor for that matter in the second Test. How conveniently they forgot that key players like Tendulkar (once each in both Tests) and Ganguly got dubious decisions going against them. The Paks sure are champion cricketers with nerves of steel but in the same breath one has to add that they are darned lousy losers too. One doesn't have to grow another brain to be able to tell that the complexion of the Pak second innings in the post lunch session reversed after our magnanimous captain had a change of heart and went back on his initial resolve to present yet another match to Pakistan on a silver platter. Their media also reported Salim Malik as saying that this was the worst pitch he has seen in his entire career. Which may be true but I wonder why was he silent about the Madras pitch or the famous Bangalore pitch where Pak won their last Test match ages back? Does that mean that as long as you win it's OK? What a bunch of weenies! It was also reported that Ijaz Ahmad got into an altercation with a journalist but the media was quick to justify it as his frustration on being at the receiving end of a dubious decision!! There simply wasn't a way Pak could have avoided defeat, with so many runs to get and so much time to ward off. Certainly not on a strip where even my grandma can turn the ball square from day two! The Pak players, media and big mouth Rameez Raja would be better off realising that they were mauled in this Test match and the first Test win was just a fluke thanks to the fatalistic attitude by India. Recently I saw a tape of the first match of the Sahara Cup 1998, where Rameez Raja in his commentary was saying things like Agarkar must be terribly nervous and it is not easy for a budding player to play against a top team like Pakistan. In the same breath he was praising another budding player Mohammad Zahid. Does he mean that any Pak rookie can do well against the other teams but not the other way? This "great" team of his got a mauling in the previous Sahara Cup where far lesser mortals like Mohanty and Harvinder ran through their "awe inspiring" batting line-up time and again. But the saddest part is our own Harsha Bhogle in a true to a typically Indian attitude of sniveling was singing a poesy of praise on Ijaz, Inzamam, Miandad and even Zahid to a mightier-than-thou Rameez Raja! I just can't understand why people like Harsha Bhogle should get into this brown-nosing business just to please his fellow commentator who is under the pretence that he and his countrymen are doing a favour playing against India. When are we going to shed this servile mentality? Rameez in his recent two-part interview to Prem Panicker has virtually written off the Indian team as a bunch of hyped up players with the exception of Tendulkar, Dravid and Srinath. He pooh-poohed Kumble as a non-spinner effective only on crumbling wickets. The very next day we saw him take 5 wickets. Agreed it was a crumbling wicket in Madras but I doubt he got any of those wickets by virtue of turn. Anyone who has seen Kumble bowl knows that he is more lethal on bouncy tracks suitable for seamers. The amount of bounce he could generate even from placid tracks of Culcutta or Kanpur could put a fast bowler to shame. After reading that interview it was heartening to see the supposedly ne'er-do-wells like Kumble, Ganguly, Prasad, Mongia etc make it big against the Paks. Today the whole world says Sachin Tendulkar is the world's best batsman because Lara proved time and again that he is a flash in the pan. It began looking ridiculous to back Lara as being the best and the wise men had no option but to accept the reality. Being an Indian doesn't help much these days. And that has got to do a lot with the attitude that we have. I am not saying that we should also be biased as the Pak media but at least let's put the Paks or for that matter any side in their right place. I salute Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri for not being in awe and grovelling in their commentary. Unfortunately they are the only ones who don't give or take bullshit. Congratulations for reporting what you saw on the Pak media. Let people read their reports and see for themselves as to how biased and mono-manic they are in their views. Kiran Nair
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 1:47 PM
Your article was very good. I fully agree that a player like Sachin should be rested to preserve him for the future, more so when the World Cup is fast approaching. He should be given rest until he is fully fit and then come back. Regarding the later portion in the article, it is really funny that the Pakistani writer had mentioned that the coin had head on both sides. Probably the writer doesn't know much about normal cricketing practice. People should be able to take the outcome of an India-Pakistan match very sportively, and one team is always going to be on the loosing side. The Madras crowd like in the past has always seen cricket as a game. One should remember the way Saeed Anwar was a given standing ovation when he scored 194 runs in an ODI surpassing Viv Richards. This was just yet another example. V Krishna Kumar
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