Having wandered the woods for a while, India finally returns to hut. One must be insane not to enjoy those caressing cover drives or bludgeoning pull shots executed to perfection from this talented south paw. It is only young Raina's misfortune that players like Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambir and MS Dhoni batted slightly above him to steal all the lime light today.
Excuse me for starting on a sarcastic note. Do I have a choice? As a faithful fan, I’ve been preparing myself enthusiastically for the past 4 years to witness India topple England in England and do some serious damage Down Under. But then we all saw what happened. Our players hardly put up a show in what were considered to be milestone tours of Indian Cricket. And now, to watch this Indian Team winning immediately in familiar territory, cause more anger than joy. Though I’m disappointed, I do pity these Indian Players. After all, we curse them for failing badly and then ridicule them even more for success. It is tough to be an Indian Cricketer. But, not tough if you are Ravindra Jadeja.
In the first place, Ravindra Jadeja has the strong backing of the captain to fail umpteen no of times. He does not have to worry about bowling in the power plays. Even if he bowls just as bad as today there will be a part-time bowler like Suresh Raina or Rohit Sharma to do the cover up. Also they can take the heat for not delivering the goods. With respect to batting, he is hardly going to get his chances. Even if he fails, the fault is not his for coming too late in the order. Because he is a sure starter for every match, including the factor called Law of Averages, there is bound to be a success coming his way once in a while (with bat or ball). That should be good excuse for him to fail next ten matches. If at all there is too much resistance to include him in the squad for the next series, he knows he is not out of the team for too long. Even if that don’t work, there would still be an IPL team to pay him Million Dollars. Don't be surprised if he takes guard for India at No.3 in Test Cricket.
So, if God comes in front of me and gives a boon to choose my next life, I don’t want to be Tendulkar, I don’t want to be Kallis, I don’t want to be Donald, I don’t want to be Dravid, but I wish to be RAVINDRA JADEJA.
Once again Match Fixing scandals are popping up. What does it do to cricket fans like us? I cannot answer for everyone, but surely can share my feelings. I've played this sport and I continue to play actively till date with lot of passion. I know how much joy I derive playing cricket, watching cricket, following cricket, discussing cricket, criticizing cricket, writing cricket and more importantly learning something new in cricket every day. Because of somebody somewhere taking money to lose a game, I will not lose my love for the sport. It is just that I will lose the respect for the individuals involved. I think I've mentioned this in one of my earlier articles too. Match fixing is there at the root level. Cleansing should start from there. Match fixing started gaining common man's attention only from the past 15 odd years. If you research the archive, you will be surprised to find not all times Teams on tours won both Test and ODI's despite being invincible.
Bottom line: India beating in-form Sri Lanka is hardly a shock. Again, India winning Asia Cup will seldom throw a surprise. But don’t be astonished, when India beat Pakistan, the game will be called for match fixing.
Dinesh
Cricket Lover
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