> Putting India first!

The most disappointing trend that modern day sports is witnessing is the absence of the respect for representing your country. This is not a new phenomenon, i believe its been something thats been happening quite regularly for past few years. Even worse its spreading.


Some days back Sania Mirza makes a statement that she doesn't want to play for the country. One questions is she doing this country a favour by playing? Does she not feel proud represent ones country, a feat that very few actually achieve. You might have as much money as you want but you cannot still represent your country in national colours where it matters. It should be an honour to play for your country and to do well. Participation matters but no sportsman plays for the heck of it, at the international stage winning is the ultimate goal. It should be the ultimate goal. When you represent your country, you cannot give anything but the best.

And unfortunately the problem is compounded when we take up the case of our cricket administration and the players. What i find unacceptable is that one never respects the honour of playing for ones country. Years back Sunny Gavaskar(whom i salute for here is a person who puts national pride and honour first before anything else) pointed out regularly how masons and support staff were wearing India's colours, caps and everything that you earn to represent India. Its a small issue to many, but it should not be. Wearing of national colours should be a matter of pride, hard and something only the best should be able to achieve. People who come on temporary duties cannot be given that honour. When you represent your country, the nation expects nothing but the best from you.

Even more unfortunately thats hardly what the administrators expect. In what started with the contemptible days of Greg Chapell and what has now become ingrained is a lack of respect for the national flag. International assignments were taken for testing grounds, experiments for achieving success at bigger stages which proved to be a holy grail, desired but never achieved. The question to be asked is, are you willing to dilute your country's pride, the expectations of the people in mere experimentations for achieving something in future? I don't think this should ever be the case. You cannot experiment with your country's pride at stake. When you represent the country, when you select the team, the aim has to be to select the best who are capable doing the best. It should never be the question of giving chances and not giving them based on what some might do in future, you can do all the experiments at the domestic level, your true testing ground. But when its a matter of national pride you have to field the winning side. The team has the maximum probability of winning and doing well and one that you can safely say is the best that can represent the nation. It is exactly this that annoyed me when the ill famed "Process" term was coined two years back. There is only one process and that process is to keep winning and fielding the best sides that keep on winning. No process can be a good process which accepts failure. Let me get this straight. Failure is something thats bound to happen. But when it happens when you gave it your best shot, you are doing no disrespect for the country. You gave it everything you have got and someone else came up better for his country. To improve now is process, not when you don't choose the best and then fail on the pretext of the future, that is showing gross disrespect for your country.

Events that happened yesterday at a board room of BCCI selection meet again convince me that nothing has been learned from the past. The people who are being given "chances" haven't earned their chances. They haven't done enough to represent the country. "Team for Future" cannot be at the behest of a bad showing at a grand stage which everyone is looking at. A nations pride is at stake, its always at stake when you compete. Giving and putting the best on the field should be the sole criteria that should matter. There is no doubt that the people who will play are not the best people who can play for India. Even if they win, or worse they lose, what is unacceptable is that the respect and the feeling of honour that playing for your country should come has been devalued. Its time the sportsmen and cricket bodies in particular start giving due respect to the nation. Putting the country first!


(I haven't named any players which is not at all the point of the essay The point is as explained in the conclusion and thats what matters, not the individuals)

Safin,
Awesome post! I agree with you that we need to play the BEST all the time, but we cannot play the youngsters when the experience of the trinity is gone. That is why i believe, the old men should be in the team and the youngsters should fill in their shoes one by one. I would still call it a process, but it needs to take another 2 years time.
Bhajji has played for almost 10 years, still he can't demand the same respect that kumble has earned . Sehwag is in cos others aren't good enough.

We are throwing in the kids against the lions in their den hoping that they will do well. We must remember that these kids need some mentors and sole sachin can't do it!

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Agnel's Signature:

^^ The point is again not who plays or not. The point is whoever plays has to be the best available to win. Thats what matters and thats not the case.

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Safin's Signature:

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw

The best available to win can't work for too long. They can't last for too long as we wish . The biggest problem is, no body apart from yuvraj, pathan has shown that HE would be around for another decade. There are sparks of brilliance, but way too many failures. When dada and wall came on to the scene, we all felt and knew THEY were the future. But now? I really can't predict even a handful of guys who might be in this indian team for another 10 years apart from one guy. Ajit agarkar. j/k. No offense meant to anyone, but this guy was such a big talent wasted.

Again, my point is, I agree we need to fill in the team with young blood, but it should be done slowly. I still believe in the process thing, but it has to be done properly. Many are still looking at the 20-20 success, but reality of 50-50 might strike really hard pretty soon. I just hope we scrape thru.

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Agnel's Signature:

Like Australians.....Indians aren't so loyal for their Country.
Look at Australian team.....if Ponting doesnt performs....somebody from the Team performs....
You would have seen the attitude on their 4th innnings...they could have easily played it slow & win it for them...but instead they go head on...
Ponting, hayden all gone, but Bowlers kicked our A$$e$...so dats what is needed from our team to...the spirit to perform.

What we saw @ 20-20 was all the adrenaline of the young guns......they excited bcos there was no senior player to mentor them & they can do what they want...like us.....IF our boss is not there.....we do-it-our-way.....

Sachin/Dravid/Dada cannot be replaced.....but there also was lack of motivation for country. If it was there, then Sachin wouldn't have got out early on each n every FINAL match.

Its a debatable topic....it can go long n long.....

Sachin is no doubt a failure when the team really needs him to hang in there. There is also no doubt that he has also contributed to several victories.
But we need to fill in the motivation using a syringe and not using hose pipes

In the australian team, if somebody doesn't perform, before he is dropped, he is told that he will be, so he can eitehr announce his retirement or get dropped.

1. mark waugh
2. steve waugh
3. damien martyn

all there were informed prior to announcing their retirment.
I would have been happier if Dada and dravid were given the same respect. But yes, that was test cricket. What we are discussing is ODI.
I really doubt if dada and dravid would hang around for a while, I somewhat believe this is their last year in International cricket.

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Agnel's Signature:

^ add Michael Bevan and Jason gillespie to that list.

I am glad you came up with this topic Safin. I certainly didn't show any sympathy to Sania mirza when she was caught in the controversy last week. I don't know if her gestures did any damage to the national pride, as the photo was inconclusive. But i was certainly disappointed with the way she handled the it. Rather than giving explaination and getting away from the controversy she tried to blackmail by claiming she would never play for the country. She is a national icon for many(i am not one of them though) and she has to understand, lot of youngsters look up to her. What was even more disappointing was that Mahesh Bhupathi too was cropping up this non-sense. Perhaps he forgot not so long ago she had ditched him to play with Laender paes

I think her reaction was appropriate. There is only so much nonsense a person should take. After that it is time to back out. Just soldiering on doesn't help the situation change. And that is what the country needs.
In this case, maybe Ganguly and Dravid should announce their immediate retirements. I mean, they would probably retire soon enough. If they announce it now, I guarantee you the stupid BCCI/Selectors will be forced to change. And that is what Indian cricket needs.