Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Dhoni too could err!

Respected brother,
Sadar Namaskar, hauu!

Aap sidhe raste ko jaa rahe ji, kya bolte!

That is all I can pick from Hyderabad's lovable dialect. I am bemused at this mind's activity, yesterday it told me to get enlightened by what it read of Kashmira ji, today, it appears that after all she too has thrown a stone in the water and waiting it to settle down. With due respect to the story and the beautiful intent of kashmira ji, life does not move like the way we wish it should, it is a plethora of experiences - good, bad and ugly- that we allow ourselves to remain calm or try to achieve calmness on its own is what is advisable yet that would be too meaningless existence, or so the mind tells me now!

I would rather try to set hundred things right if they are wrong in the first place even if I do not get time to set pace to take one good thing further! I may be wrong, man is almost always wrong in what he thinks of life - its situations and happenings around him yet he is in no control of even one event!

For example, I did want to comment on Dhoni's statement of having one team for Tests, ODIs and T20, that he is a genius of a captain is not my statement alone but for all of us to see and visualise. That he could err does matter. If his wishes were granted we would have the same 15 players doing duty over the three formats of the game- a very unwelcome situation given tha nature of the three different forms of the game.

If I do not speak for good of others, i would call myself a coward, yes If I speak to uplift myself or issue statements with hidden agenda for my own sake my own benefit that should be questionable and shoul draw flak!. Every statement in this world is up for grabs, understood, analysed and receive acceptance or rejection. If there is no feed how does the life move on! (I hope Kashmira ji, you are able to see the point!).

Now Dhoni bhaiya, you are the Amitabh bachchan of present Indian cricket- ( Though I had reserved that slot for kapil Dev!) all good results have come your way and you do err in your perception of the game, your exclusion of Praveen Kumar and Ojha instead of some non-performers in the fifth and final game against Lankans robbed India of a possible 5-0 drubbing. You may say India did not want to humiliate its neighbour with that kind of result - I have reservations about such statements, in sports one is not supposed to favour the opponents - it did took away the fizz from the final game before it started. Anyway- you were trying to inculcate few more new comers against your actual thinking that we should have same set of players theory!

I have great regards for Dhoni's leadership- yet he is also human an equally likely to err (though much less frequently!) - as i pointed just now- should we consider it as case of stone throwing into still waters or see it as a constructive effort to further improve his abilities to make the game of cricket more interesting! I think not only should more fit and young players be available for T20 but also only very experienced and seasoned players should play test cricket - the ODI fills the middle layer and a balance of youth and experience should be the key factor - that is speaking ideally!

I have a further suggestion that teams world over should earn points for introducing more and more new players in any format of the game - It is really disgusting to have situations that someone who did not find place in 30 actually ends up as the cricketer of the year- Do I have to name the player! Cricket connoisseurs would know him!

Now for these two T20 games I prefer the following combinations to work on the field to take India and Indians further in this very attractive format - Vurender Sehwag opens with Gambhir, followed up by Yuvraj or Rohit Sharma (to maintian left right combination!), then the captain should come ahead of Suresh Raina follwed by five Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. In the second game he could make space for the new found talent of Ravindra Jadeja in place of Rohit Sharma or maybe even an Ishant Sharma.

I rate India very good or rather best in this format of T20, they had great benefit of playing in IPl to hone their skills sometimes during the same time last year! Dhoni bhaiya there are some strs waiting in the wings and if you choose to stick to same 15 to maintain camaraderie in the team - it is un-understandable, meri to samjh ke bahar ki baat hai. Player rotation alone can unearth new talents. We must decide how many games each top player gets in a year or over one cricketing season! I would say that Sehwag should get 20 ODIs, 10 T20 games and 3 test matches. You can decide for others depending upon their talents and abilities in the field. One should have atleast 5 top fielders in a game of T20 and a minimum of 3 in ODI team and possibly tets team could be selected with fielding as unimportant fro selection. What do you say Mahendra Singjh Dhoni. My top 5 for present game are - Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and yourself (WK has to be agile and alert all the time!).

For sake of completeness I should name some players who are still waiting to be given Indian blue jersey - They are Cheteshwar Pujara, Dhaval Kulkarni, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhsihek Nayar, Swapnil Asnodkar. There exists atelast a pool of around 40 palyers who are capable of finding a place in one or the other format of the game who would be deprived of opportunity if we apy heed to Dhoni's call for one team theory! I throw open this matter for debate!

Brother, I took ample space to talk about Cricket here, more in the light of finding your interest in sports- I earlier thought you did not look beyond your domain but I now realsie that you are far bigger supporter of sports than me - your mention of Cricket, Football (Chelsea love - ishitha my small niece (5 year) in London favours that team for the reason of being in the vicinity of her home!), your Golf love Tennis and even shooting and Olympics! I love that aspect of your life - it goes to prove that besides being Amitabh bachchan you enjoy lot of things as most of us! jay Ho

Abhaya Sharma, India February 25 2009, 9:01 AM IST

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