Where's your crown King Nothing.
And it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around
Just want one thing
Just to play thing king
But the castle crumbled
And you're left with just a name
Where's your crown?
King Nothing
- Metallica: "Load", 1996
Circa 2005.
That's practically the ode the Indian selectors would have scripted had they decided to pen one. Say hello to the world of Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. His throne seized, his kingdom revamped and his subjects who hailed him, now singing the praise of a "Wall". Reams and reams of newsprint and bytes, megabytes and gigabytes of webspace have been dedicated to the ouster of "the Maharaja" of Indian cricket. A story that has hogged the headlines for the fortnight gone by and at least for the fortnight to come. Too much noise made I would say given that all thats happened is that a man (although high-profile and always in the limelight) lost his job.
I think its just the way things are made out to be rather than how they actually are (rather how they actually should be made out to be) that has caused this entire uproar. Would like to state upfront that I am one of the most ardent admirers of this man's magical touch when it comes to timing the cricket ball. At the same time I am not exactly one who advocates the "cricketers-on-a-pedestal" kind of picture that is painted of certain cricketers on the Indian cricket scene. Given the current scenario in the world today, cricket is another profession. Its much beyond being just a sport and the players are no longer just sportsmen, they're professionals. So then who's to say that just because he is the most successful captain in Indian cricketing history gives him the liberty of performing poorly in more number of matches than any other cricketer in the team. The bottom line being that, he's just another professional with a job and he has to deliver.
Statistics would indeed reflect that this man did not deserve a place in the ODI squad for sometime coming now. But I guess thanks to the forces that were(They no longer are in now) his stay with the team was extended. It's this basic problem of this larger than the team, larger than cricket, and larger than life aura that the media has created around some of the faces of Indian cricket that has resulted in these non-issues becoming first page headlines when there are definitely other pressing national issues that need coverage. I know I'll probably draw a lot of flak, abuses and a punch in the face the next time a reader meets me, for saying this, but if anyone is not performing, action has to be taken, even if the non-performer happens to be Sachin Tendulkar. A place in the Indian cricket team cannot and must never be taken for granted. You perform, you are in. You fail, you are out. That should be it. Your name/suraname shouldn't guarantee you the visa extension that you get for cricketing tours, your past scores should.
To top the follies of the Board and the System, you have a stateful of crazy supporters who have already in the past shown their level of maturity and respect for the game (Semi-Final of the World-cup,1996, Ind v/s Sri Lanka). These people go to the extent of almost calling for a state bandh in response to this selection decision. If that were done every single time a Bengali working with some MNC or any organisation somewhere in the world was suspended/fired/asked to resign from his job, Bengal would have a yearful of Holidays. A man lost his job 'coz he did not deliver. Its a tough world. People get fired. You work hard and find a new job. Life goes on. Everyone out there is doing (or is at least expected to do) a job. The selectors, the curators, the umpires, the members of the Board, the players have got to do their job. NO ONE is bigger than the sport itself. The sport has produced many a mercurial batsmen and many a legendary bowler. There shall always be names that shall be synonymous with greatness in the game. There shall always be amazing stories that are narrated from the annals of cricket. But NONE greater that the sport itself.
The crown's been taken, But all is not lost. There's a lot of cricket left in the man. 3-4 years at least. And I'm sure Lady Luck will certainly smile upon him. Someone's bound to get injured, fall ill. All he needs to do is have numbers that will back him at that point in time. And I'm sure he'll live up to his moniker of the "Bengal Tiger" once again. He WILL roar his way back into the team. After all, the sport is a great leveller. The levelling wave worked against him this time around, but when the next wave hits the shores of Indian cricket I'm sure the Maharaaja will ride it all the way to the top.
This ones to the great sport of cricket.
Cheers!
P.S.
Just for the statistically inclined, the record of the five batsman of the Indian ODI squad from Jan ' 04 to Dec ' 05
M Runs Avg Highest 100's 50's 0's N.O.'s SR
Saurav 43 1134 28.35 90 0 8 3 3 66.82
Sehwag 53 1515 29.71 108 1 8 3 2 101.13
Sachin 37 1224 34.97 141 2 7 1 2 79.12
Yuvraj 57 1680 35.00 139 4 8 1 9 85.28
Kaif 44 1262 40.71 102* 1 8 1 13 74.90
Decide for yourself.
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around
Just want one thing
Just to play thing king
But the castle crumbled
And you're left with just a name
Where's your crown?
King Nothing
- Metallica: "Load", 1996
Circa 2005.
That's practically the ode the Indian selectors would have scripted had they decided to pen one. Say hello to the world of Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. His throne seized, his kingdom revamped and his subjects who hailed him, now singing the praise of a "Wall". Reams and reams of newsprint and bytes, megabytes and gigabytes of webspace have been dedicated to the ouster of "the Maharaja" of Indian cricket. A story that has hogged the headlines for the fortnight gone by and at least for the fortnight to come. Too much noise made I would say given that all thats happened is that a man (although high-profile and always in the limelight) lost his job.
I think its just the way things are made out to be rather than how they actually are (rather how they actually should be made out to be) that has caused this entire uproar. Would like to state upfront that I am one of the most ardent admirers of this man's magical touch when it comes to timing the cricket ball. At the same time I am not exactly one who advocates the "cricketers-on-a-pedestal" kind of picture that is painted of certain cricketers on the Indian cricket scene. Given the current scenario in the world today, cricket is another profession. Its much beyond being just a sport and the players are no longer just sportsmen, they're professionals. So then who's to say that just because he is the most successful captain in Indian cricketing history gives him the liberty of performing poorly in more number of matches than any other cricketer in the team. The bottom line being that, he's just another professional with a job and he has to deliver.
Statistics would indeed reflect that this man did not deserve a place in the ODI squad for sometime coming now. But I guess thanks to the forces that were(They no longer are in now) his stay with the team was extended. It's this basic problem of this larger than the team, larger than cricket, and larger than life aura that the media has created around some of the faces of Indian cricket that has resulted in these non-issues becoming first page headlines when there are definitely other pressing national issues that need coverage. I know I'll probably draw a lot of flak, abuses and a punch in the face the next time a reader meets me, for saying this, but if anyone is not performing, action has to be taken, even if the non-performer happens to be Sachin Tendulkar. A place in the Indian cricket team cannot and must never be taken for granted. You perform, you are in. You fail, you are out. That should be it. Your name/suraname shouldn't guarantee you the visa extension that you get for cricketing tours, your past scores should.
To top the follies of the Board and the System, you have a stateful of crazy supporters who have already in the past shown their level of maturity and respect for the game (Semi-Final of the World-cup,1996, Ind v/s Sri Lanka). These people go to the extent of almost calling for a state bandh in response to this selection decision. If that were done every single time a Bengali working with some MNC or any organisation somewhere in the world was suspended/fired/asked to resign from his job, Bengal would have a yearful of Holidays. A man lost his job 'coz he did not deliver. Its a tough world. People get fired. You work hard and find a new job. Life goes on. Everyone out there is doing (or is at least expected to do) a job. The selectors, the curators, the umpires, the members of the Board, the players have got to do their job. NO ONE is bigger than the sport itself. The sport has produced many a mercurial batsmen and many a legendary bowler. There shall always be names that shall be synonymous with greatness in the game. There shall always be amazing stories that are narrated from the annals of cricket. But NONE greater that the sport itself.
The crown's been taken, But all is not lost. There's a lot of cricket left in the man. 3-4 years at least. And I'm sure Lady Luck will certainly smile upon him. Someone's bound to get injured, fall ill. All he needs to do is have numbers that will back him at that point in time. And I'm sure he'll live up to his moniker of the "Bengal Tiger" once again. He WILL roar his way back into the team. After all, the sport is a great leveller. The levelling wave worked against him this time around, but when the next wave hits the shores of Indian cricket I'm sure the Maharaaja will ride it all the way to the top.
This ones to the great sport of cricket.
Cheers!
P.S.
Just for the statistically inclined, the record of the five batsman of the Indian ODI squad from Jan ' 04 to Dec ' 05
M Runs Avg Highest 100's 50's 0's N.O.'s SR
Saurav 43 1134 28.35 90 0 8 3 3 66.82
Sehwag 53 1515 29.71 108 1 8 3 2 101.13
Sachin 37 1224 34.97 141 2 7 1 2 79.12
Yuvraj 57 1680 35.00 139 4 8 1 9 85.28
Kaif 44 1262 40.71 102* 1 8 1 13 74.90
Decide for yourself.
posted by Anand at 4:51 AM
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