The current tour to Sri Lanka has been an eye-opener for the much talked-about and commercially over-endorsed Indian cricket team.
Needless to say, their current assignment has thrown up more questions than answers. Like their total allergy towards the spinning M&M duo – Murali and Mendis – coupled with the lethargy and inability of the middle order to prop up the team’s fortunes.
One thing is for certain, the current Indian Test team has reached the finish line as far as the longevity and temperament of their veterans are concerned.
Needless to say if a major overhaul is not conducted fast, whatever the outcome with a view to keeping an eye on the future, the seniors are going to become a liability. Being rendered as a liability means losing the respect of the team.
In professional sport, especially team sport, there is no place for a slow camel. Accountability and application are the key ingredients and in this sphere too the veterans have lost the plot.
Nothing personal, the Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Tendulkar and Kumble quintet have delighted their fans and the world of cricket time and again.
They have orchestrated a revolution of sorts in the game in India and this is why it is so important for them not to throw away the glories of the past at the altar of mediocrity.
It would take courage for them to put up their hands and say: “I declare”, but in the long run, this gesture would be analysed as one taken in the interests of Indian cricket and more importantly with a view towards safeguarding the future of the game in India. At this moment almost all of them look painfully human and geriatric on a given day.
Several young and talented cricketers are queuing up at the entrance gates of the Indian cricket team. How, long would we deny them of their rightful place? Or are they only going to get a game because a senior has been injured? Sure a few of them would fail in the initial stages, but if the selectors stick with them as long as they have stuck with the veterans, the world would be at their feet some day.
It’s a sad day for anybody to come out and beg these icons to take a long hard look in the mirror. But somewhere in the passage of time between playing for India and growing old, these legends have forgotten that time waits for no one. Time to get out.
