Letter of the Day

It was almost a decade ago that a young gun from Kolkatta was part of the Indian team to Audtralia. In the shadows of bigger reputation like Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Manjrekar and the emerging maestro Tendulkar, this young gun had not much to do on the tour. Given the 12th man duties, the miffed youngster was allegged to have commented "I am not here to become a waiter".

A decade later the, now not so, young gun is the captain of India. On December 3rd, when three players made their debut, their India cap was given to them uncermoniously in the sponsors kit bag and left outside their hotel room. Just a month back, another Indian hopeful Virender Sehwag had been "presented" his India cap in front of the camera and the captain had noted "We should make this a formal process".

Fast forward a month and the "tradition" has been literally shown the door. Well if the captain was not happy with the team selected, voice your concerns/unhappiness but do not "DENIGRATE THE INDIAN CAP". Such an act only shows the strong streak of arrogance which the Indian captain has been criticised for in the past. What was the mistake of Siddiqui, Bangar and Youhanan that the captain did not deem fit to accord them even a semblance of warmth and make them fell part of the Indian team. Pray that one of the three does India proud in the second innings and make the Indian captain regret this unthoughtful act of his.

The selectors and the Board should send a strong message to the captain "The game and the team is far bigger than personal egos". Time Mr. Ganguly (as also the meek, Mr. Wright) should realise that traditions are not built on a one-off photo-op but over time and by respecting individuals.

Anoop Bhaskar