Letter of the Day

Jagmohan Dalmiya's summons to John Wright for a face-to-face in the aftermath of the South Africa series is worrying. If it is simply to touch base about India's continued failure to perform abroad, then it is one thing. However, taken in conjunction with the fact that Dalmiya recently announced -- almost threatened -- that the coach and physio will be held "accountable" for the team's performance, one fears that this may be the first step in Wright's scapegoating and ouster. Nothing could be worse for Indian cricket.

The fact of the matter is two-fold:

1. India are not a great touring team; this has to do with many factors and cannot be changed overnight. Some of those factors have to do with conditions that Indian players grow up on at home, not something that Wright has any control over. Others have to do with the lack of application of the senior Indian players themselves. It would be nice to think that Wright can single-handedly turn the Indians into committed cricketers overnight, but the fact remains that that is a long-term challenge. Yet other factors have to do with the whims of selection, such as sending 5 pace bowlers to South Africa when their weakness is against spin (and with 2 of those 5 still not at full fitness).

2. In spite of this, the fact remains that India's performances abroad have been significantly better over the last year than they were before. Zimbabwe ended in disappointment because of one morning of batting horror, something that the Indians specialise in. I think India actually gave an extremely spirited performance in Sri Lanka: losing 2-1 to one of the best teams in the world is hardly a disgrace. And even India's insipid performance in South Africa, against a much better team, had many more silver linings that previous tours to Australia and South Africa.

True, miracles haven't happened overnight. But Wright has been instrumental, in his mild and under-stated way, of turning this team into one that at least fights through a series from one that would hang up its gloves in the first session of an away tour and simply go through the motions from then on. Most important, unlike previous managers, he has stayed away from controversy, and is beginning to do that most difficult of things, which is build a team out of a bunch of talented but wayward superstars. That is not something that happens overnight.

Rather than point fingers at Wright for the sake of pointing fingers at someone, the BCCI would do well to confirm Wright's appointment at least until the 2003 World Cup, and _then_ have all the cosy chats it wants with him. Meanwhile, Dalmiya would also do well to indicate that India's senior batsmen will be held as accountable for playing badly as the scapegoated manager.

Kaushik Sunder Rajan

- 4th Dec