Sins of omission & Scheduling of Indian team's tour by Prem was good.
But if you are a keen cricket follower, it is very simple to understand that every single Indian tour in the past 15 years has been mis timed & badly planned to say the least.
Any tour to NZ & Australia should ideally star in the second week of Decebber with a few warm up games before the 'Boxer day' first test.
January will be peak summer in Australia & the conditions will be more suitable for us Indians.
Similarly any tour to England must start by mid June. Never the April & May starts that we are used to.Invariably these months are cold & miserable for us Indians. For the English it is start of summer & the Indian team for them is like Christmas come early.
Less siad about carribean & South african tours the better. In fact SA is very similar to Australia & late demeber start to series are favourable.
Let me remind the successful tours of Ajit Wadekar to the Carriben first & England next, started in march-April in carribean & Concluded in June July in England was by far the best schedule we evr had, but I am not sure whether it was by design.
Hey Prem, This is really good article man. These guys have "no heart" in selection as well as in scheduling the match. We all know aus play mind game first and also they set the initial practice match for india. This is happening not only in aus but also in NZ and other countries. Why the committee members cant understand this.. even layman like me can understand... why cant they...? Its not fair. its not sportsmanship.....
Many thanks for this incisive piece Prem. I agree with everything that you wrote except the very last line. For there is a point in your writing this -'cos that's the only way things will change in India. I reckon we should all push for making the BCCI's working transparent and the body itself accountable (to the people? to sponsors?). At the moment it's acting like judge and jury and its members should probably be sacked.
We have observed that the players do not stand up to what wrong is perpetrated by the cricket board (selection, tour itenary, bowler suspect actions)? The kind of support that the players get from the common man all goes waste as the players do not stand up to what si wrong. What is the point in having Tendulkars and Saurav Gangulies and Dravids if they can not fight with the cricket board fro what is right, how can we expect them to fight for every match they play and win. I believe that the more famous and successful a player is the more of a liability he is to the side as he would never stand up for what is right. he would only stand up for his own a career. Do we thus need these famous players, I believe they are a liability.
1. The team management seems to have read Prem Panicker's article and chosen his team (Except Parthiv Patel for Zaheer Khan) for the 2nd warm up (?) game.
2. An easy match, anytime during a tour (Especially on a tour to Australia) does not seem right, at least to me.
3. I agree, like most times, to rest of all that Prem Panicker has to say.
4. Can Prem, since he is in New York, tell us the best way to watch cricket live in USA (Except over internet).
I feel sorry for this entire nation. Such articles can be written of almost all organizations that exists in this country, the BCCI being just one of them. Your final sentence sums up the exasperation that i share with you, "No heart to appeal, no butt to kick"
Prem's article is bang on target. But then as he himself said, whats the point? I for one show my contempt for all the babus of our bureaucracy by visually expressing my disgust whenever I see one. Prem, just a thought- why dont you send this article to the Indian Express. I am sure they can rake a storm or something. Anyway, thanks for make my blood boil so early in the weekend.
