Decision was wise indeed as POWAR, as 12th man had brought a message a couple of times to Sahin indicating about Declaring the Innings.. inspite of that, it lies within the boundaries of the batsmen to finish it off for the welfare of personal records... or he could have accepted the spirit, instead of enraging media towards this issue... But, finally, we would be bold to represent ourselves to mark a victory in Pak Soil.. However, the boys carried the "Frenship Series Cup" !!
Ideally Rahul could have waited for sachin to complete a double ton, but it's not a big deal if he has not done so...after all is sachin wanted it so badly he could have scored briskly....after all he was just a shot away from glory
a reading of your table on declarations by "ruthless" captains clearly seems to make a case for encouraging attainment of personal milestones. almost, in all the tabulated cases, DRAW is what all these captains managed by denying one of their own star performers his share of private glory. hope the DRAVIDS of tomorrow keep this table for ready reference because, at Multan, by no stretch of imagination, could our win be linked to the timing of the declaration.
The issue of rahul's declaration has been blown out of proportions. As far as I can see, one either play for oneself or for the country. On hind sight, we can blame Rahul for not letting Sachin create another record. If on the other hand, if Sachin had got out before he made those 6 runs, would anyone have raised such a hue and cry? In this case, Pakistan crumbled too easily - much unlike themselves and the fighting spirit they are known for. If they had won the game, then we would be slinging mud at Rahul saying he could have declared earlier. The ways of the world are such, that they will raise a finger whatever you may do. I stand by Rahul in this bold decision because he is one who has never ever put himself before the country or team. On innumerable occasions, he has been denied the Man of the Match Award, and he has magnanimously cheered the Awardee, instead of grimacing. Ganguly had also denied Rahul his century against Australia last year, and ultimately the match was drawn. Why can't we take things more lightly?
Keep it up Rahul, you are a sensible captain and a successful one at that!
I think rediff.com publishes only filtered comments and seems to be totally biased in its selection of the comments to be published. This is totally against the concept of allowing free discussions amonst the readers about a particular subject and I say so because I had been folowing the article on most ruthless declarations for days altogether and the comment on this article which I had submitted almost a week ago has gone unnoticed by them even though at the end of my submission I got a response saying it will be published within the next 48 hours. Sorry rediff but I am losing interest in your articles which are full of what the celebrity cricketers do as their routine after a good day on the field such as how Virender Sehwag was standing in the sun with only his towel after his triple ton. Do you think this interests the readers?
Ruthless or not, the end result matters. At the end it is easy to say that Sachin should have been given the opportunity to score a double century. had rahul delayed the declaration and for some reason we not been able to win the test, what would the press have made of that. We have a strong batting line up, the major worry has been the bowling. No one ever expected the Pakistani Batsment to cave in so easily.
Rahul's decision was absolutely correct. In fact if sachin makes a hue and cry about it again, he should be dropped from the team!!!!
I thought it was one of most bold decisions taken by any captain.It was refreshing to see that somebody had the guts and above all the vision to see the team cause.To be fair to Sachin,It was obvious for him to be dissapointed.But,what I'm surprised at is the way he and Ganguly have been behaving.It was outrageous of them and to speak of this decision in public.I thought it was absolutely disgraceful on Tendulkar's and Ganguly's part.I don't care how disheartened he was,that's no way to behave when u are a public figure and are speaking in front of the whole world,that too,about your teammate.This ugly episode could have been avoided if DemiGods of Indian Cricket would have chosen to solve matters in private.
