Old but Relevant

[Ram]

As I sat thinking about our chances for the Aussie tour, I realized that most of the fans here hoping that players like Sachin, Dravid,Ganguly,Laxman, Kumble wil deliver in what is their last Australian tour. I dont see too many posts that go along the lines of " Yes, Ishant will deliver, Yuvraj will come and score a century". Scene Cut. Rewind to Oct 6, 2007. India had just come off an euphoric maiden 20/20 world cup victory. The main theme of that team seemed to be - Youth all the Way ! All the seniors dropped, new captain, new approach and by jove ! it seemed to work. We won the tournament and covered ourselves with glory. The Aussies came visiting after and had played 3 ODI matches by then and won 2 of them, with one match abandoned. This was when, Dileep Vengsarkar, a man who knows as much cricket as Ramiz Raja knows about Contour Integration, came up with a thunderbolt, when asked about the selection of seniors in the team. "Definitely, the threshold has reduced, no question about it," Vengsarkar said, and went on to add "There are many players like S. Badrinath and Suresh Raina who are performing with the India A side. These guys are waiting for their chance and you cannot ignore them. It's a professional set-up and nobody can take their place for granted," This was the surest sign yet that the selectors were growing a bit impatient with the old brigade and were emboldened by the 20/20 victory. Vengsarkar thought those statements could serve as a warning shot, but it backfired turned to be a case of friendly fire. As it was widely reported then, many of the seniors were unhappy with Vengsarkar. Obviously, they couldnt come out in the open and voice their mind, so they used our manager, Lal Chand Rajput, whose position in the team wasnt a long-term one anyway, to vent their anger. He told the media that the statements from Vengsarkar were badly timed, a rare case of a team manager rebuffing a chief selector, which only goes to confirm he was merely following instructions. Cast your mind a little further to Bangladesh Tour. After a disastrous world cup, it was rumored that BCCI had "ordered" the selection committee to pick a young team for the one-day series. Sachin and Saurav were left out and yet, Dravid, another leading light in the old-brigade was ostensibly selected. This was the BCCI's way of saying to the seniors that their place in the team can no longer be taken for granted. Things looked uncomfortable then. However, the BCCI's moves, intended or totally accidental borne out inherent stupidity, seemed to have had the desired effect. Since the world cup fiasco, its been the "senior citizens" in the team that have been leading the charge. Sachin top-scored in the 3 out of the 4 one day series we played after that, not to mention his exploits in the test arena. Ganguly, who never really performed badly at all, capped off a brilliant with a sublime man of the series performance against Pakistan. Amidst the bowlers, it was Zaheer Khan who stole the show in England, and it was Anil Kumble's turn to do the honors against Pakistan. Now, as we look forward to a tough series against the world's best team, I hear nobody saying the words "Youth" or "Fresh Legs". Contrastingly, the nation's collective hopes seem to be pinned on the seniors delivering in the last leg of their cricketing journey. Anil Kumble is spotted saying "We have quality in the side. We have enough experience of Australian conditions to adjust to them which is a pre-requisite of international cricket. The potential in the side and the players' experience will help," and this time, everyone is seen nodding in silent agreement, including of course, our very own cheap..err.. chief selector. Indeed,the wheel has come a full circle.

[jf1gp_1]

I dont see too many posts that go along the lines of " Yes' date=' Ishant will deliver, [b']Yuvraj will come and score a century".

true but one cheer's for playing XI. Besides how many players actually got a chance to play for India in tests since 1999.