Hi guys, i am forty four years old and has been following indian cricket since the age of 9. My first exposure to cricket and cricket commentary was the india's tour to west indies in 1971. Since then the indian story is same! Snatching defeat from jaws of victory! Also the team is plagued with lots of bad luck - Plenty of times bad umpiring,(Sachin in Australia in 1999, Indian Team chasing 436 in 1979 at the oval) interpretation of rules - awarding joint cup in the champions trophy twice with srilanka, one can go on and on! The fact of the matter is that this is a team comprising of many languages, many states with diverse background and it is going to take a hell of an effort to jell as one. The experts who are waxing eloguent and advising have themselves been guilty of the rash shots and fishing out side the off stump! one can see the wonderful display of bowling of bishen bedi, batting of Mr.Gavaskar / Manjrekar / Sidhu! Mr. Sidhu thinks he is great with his sidhuical nonsense, but where was his committment when he walked mid way throught the tour of England? The blessing in disguise was the advent of Ganguly and Rahul who could get a place in the team because of the void created by MR. Siddhu! Guys, the indian team will be always temperamental, and would do exactly opposite of the conventional wisdom and will embarrass the pundits when they root for it as well as when they write it off!
Finally a word for the brothers mark and steve waugh and the western media! They claim they are very down to earth and they are more of a team player and indians are individualistic! fine Thats the way indians are genetically built! Also waugh brothers have problem when Ganguly and co dont carry their bags and have porters / bellhops carry them! So what? They also complain indians are poor travellers and cant adjust to alien conditions! Poor mate, its you and your buch of aussies who crib about food (Shane warne carrid cartosn of baked beans and bread on tours to india)and the pitch when you sorely lose on indian soils! You will find indians settled in every nook and corner of the world, what about the aussies? The point i am trying to make is that when i dont fall in line with aussie / western way of thinking / playing cricket, i am a poor cricketer, if i cant play on fast track of perth i dont know my cricket, but if i am bamboozled by the harbhajan doosra on the chennai / calcutta pitch - the pitch is doctored to indian conditions / harbhajan's hand is bending more than warranted! come on guys, give the team a break! The guys will bounce back! Actually the selectors who havent wielded the bat in their life ( sharad pawar, dr nerurkar, amin, nanavati) are the guys who must be sacked forthwith and only cricketers with atleast 25 test match and 50 odi experience should be put in!
