Does the “We won’t give it back” campaign make sense for the BCCI selectors?

“We won’t give it back”; “We won’t give it back” echoes the Indian cricketing fanatics. This ad campaign created for the Indian WC team has been flashing in various languages across India and the respective cricketing stars sometimes featuring in the regional television channels albeit with grumpy looking faces (e.g. Ashwin in dubbed version of the campaign in tamil channels).

But has this ad campaign been taken seriously by our BCCI? What was running through their minds when they made the WC squad selection? It still baffles me or as a matter of fact many cricket enthusiasts. Ok by cricketing enthusiasts, I mean we are a bunch of people enjoy watching the game on TV screen or live at the stadium and not sitting in the player’s dug out during an IPL match and understanding nothing (no pun intended)

So what were the qualifications/guidelines laid out by them while selecting the squad first up?

Runs scored – Check;

Wickets taken: Check;

Consistent performance (home and abroad) – Check;

Perform when it mattered the most – Check;

With these parameters taken into consideration, BCCI can’t even select a XI for the world cup, forget the probables or a squad. There have been a handful of cricketers who have performed as consistently as they should have. Balls travelled like ‘tracer bullets’ in India/sub-continent pitches whereas most of our batsman came back like ‘tracer bullets’ to the pavilion while batting on foreign soil. Our bowlers were no different and suffered a similar fate. South Africa, New Zealand, Australia have been the peaks that many sub-continent players have tried to scale.

Many foreign players whose average were inching towards 35+ in batting, raced towards 45+ at the end of the series. The Kiwi nation which had not seen any batsman coming even close to Martin Crowe saw their man hitting the nation’s first triple. Ever since that, Brendon McCullum and his family feel indebted to the BCCI for such a gesture (first one being a CSK membership). Australia which was led by a ‘Pup’ initially before its injury in the recently concluded Down Under tour, was later successfully led by a ‘Kitten’ who hit the ‘purplest’ patch of his life which still continued in the ODI triangular series. Dhoni’s bowlers sure understand the meaning of “Athithi Devo Bhava” and they have extended it not just for tourists but while touring also.

Alright let’s not go by guidelines for now. Let’s assume that any player can return to form during the WC, the current crop of Indian players coming back to form is still a probability (not sounding sarcastic now).

What about fitness criteria? Was it ever considered as a parameter/guideline while selecting the squad/probables?

Our current fast bowling department looks like an age old wooden cot. You simply cannot ‘REST’ assure on them. Before the Down Under series, you have Bhuvaneshwar Kumar out due to an injury. Ishant injured his hamstring by the end of 1^st/2^nd test and stayed out for the rest of the series. Umesh Yadav is no more the bowler we saw him during the 2011 series and susceptible to injury too. Mohammed Shami is the only arrow in our quiver that is worth loading on a bow as of now. A late realization has forced Mohit Sharma into the squad. With a Stuart Binny bowling a touch faster than our legendary Anil Kumble, the flood gate of runs are bound to open.

“Yes our fast bowling department is a matter of concern, but we have got a very good spin attack” would be the ideal statement from our selectors. Ashwin has not seen his deliveries turn on the pitch as much as he would want to. Bowling a middle-leg line for most of the time has taken the sting out of his bowling unlike Nathan Lyon who has managed to keep the ball on and around the off-stump no matter even if he got hit. Axar Patel has just taken his baby steps in the international arena and it would be highly unfair to expect him to lead the attack. ‘Sir’ was picked in the squad albeit his injury but unsure of whose insistence. May be the selectors feel his mere presence in the squad would bolster the team’s confidence just like a ‘Sachin’ in the playing XI does (If this is true, it should do a great deal to his morale).

“We have a strong batting line-up which can take apart any attack on their day”. Oh sorry, I did not hear that, come again please. So which day of the week/month/year it is that they would do such a thing. We have a left handed opener who thinks the opposition/ICC has planted 6 off-stumps behind him and tries to protect it.  Except for Kohli, Dhoni, Rahane there is no one batsman who can be relied upon. The ‘workhorse’ tag has ideally fallen onto these three.

 So with only 4 players out of 15 member squad actually in form and fit, will they be able to bring the cup back??

Has this selection become a curious case of Nepotism Vs Reality? (Not just going by the selection of one particular cricketer). Was this the best squad India could put forward? Were the Indian selector’s decisions as serious as the grumpy looking cricketers in the “We won’t give it back” ad?

We hope the Indian team takes the field and not the seats in the MCG stadium during the finals

Just poles apart

I had to admit it ,
Time and again I failed ,
Though I never felt miserable
About the feeling of being loved.

We were born miles apart,
Through wonderful souls on this mother earth
For they gave us everything they had
We were always a twinkle in their eyes

I was destined to meet you oneday
Not that you would sweep me off my feet,
But there was an air of persistence around me,
Of belonging to such a wonderful soul.

I always wished our lives would end up like magnets
Well held and bound to each other.
But I realised that we are two poles of the same direction,
Our fate played a brutus here.

I feel privileged everytime I hold your hand.
Until the day I have to let it go,
For one worthy individual,
who would never repel you like my fate did.

I would neither break down for what my fate does to me,
Nor blame the karma of my past life.
But I know for sure it has definitely done a good thing,
To have allowed you to live an eventful life ahead.

Wherever you may be heading towards
My thoughts would be around you,
Not to cramp you of your peaceful space
Just to enclose you in a protective womb, if it may !

Always wished the best for my loved ones,
I don't do anything else apart from it.
I have seen many of them exit,
Only for a new person to walk in again.

Farewell my dear,

A sight that completes my tryst with yet another loved one in my life !!