I love Cricket but
could not digest the speech of lamentation attacking his own Nation and the
once famous players ~ coming as it did from a person who once made 400* in a
Test; 501* in a First class match. In
all he made 11953 test runs in 131 matches and 10405 runs in One dayers !!
Nawanagar was an Indian princely state in the region of
Kathiawar, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by
the Jadeja dynasty until 1948 when it became a part of newly formed India. The
district is now known as Jamnagar. Its rulers were the mighty Hindu
Rajputs. From here came the famous cricketer and ruler - Jam Saheb
Ranjitsinhji after whom the premier Cricket tournament is named. There is
another domestic tournament – the Duleep Trophy, earlier a prestigious one
played between teams representing geographical zones of India [ 5 :
South; North; West; East and Central]. Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji
of Nawanagar (also known as "Duleep") – for long was the platform for
National selection. The competition was started by the Board of
Control for Cricket in India in the 1961–62 season. The inaugural tournament
was won by West Zone who defeated South Zone in the final by 10 wickets.
Remember seeing that 4 day match in Dec 1975 at Chepauk ~
Duleep Trophy finals whence South Zone beat North by 37 runs. South opened with Roger Binny and
Krishnaswami, followed by Dalvi, Gundappa Viswanath, Brijesh Patel (scored
105), sudhakar Rao, Abid ali, Krimani, Captain S Venkatraghavan, Erapalli
Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar. – made 390.
Rajinder Goel had figures of 52.2-20-98-7. The formidable North impressive lineup read:
Chetan Chauhan, Venkat Sunderam, Surinder Amarnath(122),H Gidwani, Mohinder
Amarnath, Vinay Lamba, S Madanlal, Rajiv Shukla, Goel, Capt BS Bedi &
keeper Inderjit Singh. NZ made 291.
Chandra took 5 for 70. In the 2nd
South were bundled for 134 with Bedi and Goel taking 5 wickets each. Chasing a target
of 234 North could muster only 196. Venkat
took 5 wickets.
From a premier tournament catapulting players to National
honours, Duleep Trophy has gradually steeped towards insignificance. The
2013-14 final was washed out with just a handful of overs bowled because of
incessant rain and a wet outfield. Do you know or follow that the
domestic season starts now in India, thanks to Sourav Ganguly, the head of
BCCI's technical committee, who intervened after the tournament was initially
scrapped.
With India's top players, many of whom would have just
returned from Sri Lanka on Thursday, set to be engaged in a limited-overs
series against Australia starting September 17, the objective of continuing to
trial with the pink ball isn't well-served. In addition, New Zealand A's tour
of India for two four-day games and four one-day games from the third week of
September could further deplete the tournament, given many of the players picked
for the Duleep Trophy could be in contention to feature in the A matches to be
played in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
Sad indeed ! ~ and more saddened reading this piece of Brian
Lara, whose impressive statistics you read in first para. Brian Lara has implored the top sides in world
cricket "to ensure that the integrity of the game is upheld" and
admitted there were times he was "truly embarrassed" by the behaviour
of the West Indies side he represented.
Lara, delivering the MCC Spirt of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at
Lord's, not only called on batsmen to "walk" but suggested the
leading sides had a responsibility to "show the way and lead the way"
in which the game is played. And, despite the outstanding record of the West
Indies sides of the 1980s and early 1990s, Lara felt there were occasions when
the tactics they employed resulted in them "playing the game in a way it
should never, ever be played." In particular, Lara raised the notorious
series against New Zealand in 1980, when Colin Croft shoulder-barged an umpire
and Michael Holding kicked over the stumps in frustration, and two series
(against Pakistan in 1988 and England in 1990) when he suggested West Indies
employed a certain amount of gamesmanship to win at any cost.
"I grew up at a time when West Indies dominated the
world. For 15 years from 1980, the West Indies never lost a Test series. Despite
it being a period when people in the Caribbean were "accustomed to victory
after victory," Lara suggested it was a time he was "not very proud
of". He confessed to being "embarrassed" when a series of
umpiring decisions helped West Indies overcome Pakistan in 1988. In particular,
he felt Viv Richards was fortunate to survive a leg before appeal against Imran
Khan and Jeffrey Dujon fortune to survive an appeal for a catch off Abdul
Qadir. Lara referred to events in the 1990 series against England as
"disturbing" and suggested that seeing his heroes behave in such a
manner was "one of the saddest moments in the world".
"I had never seen groundsmen and officials fight for Man
of the Match. They moved lethargic, slow. If there was a wet spot someone went
off the field, they came back with nothing in their hands, they took their time
to ensure this game was not going to start any time soon. "Eventually, it
started with a couple of hours to go and England still had time. We bowled, in
one hour, seven overs. It was dark and Graham Gooch had to call his troops from
the field and West Indies grabbed a draw. "This is maybe the most
embarrassing moment for me as a young West Indian, watching a West Indies team
time-wasting, playing the game in a way it should never, ever be played. "I
was 12th man. I was very, very guilty. I was running out with laces, a banana,
water, cough tablets, all sorts of things in that last hour. It was truly
embarrassing.
"People talk about the Test series we lost in 1995 as
the time we began to spiral," Lara said. "I felt we started to spiral
years before that when the great players were playing. "And if Pakistan or
England got what they deserved in 1988 and 1990, I feel the West Indies
officials would have taken a different look into what to do to save West Indies
cricket at a time we had senior players who could have guided the younger
players to have ensured we were on the right footing. But that didn't happen."
It is easier to sermonize now and talk badly of one’s own
Nation, which ruled the Cricket World unparalleled for a couple of decade
!! In response, former West Indies fast
bowler Michael Holding has said that he has never been interested in the opinions
stated by Brian Lara. Responding to the criticism of his conduct during West
Indies’ 1980 tour of New Zealand Holding, while speaking at the MCC Spirit of
Cricket Cowdrey lecture said, “I am not interested in whatever Brian Lara says.
Never was, never will be.”
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
6th Sept. 2017.
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