Anointed Parrots

Its kind of funny to see how these player interviews and opinions are becoming too drawling and monotonous. A few years back, I remember us queueing in front of the TV, when a Kapil Dev or a Sachin Tendulkar used to come on TV for interviews. But today. one gets to hear the same thing after every match from almost everyone. You can hear Rahul Dravid - with all due respect - explain how well the boys played as a unit, and how brilliantly matchwinners like Dhoni, Raina and Pathan performed. And invariably, it would be followed up with a query on the poor form of a couple of greats, to which you would hear that they have won India many matches in the past and Team India believed in them.

I am a great fan of Rahul Dravid, both as a player and as a captain. Very few have contributed so much to the progress of Indian cricket. He is perhaps the best player India has to offer when playing on foreign pitches, because he handles the short ball very well. One can often see Rahul, all of that steely determination we associate him with, ducking with ease under a Brett Lee bouncer. But as a captain, when you are faced with bouncers from the media, you are expected to hook the odd ball for a boundary, instead of ducking underneath every single one of them.

Every cricket follower in India, with the exception of a few former cricketers who need to comment to earn their bread, realises that the amount of cricket played these days is too much for any player to handle, no matter how fit he is. But try questioning Rahul on player burnout, the reply would always be a diplomatic 'Yeah. Its like that nowadays and our job is to play and win every match'. Agreed, his job is to win every match, but playing in worthless tournaments throughout the year can really take a toll on players' fitness level, during a tournament like the World Cup. Secondly, Saurav Ganguly was one of the finest one day player, the country has ever produced. It was for everyone to see that his form was deserting him, and he did himself no good by blurting out after his painful century against Zimbabwe, but still the way he was handled by the board, leaves a lot to be desired. He was sacked ignonimously, brought back into the Test team, then for no apparent fault of his, was sacked again. Question Rahul on this one, and the answer would be as diplomatic as his previous one, if not more.

A couple of days back, the vice captain of the Indian cricket team Virender Sehwag, when queried by the media, said that there is too much cricket played and that the players needed a break, and then he went on record saying that the team missed the relinquished Saurav Ganguly. A day later, he gets a warning from the BCCI stating that as a player, he cannot put forward his comments on another player. And Sehwag is not the first to be pulled up. Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh have faced warnings earlier. What is wrong in supporting a captain who had groomed you and invigorated your careers? To make it worse, as per the BCCI, even taking the name of the former captain is taboo, and if you happen to praise him by mistake, then one should be ready to face the music.

All in a democratic country, known for its freedom of speech. If only we had it our way, in a country of free speech, there would be no phone bills :)........