“A captain has to be able to motivate his team. He can’t afford to be selfish. With this captain, it is not for the love of the game anymore, it’s for him.” This is what recently retired West Indian wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs had to say about Brian Lara, the skipper he played all his international cricket under. Skirmishes between senior members of a team are not unknown. The most recent example was the tiff between Younis Khan and Inzamam-Ul-Haq. But it more so when a cricketer is at the fag end of his career as people get opportunities to take every possible dig at players they have not shared a very good relation with.
Examine this. West Indies have struggled miserably throughout the late 90’s and of course in the new millennium. Amidst all the chaos, the only saving grace has been a man named Brian Charles Lara. With the help of Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose, Lara helped West Indies through to a few incredible wins in the late 90’s. But ever since the legendary bowling duo retired, Lara has been left all alone in the deep sea. With hardly any support from the other end, he has on occasions single handedly led the team to victory. His knocks during the Australia’s ’99 tour to the West Indian nation were sensational to say the least. The Caribbeans drew the series 2-2 thanks largely to Brian Lara who pulverised the great Aussie attack. On many occasions, his great knocks have gone in vain as the other players could not capitalise on it. There cannot be any better case in point that the tour of Sri Lanka at the start of the new millennium. Brian Lara made a mockery of the Sri Lankan attack, and even forced the great Muttiah Muralitharan to accept that Lara is the toughest batsman to bowl to in world cricket. When a single batsman scores 688 runs in three Tests, you would never expect the team to lose. But that’s the pitiable state of West Indies cricket. They were clean sweeped 3-0 in the series and Brian Lara had nothing to show for his efforts in the form of results. Most of his stupendous knocks in the recent home series’ against South Africa and Pakistan have also been in vain.
And today as Lara is giving the finishing touches to what has been a very flourishing yet somewhat chequered career, we have someone who played all his life under Lara coming out in harsh criticism of the former skipper. Ironically, Jacobs’ comments have come at a time when it looks like Lara is actually at the peak of his career. To score 400 at the age of 35 speaks volumes for the ability and endurance of Brian Lara. It is said that actions speak louder than words. So even if Lara might not have been a great verbal motivator as captain, weren’t his magical innings against the world’s best enough to inspire the team. It has to be agreed given the immense talent the Trinidadian possessed he should have done a lot better. But then how easy is it for an individual to motivate himself when he knows that whatever good he does will be undone by the other 10 guys in the team? At the end of the day, cricket is a team game, and however well an individual does, it will very rarely translate into a match winning performance unless the other members of the team support him. Only of late has Shivnaraine Chanderpaul began to show the consistency that was expected of him all his career. Chris Gayle and the likes are immensely talented but lack the consistency required for this level of cricket. The biggest problem West Indies cricket is facing is the lackalasdial approach of the players. Somewhere the inspiration is lacking. And if playing for the country cannot spur them on, then no captain let alone Lara can turn the fortunes of the team around. It might sound a bit harsh, but give a team like Australia even Lara can deliver almost cent percent results as a captain. The real Test of a captain comes when he has to lead an under strength side. And that’s why Lara’s job has been that much more harder as compared to his other adversaries. Even though now he is not the skipper, West Indies aren’t faring any better under Chanderpaul, a clear indication that a captain is only as good as its team. Jacobs’ outburst thus can only be put down to some personal grudges he must have had against his former skipper. It’s common knowledge that the now retired keeper was shown the door because there were question marks regarding his attitude apart from him being involved in an infamous ‘fake’ stumping incident when he knocked off the bails without the ball in his gloves.
Our own Sachin Tendulkar has also been under fire of late. And again it’s because he’s performing way below par. But while Lara’s form has been a bit wrecked in phases, it has never been the case with Sachin until the dreaded tennis elbow came his way. Before that he even suffered a severe back injury and ever since the master batsman has never been the same free flowing Sachin we saw for a big chunk of the ‘90’s. Sachin, for most part, has played in a team where he was the lone ranger. It was only after the Sourav-Wright duo came together that things began to change in Indian cricket. And along with time, he’s moved on from being a dazzling strokemaker to an accumulator of runs- a change which has not gone down well with many cricket aficionados. But as long as India was winning, nobody bothered too much about it. Now that the team is in doldrums, there are calls from different sections of the cricket fraternity that Sachin is not a match winner.
In today’s context, it may be true that the ‘Bombay Bomber’ is not the same force he once used to be in international cricket. But then why blame him majorly for India’s pathetic showing of late. No one is bigger than this great game and Sachin too knows it, but there are others too who have to be equally liable for the team’s dismal results in the last season. It seems like Sachin may never be back to his best as Greg Chappel said. If that’s the case, why not let him settle in the team as a senior player. Sachin has been a match winner all his life, and the time has come for someone else to take over the mantle. For Sachin himself, he has first to comeback after being fully fit and decide as to what role he has to play in the team. Players like Sachin and Lara are born once in a generation and the respective teams cannot afford to let them go without getting the best out of them. It’s strange but true that most great players (especially from India) played in really weak teams throughout their career. Probably this is what forces people more than anything else into making statements criticising the great player when he is not performing. But then is this the right thing to do?.
The sad part is that this mud slinging is not new in cricket. Even greats like Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad were subject to such denigration. Anybody who knows anything about cricket will agree that here are two great cricketers who did yeoman service for their countries and least deserved any such kind of treatment. Everyone is aware that the legendary Kapil Dev stretched his career by a few matches to break envious record of the great Sir. Richard Hadlee. And there were talks all around that Kapil was playing only for personal milestones at that point. He’s the same man who bowled with an injured leg in a Test match in Melboune 1981 and helped India win the game by picking up five scalps. He was highly ineffective at the end of his career no doubt. But even those few extra wickets that he picked, were for ‘Team India’ apart from adding to his own crowning glory.
Very few cricketers quit when they are on the top of their game. Even the great Sir Donald Bradman had a rare failure when he was out for a second ball duck to Eric Hollies in his farewell Test. The fact that Sir Don Bradman did not achieve the magical average of 100 is a remembrance for generations to come that no one in this game can achieve perfection. The current Indian coach Greg Chappell was one of the rare exceptions who ended his career in the best possible way- with a ton in his final Test. When a player is towards the last stages of his career, it is but natural that he won’t be as consistent as in his heyday. It doesn’t mean coming out with your personal grudges against a soon to be retired cricketer. There are some cricketers who really struggle during their last few days. And if they still aren’t willing to go, the selectors have no other option but to go the unceremonious way of sacking them. But that should be the last option. For ones who have given so much for their country, players like Lara and Sachin need to be given a dignified send off. Though the latter’s retirement seems a long way off, considering his current injury graph we might well see his career curtailed to some extent.
But the bottom line remains that cricket is a team game and the Laras and Sachins of this great sport deserve to be given that much more respect for bringing so much glory to their respective nations through their marvellous individual achievements.
Examine this. West Indies have struggled miserably throughout the late 90’s and of course in the new millennium. Amidst all the chaos, the only saving grace has been a man named Brian Charles Lara. With the help of Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose, Lara helped West Indies through to a few incredible wins in the late 90’s. But ever since the legendary bowling duo retired, Lara has been left all alone in the deep sea. With hardly any support from the other end, he has on occasions single handedly led the team to victory. His knocks during the Australia’s ’99 tour to the West Indian nation were sensational to say the least. The Caribbeans drew the series 2-2 thanks largely to Brian Lara who pulverised the great Aussie attack. On many occasions, his great knocks have gone in vain as the other players could not capitalise on it. There cannot be any better case in point that the tour of Sri Lanka at the start of the new millennium. Brian Lara made a mockery of the Sri Lankan attack, and even forced the great Muttiah Muralitharan to accept that Lara is the toughest batsman to bowl to in world cricket. When a single batsman scores 688 runs in three Tests, you would never expect the team to lose. But that’s the pitiable state of West Indies cricket. They were clean sweeped 3-0 in the series and Brian Lara had nothing to show for his efforts in the form of results. Most of his stupendous knocks in the recent home series’ against South Africa and Pakistan have also been in vain.
And today as Lara is giving the finishing touches to what has been a very flourishing yet somewhat chequered career, we have someone who played all his life under Lara coming out in harsh criticism of the former skipper. Ironically, Jacobs’ comments have come at a time when it looks like Lara is actually at the peak of his career. To score 400 at the age of 35 speaks volumes for the ability and endurance of Brian Lara. It is said that actions speak louder than words. So even if Lara might not have been a great verbal motivator as captain, weren’t his magical innings against the world’s best enough to inspire the team. It has to be agreed given the immense talent the Trinidadian possessed he should have done a lot better. But then how easy is it for an individual to motivate himself when he knows that whatever good he does will be undone by the other 10 guys in the team? At the end of the day, cricket is a team game, and however well an individual does, it will very rarely translate into a match winning performance unless the other members of the team support him. Only of late has Shivnaraine Chanderpaul began to show the consistency that was expected of him all his career. Chris Gayle and the likes are immensely talented but lack the consistency required for this level of cricket. The biggest problem West Indies cricket is facing is the lackalasdial approach of the players. Somewhere the inspiration is lacking. And if playing for the country cannot spur them on, then no captain let alone Lara can turn the fortunes of the team around. It might sound a bit harsh, but give a team like Australia even Lara can deliver almost cent percent results as a captain. The real Test of a captain comes when he has to lead an under strength side. And that’s why Lara’s job has been that much more harder as compared to his other adversaries. Even though now he is not the skipper, West Indies aren’t faring any better under Chanderpaul, a clear indication that a captain is only as good as its team. Jacobs’ outburst thus can only be put down to some personal grudges he must have had against his former skipper. It’s common knowledge that the now retired keeper was shown the door because there were question marks regarding his attitude apart from him being involved in an infamous ‘fake’ stumping incident when he knocked off the bails without the ball in his gloves.
Our own Sachin Tendulkar has also been under fire of late. And again it’s because he’s performing way below par. But while Lara’s form has been a bit wrecked in phases, it has never been the case with Sachin until the dreaded tennis elbow came his way. Before that he even suffered a severe back injury and ever since the master batsman has never been the same free flowing Sachin we saw for a big chunk of the ‘90’s. Sachin, for most part, has played in a team where he was the lone ranger. It was only after the Sourav-Wright duo came together that things began to change in Indian cricket. And along with time, he’s moved on from being a dazzling strokemaker to an accumulator of runs- a change which has not gone down well with many cricket aficionados. But as long as India was winning, nobody bothered too much about it. Now that the team is in doldrums, there are calls from different sections of the cricket fraternity that Sachin is not a match winner.
In today’s context, it may be true that the ‘Bombay Bomber’ is not the same force he once used to be in international cricket. But then why blame him majorly for India’s pathetic showing of late. No one is bigger than this great game and Sachin too knows it, but there are others too who have to be equally liable for the team’s dismal results in the last season. It seems like Sachin may never be back to his best as Greg Chappel said. If that’s the case, why not let him settle in the team as a senior player. Sachin has been a match winner all his life, and the time has come for someone else to take over the mantle. For Sachin himself, he has first to comeback after being fully fit and decide as to what role he has to play in the team. Players like Sachin and Lara are born once in a generation and the respective teams cannot afford to let them go without getting the best out of them. It’s strange but true that most great players (especially from India) played in really weak teams throughout their career. Probably this is what forces people more than anything else into making statements criticising the great player when he is not performing. But then is this the right thing to do?.
The sad part is that this mud slinging is not new in cricket. Even greats like Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad were subject to such denigration. Anybody who knows anything about cricket will agree that here are two great cricketers who did yeoman service for their countries and least deserved any such kind of treatment. Everyone is aware that the legendary Kapil Dev stretched his career by a few matches to break envious record of the great Sir. Richard Hadlee. And there were talks all around that Kapil was playing only for personal milestones at that point. He’s the same man who bowled with an injured leg in a Test match in Melboune 1981 and helped India win the game by picking up five scalps. He was highly ineffective at the end of his career no doubt. But even those few extra wickets that he picked, were for ‘Team India’ apart from adding to his own crowning glory.
Very few cricketers quit when they are on the top of their game. Even the great Sir Donald Bradman had a rare failure when he was out for a second ball duck to Eric Hollies in his farewell Test. The fact that Sir Don Bradman did not achieve the magical average of 100 is a remembrance for generations to come that no one in this game can achieve perfection. The current Indian coach Greg Chappell was one of the rare exceptions who ended his career in the best possible way- with a ton in his final Test. When a player is towards the last stages of his career, it is but natural that he won’t be as consistent as in his heyday. It doesn’t mean coming out with your personal grudges against a soon to be retired cricketer. There are some cricketers who really struggle during their last few days. And if they still aren’t willing to go, the selectors have no other option but to go the unceremonious way of sacking them. But that should be the last option. For ones who have given so much for their country, players like Lara and Sachin need to be given a dignified send off. Though the latter’s retirement seems a long way off, considering his current injury graph we might well see his career curtailed to some extent.
But the bottom line remains that cricket is a team game and the Laras and Sachins of this great sport deserve to be given that much more respect for bringing so much glory to their respective nations through their marvellous individual achievements.
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