The 2003 World Cup saw a number of casualties, a sad end to the careers of some great characters, and a witchhunt that led to the naming of a few scapegoats on the pretext of the bad performance of certain fancied teams.In the coming days, we won’t see the likes of Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes and maybe even Shaun Pollock for South Africa, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar for Pakistan, Andy Flower and probably even Heath Streak for the Zimbabweans, former England captains Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart along with a number of their mates, Carl Hooper of West Indies for certain and of course, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble of India.There is only one major country, which is not going to be in the list. Going by the way they whitewashed their opponents in the tournament, Australia, even if they lose some of their players primarily because of age, will remain hot favorites for a hattrick in World Cup 2007.In a sense, India, especially captain Saurav Ganguly and coach John Wright, should consider themselves lucky that India made it so far in the tournament. There are plenty of critics who are baying for Ganguly’s blood and the axe would certainly have fallen on him and Wright.Some of Wright’s counterparts were, however, not that lucky. Richard Pybus of Pakistan was dropped for the nth time. Then it was the turn of Dav Whatmore of Sri Lanka. Both Pybus and Whatmore have had chequered careers — it seems that they just get kicked out, but make comebacks the moment the nations go on a downward curve. And of course, there was Roger Harper of the West Indian side.I wonder why the coach has to go for the team’s bad performance like in soccer. The captain is supposed to be the leader, isn’t he? Especially when it comes to a foreign coach, who does not have a say in the selection nor in the domestic scene.As far as India is concerned, India’s good run is primarily because of Ganguly and his aggressive captaincy and faith in youngsters. Then why invest in Wright? Our country has a number of good ex-cricketers. Why not give them a chance?They might prove better than a foreigner because they are clued in to the Indian conditions. Sandeep Patil had to go to Kenya to prove his mettle. On the other hand, we have to pick up Sri Lankan rejects like Whatmore to head the National Cricket Academy, with players like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath given stations below him. What logic is there in such an appointment? Isn’t it a pity that we continue to be subservient to foreigners like this?
