Letters to the editor

Curious cricket8226; OUR cricket is getting curiouser and curiouser, with emails and press interviews being dished out outside the off and ...

Curious cricket

8226; OUR cricket is getting curiouser and curiouser, with emails and press interviews being dished out outside the off and leg stumps. Let8217;s take Sachin Tendulkar8217;s statement that no coach has ever questioned his attitude. True perhaps, but that was probably because there was no need to question it until a few years back. Maybe it has changed and Greg felt it necessary to say so. The problem is that more than 90 per cent of our cricketers8217; income comes from endorsements rather than from cricket. And these endorsements only arrive if you remain in the team; that is why everyone wants to be in Team India until he is literally booted out. Our cricketers are like our netas, retiring virtually only on the funeral pyre. Take, for example, Kapil Dev, who was allowed to play on so that he could break Hadlee8217;s record. In that same number of Tests, Murlitharan and Warne had crossed 600 wickets.

Sachin was definitely one of the greatest until 2004. But after his health problems he is not the same, nor is it fair to expect the same from him. He may be only 34, but he started at 16 8212; most people start at 22.

Further, given Indian constitutions, it is difficult to be a MacGrath, who can probably outrun most of our team. It8217;s time our cricketers learnt to go at the right time.

8212; T.R. Ramaswami, Mumbai

8226; GREG CHAPPELL8217;S exit does not come as a surprise. However, it could have been more gracious. Guru Greg should have opened his mouth before the World Cup if he thought that the selection was not right or if senior players had an attitude problem and were not playing as a unit. Now, everybody would think that he is finding excuses for our World Cup loss. Drastic steps need to be taken to revamp Indian cricket. There should be a total ban on modelling assignments for cricketers and they could be compensated if they perform well. Negative inducements, too, such as a cut in match fees for poor play, would help players pep up their game.

8212; S.N. Kabra Mumbai

Rahul8217;s homework

8226; IN your editorial of March 21, you have rightly criticised Rahul Gandhi for harking back to demolition of Babri Masjid. He must be living in fool8217;s paradise if he thinks that by doing this he will help Congress prospects in UP. Far from it: the Congress has already been defeated in Punjab and Chhattisgarh and it will meet the same fate in UP. He has not spelt out any agenda for the economic uplift of the state. If Rahul Gandhi hopes to remain in politics, he will need to do his homework before making election speeches.

8212; Sudhir Trivedi, Ahmedabad