Stop foreign hypocrisy

More and more reams of paper are devoted to the World Cup. Excellent. I also read of an Indian ‘participation’...

More and more reams of paper are devoted to the World Cup. Excellent. I also read of an Indian ‘participation’, in a few kids being taken on a joy ride, having kicked around for some time in an adversiting promo. Then there was this news about the new Indian firang soccer coach. Reminds one of that other firang, the Aussie, to be precise, one Mr Greg Chappell. What a great job he has done with a good bunch of talented kids. What a shame. It’s that old case of shoving intellect down a parrot’s throat.

Great coaches, I am sure, some great players too, you will agree. But do we really need those foreigners? Gerhard Rach, Mr German know-all of hockey, entrusted with recovering India’s pride at the Athens Olympic Games, all ground to dust thereafter. The blame-buck hasn’t stopped travelling, still. I have a suggestion. If you really want to kick national honour down the drain, if you don’t really give two nickels as to where we stand in sport, do it cheaply, do it sans that foreign hypocrisy. I am sure the foreign element looks better, attracts more sponsorship, more television rights. But believe me, we would like to be ground to dust quietly, rather than being kicked up our backsides in slow-motion television, beamed across half the world.

Shiladitya K. (Chennai)

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The very concept of having a specialist team for a new Team India has now been defeated. If the the function of the powers that be — BCCI president Sharad Pawar, chief collector Lalit Modi, coach Greg Chappell, chief selector Kiran More and captain Rahul Dravid — was to provide a strong and forward-looking identity to the team, that purpose has been served pretty negatively. This defeat to the West Indies would not have carried that much of a stigma had there not been a created genius’ reputation that preceded the multimillion dollar entourage. And as if that wasn’t enough, Indian sporting psycophancy has reached almost levels of what the Congress took it to in the Seventies. This is at best sickening, to be modest, highly disregardable. Please turn your attention to more important subjects that are hanging out for love.

Ilthas Mithay (Jalpaiguri)

The plot thickens

This refers to the article ‘Team India plot comeback’ (May 31). After the losses in the one-day series, India could not have possibly got a better Caribbean island than Antigua to recoup. The St John’s track has traditionally not troubled the batsmen, and for India’s out-of-form batsmen the first Test match should be an opportunity to battle the demons in their minds. The key, for this newly coalescing side, will clearly be getting the batting order right.

Anu Pasricha (New Delhi)

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