`Team spirit is eyewash, look at the way India lost to Pak’

Play the game as the instincts of imagination moves you. Never worry about the result — it might rain, remember you are in England. Don’t worry about averages as they keep only the statisticians busy. But this is hard to swallow for an average Indian.

I am not asking every Indian to play like a Tendulkar. Even a stonewaller like Rahul Dravid has room at the top. The key word is doing whatever possible with acute passion. The great commandment of cricket is: “Thou shalt not be negative.” The limited overs cricket may have done a lot to the promoters, administrators and followers of the game. But, I am sad to say that actual performance has had to compromise with a lot of hypocrisy.

“Thou shalt not be negative” did we say? Well, what is one-day cricket if it is not negative. A huge package deal in favour of batsmen. As if cricket was not a batsmen’s game already. Taking wickets is no criteria. Checking runs is with a well-planned field. Bits-and-pieces cricketers like Hollioake brothers have greater chances to flourish than a specialist like Dravid. Therein lies the distortion of the glory of cricket.

We started initially with the much talked about `team spirit’, didn’t we? That it is a load of eyewash can be ascertained from India’s total submission to Pakistan at home and then again at Sharjah. The Indians are fresh as a button mushroom and the Indian hierarchy would have us believe as if we are raking up something ancient. Look ahead to think positive. Look blindly and think blankly that is. Who are we kidding, after all?

Let us face it, Indians are a miserable lot. Not just the politicians, the cricketers, too. In fact, the plight of the two species never had so much in common. And here if I may add, the Buddhist philosophy of misery is very relevant to the present state of Indian cricket. Let us just forget the politicians for a while living in the glorious past of 1983, as we observe everybody joining the World Cup bandwagon of 1999. Not a bad idea really.

But if it was considered then that Kapil’s Devils were a bunch of no-hopers and that their eventual triumph was fluke (which is what one-day cricket is all about), aren’t we indulging a shade too much in the days of yore?! A clear case for yearning for past antiquity. Hence, asking for self-affliction of torment. The worst is to build castles in the air for future and here we have Azhar, Gaekwad and Dungarpur leading us consistently down the garden path. Sadly, we refuse to live in the present which is the only reality and which suggests both Sunil Joshi and Dodda Ganesh ought to have been in the squad. My experience of English conditions tells us that India’s bench strength might actually be a glaring weakness, leaving no room to try out constructive permutations.

Of late, the Indian captain’s confrontation with the media is not a healthy sign. There had always been only one winner — the fourth estate. Quite amazing really. Azhar, with all his experience has failed to realise this simple fact of life.

One day, we are fed the story that India’s batting strength holds the key, now that Tendulkar is back. But the bowlers too must exploit the seaming conditions, is the message the next day. The top-heavy management refuses to understand that cricket is a situational game. When the situation is dead, the game is dead.

In the recent past, Indian cricketers have had such an overdose of cricket, that it is humanly impossible to be fresh and eager for more. Haven’t we heard of the proverb `killing the goose that lays golden eggs?’ The BCCI must take a fair blame on this count. The so-called professional cricketer today is purely and simply a tradesman. And, in most cases, he has learnt the tricks of his trade in a pretty grim and selfish school. If I may elaborate, the `shooting star’ advertisement on the box sums it all.

Yours truly was a national selector when the team won the World Cup in 1983. Often, I have been asked, `How did we go about it?’ We simply did a job to the best of our ability in picking horses for courses. The element of luck stood out with Kapil in his prime and leading from the front. In Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Srikkanth, Kirmani, Yashpal and Kirti, Kapil had loyal followers with enormous passion to do well for the country.

In stark contrast, Azhar is not in his prime age-wise or with the bat. The belated emergence of Jadeja’s leadership has put extra pressure on the `child of destiny’. Yes, `pressure’ is the word. We have heard far too many captains in present-day context dismissing the force of pressure. My own assessment is that any captain who says captaincy is no pressure is either a massive liar or his intensity of involvement with his team is the barest minimum. Take your pick.

(Bishan Singh Bedi, former Test captain, selector and coach-cum-manager, took 266 Test wickets and has to his name the most economical spell ever in World Cup with 12-8-6-10)