It was absolutely shocking to witness the so-called Indian fan react to our humiliating defeat at the hand of the Aussies. If the team’s performance was shameful on that black Saturday, the fans fared no better at home. Their outrageous behaviour even humbled the Pakistani fans — not the best of losers, I may say — after Pakistan was bowled out for 125 at Lords not so long ago. On the flip side, one may feel smug about the game’s impact on our masses. But strong emotion usually defies justification. As a manager, I was with this team for months together. I can’t share the popular conclusion — usually triggered by defeats — that our boys just don’t care about their performance. Every time they go out in the middle, I can vouch for their hunger for success. So often I have seen them squirm, even at the verge of tears, when they don’t click. And cricket, a great leveller, ensures that you don’t click every time you try. Let’s accept Australia are a strong team and we were the underdogs. It’s another matter we gave an impression of going down without a fight. It was just one of those days like the Natwest final was. Fortunes do swing. I am not trying to defend our team’s dismal show but nothing can justify stoning the houses of our boys across the nation. Saurav and his boys deserved criticism. Certainly not hate that extended to their families! Such response belittles the very spirit of this great game. Commercialisation is one issue that can be debated. While we should be happy that our boys are getting maximum number of endorsement offers, let there be a code of conduct as Union Sports Minister Vikram Verma has suggested. As of now, the BCCI has no guideline on endorsement. If Verma has any suggestion it should be considered positively. It’s not so much of poor form but lack of strategy that probably let us down in the recent matches. In ODIs, every over demands a strategy and we have to be up to the task. Suggestions were there that Saurav should come down in the order but the captain was not being able to decide on that. Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya intervened after the Australia match and helped Saurav make up his mind. He also spoke to Tendulkar, Dravid and Wright to inject confidence. The players introspected hard and the prospects, finally, have looked up. We don’t deserve success if we can’t deal with our failures rationally. As cricket fans, we have every right to criticize our boys but we can’t rob them or their families of human dignity. Unfortunately, we failed our team and our so-called love for the game after last Saturday’s shock defeat. Many may have started cheering our team again after the Harare success, but the fans must ask themselves if they really deserve the Cup after maligning the national team so viciously that none less than the Prime Minister had to intervene. Many of my friends told me how hate-SMSs were doing the rounds since last weekend. Sample this one: ‘‘Our team is hijacked and a demand of Rs 100 crore has been made, failing which the cricketers will be burnt alive. Let each of us contribute 5-litre of kerosene in the national interest.’’ Some nation we are. Much to learn about deportation After so much hue and cry, a deportation treaty has been signed with only 19 countries out of 143. When terrorism is scaling new highs, our diplomats must wake up and see the importance of having such pacts inked with maximum number of countries possible. Deportation of Dawood’s brother has demoralized the underworld. The message should go out loud and clear: If one commits a crime in India, one will be brought back wherever on earth one is caught. The Home and the External Affairs Ministries should work in tandem towards that goal. Unfortunately, their coordination is far from satisfactory as was evident on Thursday when MoS Home Digvijay Singh informed Parliament — while answering a question I put to him — about the extradition treaty and subsequent supplementaries — about the chances of Abu Salem’s repatriation. Hell broke loose and a prompt denial was issued. Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha was contacted in Moscow and the Ambassador of Portugal was briefed in New Delhi. Such confusions apart, our diplomats react too slowly compared to their Pak counterparts who promptly take advantage of the loopholes in Dubai’s law. Since Dawood and his family hold Pak passports, Pakistan authorities lodge an FIR in Pakistan whenever one of them is arrested in Dubai and get priority in terms of extradition request. Our diplomats must work out a counter strategy soon. Besides, we must maintain direct relations with Dubai and not depend entirely on Abu Dhabi. Small gestures go a long way towards warming up bilateral relations. Air India would lose nothing if the government okayed the request of Emirates Airlines seeking a certain quota of seats. But bureaucrats in Civil Aviation Ministry sat over the file and Anees was eventually freed. More substance, less length This is not a good sign for parliamentary democracy. A colleague of mine in the House pointed out during the vote of thanks that except three members — A.B. Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi and Jaswant Singh — nobody else listened to the entire speech of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam that continued over one-and-half hour and was followed by its Hindi version. Now this is an insult for both the man and the institution. To begin with, we should do without translations as has been done in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The speech itself should not continue for more than an hour. If we must have translations to follow, they should be restricted to 30 minutes each. The President’s speech is a serious business and we must not reduce it to a tedious formality.
