Yardstick!

Definition

Noun[C]
a fact or standard by which you can judge the success or value of something:

So, the day of reckoning has come for one of the finest left handers India has ever produced. Well at least for media persons from India it has. But for me it’s bit too late for “Dada” to sum up his decision on whether to stretch his career or not. For me it came early this year only when he was dropped from Indian ODI team despite making more then 1000 runs previous year in the same format of the game as well as in the other form of the game as well, which we call “real cricket”.

As there is one phrase in English “missed the bus” he certainly missed the bus in early 2008 on two counts. One is to recognize that current captain and the selectors are now looking beyond him and have a vision for next world cup and he has achieved every thing in One day cricket and he is sitting next to the “Great” Sachin Tendulkar when you talk about Indian ODI cricket. The second count on what he missed the bus was that had he call it a day and not waited this long and had came with definite statement that now he wants to concentrate on test cricket only where he lacks few runs and century, I feel he would certainly have been picked for this years Border Gavaskar Trophy, regardless of his poor form in last series. So by waiting for his chance to play in Champions Trophy, even after he was not even considered, he has not only lost his ODI place but perhaps he has lost chance to play “any” international cricket from now onwards. Or he has only chance to play if one or two of remaining of seniors play very poorly or get injured in near future. It feels sad for a fan of Dada, like me to see him in this position. For a guy who always believed in his own abilities to make come backs not only once but twice, has to rely on other’s luck.

There is always an other side of the coin, off course if that coin is not from the all time block buster “Sholay”! As per BCCI’s newly paid employees, Dada has been dropped because of his form or lack of it during last tour of Sri Lanka. Then a simple question comes in every cricket fan’s mind, that if he was having disastrous form then who was in form? We only have to exclude Sehwag and Gambhir and to some extent Laxman.. Else, I don’t see any one has “cracked” form. The other two main stay of the team, Tendulkar and Dravid also struggled. Dravid totaled 148 runs which are 52 runs more then Ganguly and Tendulkar made 95 runs which is one run less then Ganguly. They may suggest that Dravid was looking good to come back in the form. Well if you say this that looking good coming back to form a month or so before all important BGT then we all can laugh and clap. As far as Tendulkar is concerned, he can’t be dropped because he is “Tendulkar” and just “few runs” behind to overhaul Brian Charles Lara. So, who remain? Dada. Because they want to drop some senior to bring “fresh legs” in to the team.

They also say that he is a liability on the field. But has any one of them observed our test captain’s fielding? Who waves his hands in the air when some one midfields on the ground but shy away from the bowler on whose bowling he misfiled the ball? Or the second best catcher in the world who missed few important catches in last series which could have turned the balance in neutral if not in our favour? Dada has always been poor fielder when it comes to chasing the ball during his entire career, but I have perhaps never seen him dropping sitters, he is good catcher if not the best and safe one as well.

Leave all the performances who excelled and who have not in Srilankan series and who has fielded well and who has not , even then for me Dada deserved his place in this test team, at least for first two tests. To support my views I got one small statistic for you. Since January 2007 when he made a come back to test team few months back in South Africa, he has played 6 test matches in India, with 11 innings and has made 745 runs with whopping average of 74.50 with 3 fifties one hundred and one double hundred (his maiden). Why can’t our selectors think with the logic that the series is going to play in India and thus Dada has strong case? If they can re call Mohammad Kaif for his performance in “domestic cricket”, then Dada has played against one of the better international quality attacks. So, if a player has played well against domestic attack can deserve a place, then why not an international cricketer with such enviable average in home conditions can be ignored? Only because that guy is young and having “fresh legs”? Then what about that tons of experience Dada is loaded with?

So, the definition of “Yardstick” as I have quoted at the start of my post, from Cambridge Dictionary, has no relevance with thinking of our selectors. Things may change with new set of selectors arrive. They may not even change and India made good results out of this team and may retain BGT, who knows? But one thing is also sure that BCCI has still not learnt unlike their counter parts in Pakistan to give fitted adieu to their cricketers, who has given their team many success not only in India but also abroad. If they can’t respect arguably the best captain of India has ever seen, then there is less chance that they will respect other cricketers. But there are always some exceptions.

It was shocking moment for me when I read the breaking news on T.V. channels about his exclusion from Irani Trophy team. I certainly expect him to take retirement from International cricket, if he is still been ignored from new bunch of selectors (I have avoid to write jokers). But even if he does that, I will still say that he has again missed the bus, because he will not be retiring with head high, retiring on his peak. Because people will always remember him for the last series his played.

All the best Dadi! May god give you the strength to take one of the most avaited decisions of your cricket career.

Stumps:

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