March 1, 1999
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ON THE BALL Where's the Team A surfeit of international matches is not the ideal way to condition the Indian players for winning the World Cup. By Kapil Dev
The first thing that struck me is the amount of cricket that's being played. I used to think that we were playing far too much cricket, yet in the last two years the frequency of tournaments has increased considerably. I forget how many tournaments I have seen in the past year. Admittedly cricket is a game that the country enjoys and cricketers are revered as idols but let us not kill the golden goose. With so much exposure the cricket-loving public is going to tire and pretty soon. The Indo-Pakistan Test series generated a great deal of hype but we have seen bare stands in other series and this is highly avoidable. The players are exhausted, they need to spend time with their families. Cricket has become a job for them and most jobs tend to get mundane and boring. After a while the joy of doing something you love is lost. Everyone -- the players, public and media -- should look forward to the event and not dismiss it as just yet another occasion. And to think that cricketers in India are still labelled amateurs. Ironic considering they play for more than 10 months a year! With the World Cup round the corner there is still so much cricket to be played by the Indians -- which is what I am trying to get to. What will our team be? Other countries announce their team and begin to prepare six months in advance, but where is our team? When will it be announced? A couple of weeks prior to the mega event is just not enough. Where is the time to knit yourselves and condition not only your bodies but your minds too? Now we head for the India-Pakistan-Sri Lanka triangular series, then the team is off to Sharjah. Will there be more cricket after that as well? It's nearly the end of February and the World Cup begins in mid-May. Let us not lose sight of that. What I'm pleased about is that the recently-concluded Indo-Pak Test series went off well. I feel sincerely that it was the first time, and I mean the very first time, that our government has made some positive contribution to the game. It was heartening to see the effort put in to ensure that the series goes through. Both the Test venues, Delhi and Chennai, saw high-calibre cricket. Very few Test matches in the recent past have generated such excitement and it was great to see Test cricket bringing back full stadiums. The performances of Saqlain and Sachin in Chennai were unforgettable. Saqlain was amazing. How can an off-spinner turn the ball the other way? I've seen off-spinners bowling straighter ones but it is extremely rare to see one bowling a ball which looks like a leg-cutter or make it look like leg-spin. Sri Lanka's Muralitharan seems to have a bit of the art, as does our Harbhajan Singh, perhaps not to the same degree but the signs are definitely there. I have never in my years of cricket seen anything like Sachin's innings. His talent showed through the entire innings. A little more application though would have been helpful. And then in the second Test came Anil Kumble's unbelievable 10-wicket haul. We never hoped to even capture 10 wickets in a match. Yet I feel Anil as a bowler has still to peak. More effort will take him to greater heights. A lot of people have come up to me as the chairman of the grounds committee to express their appreciation over the result-oriented wickets seen in these two Test matches. A small clarification is necessary here: the grounds committee only oversees the accommodation arrangements, dressing rooms, the outfield and so on. We have to ensure that the venues are Test worthy. All the credit for preparing wickets goes to the local administration. I'd like to end on a happy note so I must mention the spirit between the Indian and Pakistan teams. The familiarity and easy banter seen between the two sides spoke volumes of how relaxed both teams were, as were the two captains with each other. Azhar, often seen chatting with the Pakistani players, is a marvellous ambassador for India. I hope he spends the same amout of time with his team. And thankfully, no tensions or political overtones came through. All in all it makes me feel good as an Indian. (Former India captain and all-rounder Kapil
Dev will be writing a regular column |
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I have been out of
international cricket for four to five years now and have noticed and learnt more about
cricket than I had when I was playing! While playing one is so involved in the game that
one never looks around. Since I retired I have had the pleasure of being a spectator and
am enjoying the game like anybody else. 
