Guwahati ODI Shame

Team India’s ignominious defeat at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday must jerk it to serious rethinking if they want to remain in the business of one-day cricket. Both the batsmen and bowlers of the Indian side failed miserably; more so the batsmen of the likes of Sehwag and Tendulkar, with all their experience. Were they doing net practice? While one would question Dhoni’s decision to bat first (given the nature of the Guwahati pitch), blame really goes to the top-order batsmen for having played so irresponsibly. They all knew the pitch very well. Former captain Saurav Ganguly is right when he says ‘‘the Nehru Stadium is not a fulltime cricket ground’’ where ‘‘football is played for most of the year’’ and ‘‘so the wicket doesn’t have a very solid base for it to hold up for cricket matches’’ — a fact ‘‘known to all the Indian batsmen’’. But why did they play as if they were playing on that wicket for the first time, unaware of the nature of the pitch? This, the batsmen must answer. They have no right to make a joke out of a serious game with such a huge bearing on the reputation of the team and its morale. And how did Ricky Ponting’s men go about? Like a team, with the captain proving yet again that his excellent management of the team’s resources has made it the unbeatable in international cricket. Had it not been for Ravin Jadeja and Praveen Kumar, the Indian scoreboard would have looked the worst in the history of one-dayers. And this brings us to what the BCCI should do at the earliest: get pragmatic, nourish and encourage new talents, and do away with the dependence on those who have nothing now to prove except for their personal records. THE SENTINEL