Shooting at straw men
FROM THE STANDS
S R Khelkoodkar
Another off-week for field reporters, it seems, with only a handful of sporting events being played. Consequently the sports news this week was mostly of scores and play narratives.
But if the on-field action is routine, a good story is never far away if you are prepared to look for it, and that is what several reporters seem to have figured.
A `good story`, of course, equals Sourav Ganguly. Remarkably, however, this time it is not about foreign coaches or the question of his selection, but about something that happened when himself he was captain.
The Telegraph carried an interview with Narendra Hirwani, former Indian leg-spinner who retired this week, in which plenty of mud is thrown. The headline, of course, is suggestive enough - `Ganguly ditched me`. The Hindustan Times too has found this suitably interesting to report, saying `Ganguly and I can`t see eye to eye`.
The grouse Mr Hirwani has, it seems, is that `Sourav Ganguly ditched him after promising to play him in all three Tests against Australia in 2001 when he was trying to stage a comeback.` But how could Ganguly give him such an assurance?
Mr Hirwani, having played for India several times and first class cricket for many years, knows what he is talking about. "It is because it`s the captain who picks the playing eleven." In a rather catchy manner he adds "Many were given the chance to pass, I wasn`t even given the chance to fail."
Good that Mr Hirwani has got a chance to get things off his chest but a pity, perhaps, that the focus of the reporting of the interview suggests that little else was talked about. There is more, especially to his career, but it gets lost in the flow of this complaint.
The Telegraph also seems to have had another mission this week. A string of low scores by Mohammad Kaif in the series against England, following some more in the series against Pakistan, has led the paper to virtually demand that he be dropped.
It isn`t the paper that overtly does the demanding, mind. The firing seems to happen over the BCCI`s shoulders. The byline of the article reads: ` The team management`s refusal to drop Mohammed Kaif, despite the middle-order bat failing in every ODI this year, has embarrassed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).`
Says an un-named and `somewhat exasperated` official: "It looks bad, yes... But, then, what can we do? The selectors have been retaining Kaif and the team management has been playing him... We can`t dictate to them."
`This year`, says the article, `Kaif`s scores in ODIs have been a pathetic 8, 5 not out, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 5 and 15.` His other contributions to the team, namely, runs saved in the field, don`t warrant mention, apparently.
The article, however, ends attempting objectivity: `For the Greg Chappells, it seems, accountability starts and ends with Sourav. So much for what`s being projected as a grand vision and the push towards the next level.`
A victory of sorts was, of course, achieved, when Kaif didn`t play the final game of the series. Suitably vindicated, the Telegraph found it fit to say `The team management may describe it differently, but Mohammed Kaif has finally been dropped. He isn`t in the XIII shortlisted for Saturday`s seventh (and final) ODI against England, to be played at the MPCA Stadium.`
An inch short of self-congratulatory, perhaps?
Contact: khelkoodkar@gmail.com