When Sachin Tendulkar had led the Indian cricket team to England in 1999, Kapil Dev, the coach had advised the team to “enjoy” as they were trashed by the Englishmen in the test series. We are not sure whether Sachin was amused by the idea, or whether he looked for help from elsewhere, but Dhoni, the captain of the present Indian cricket team which has been trashed 0-4 by the English cricket team, seems to have the same advise to offer his team mates.
So Sreesanth, who was inducted into the side when Zaheer got injured in the first test, after getting a trashing from the English batsman, said: "I enjoyed it." When quizzed further, he added: "I kept running in hard. It's not frustrating; it's not hard on the body. I enjoy it."
What else can he say, when the Indian captain Dhoni, himself kept reiterating that the key was not to worry too much about the result, but to try and enjoy the game. So it was not amusing to hear Sreesanth say the same thing after one of India’s worst day on the field.
The Indian cricket team apparently play to enjoy the game while the whole nation believes it’s a national shame to lose all four test matches to a team that was a year ago considered one of the worst teams in the international circuit. And that too at a stage when the Indian team is considered the number one team in test cricket!
If it were not for the nation’s attention being held by the more important agenda at hand on the Lokpal Bill issue, Dhoni’s remark would have had more disastrous consequences. We don’t know whether it was by design that the Indian team should lose so terribly in England.
The match fixing ghost which had faded away once again makes a appearance in the background. Was it too much cricket and strain on the cricketers which led to injuries or is it a different reason?
Does India really not have a bench strength to replace the injured players? Yet wasn’t it a few months in the past when the team comprising the bench players that won India matches?
Are the cricketers killing the goose that has laid them golden eggs till now?
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