… business as usual

A blog by Â(c)hinaman

Who needs foreign media to criticise our players, when we have our desi (homegrown) pundits.

Unfit Kumble letting team down: Vengsarkar

Press Trust Of India | Posted on Oct 13, 2008 at 00:56 |

New Delhi: Former selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar has lashed out at Test captain Anil Kumble, who was apparently not fit, for his poor performance and held him responsible for letting the team down.

Before the match, Kumble was not 100 per cent fit. “Unfit Kumble is letting the team down,” Vengsarkar said in an interview to a news channel. “If Kumble could not bowl more overs then he should have not played,” Vengsarkar said and added that the skipper should have earlier come clean to the selectors on his fitness. Vengsarkar also criticised Kumble for not allowing Virender Sehwag to bowl more overs.

Zip up your mouth for a second, Mr Vengsarkar, this series is not over yet.
On October 10 you were saying:

Former Chief selector Dilip Vengasarkar on Friday said he would refrain from responding to Sourav Gangulyâ?(tm)s outburst against the selectors till the end of the current series against Australia as it could divert the teamâ?(tm)s focus.

“I wonâ?(tm)t answer him now as this is not the right time because India are in the middle of a Test series (against Australia) and it might affect the focus of the team,” Vengsarkar said.

Will this not divert the team captain’s focus?
Besides who are you to criticise Kumble. You no longer are a selector, neither are you in team management. There are selectors, a coach and a physio who will speak to Kumble if necessary; and in the confines of the dressing room or even in private.

You have one rule when you have to justify yourself, but a very different rule when you accuse someone else? Or is this the same inter-regional hatred seeping through? Or arrogant hypocrisy?

If the now ex-chief selector can criticise the present captain,
why shouldn’t the opportunist media?

Kumble slams ‘uncharitable’ media

15 Oct, 2008 1441hrs IST, AFP

 

NEW DELHI: Indian skipper Anil Kumble on Wednesday lashed out at the media for making “uncharitable comments” on his form and fitness during the drawn opening Test against Australia. The veteran leg-spinner conceded 160 runs in 51 wicketless overs, bowling only eight overs in the second innings because of a sore shoulder. It was his worst-ever performance in 131 Tests.

“Over the past few days, given all the media attention I have received before and during the match, with some uncharitable comments on my fitness and retirement and performance as a player and captain, it does seem like I’m back in Australia again,” Kumble wrote in his column. “That time saw me unfortunately having to split my time between playing cricket and handling a host of unnecessary off-the-field issues, instead of being able to concentrate on playing the game and handling my team.

“I didn’t really expect to have to go through this all over again on my home turf.”

It is unfortunate but you have to Mr Kumble, every one has the license to sink knives into to.
For you are the captain of the Indian cricket team,
you are expected to grin and bear the insults.

No one gives a toss if it affects your mind set in the next match.
Take heart from this; if another player has said this, you are still capable enough in my eyes.

No issues with Ganguly, Kumble still great in our eyes: Lee

15 Oct, 2008 1613hrs IST, PTI

MOHALI: Media back home may have dubbed Sourav Ganguly a ‘serial offender’ but Australian speedster Brett Lee insists his teammates have no issues with the abrasive left-hander and said they have not lost their respect for Anil Kumble either despite the India captain’s mundane show in the Bangalore Test.

Lee, however, didn’t find anything grossly wrong with Ganguly. “See, he has got a role to play in the side. I mean he plays his game and obviously has a job to do. We play the game our way. We play a Test match to win it. But of course there was lot of doubt about the light thing (in Bangalore)…” Lee said.

Lee also made it clear that despite Kumble’s lacklustre show in the Bangalore Test, the Indian captain remained a great bowler in the eyes of the Australian batsmen. “Look, he has got 600 Test wickets. We respect him both as a captain and also as a class bowler. He is a great bowler, who has been around for long and we will treat him just the way we would treat a great bowler,” Lee said.

Do not let it bother you, for we have three matches to win.

indian mediaÂ(c)hinaman