The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Inspirational skipper on a dead track

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 19, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Inspirational skipper on a dead track

Javagal Srinath

Once again, an animated conversation between Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly shown live by a television channel before the first Test at Lahore kept the media busy speculating for a couple of days.

In cricket, such discussions are plenty in the dressing room. Just that it was captured on TV, the clipping made some ugly rounds in the electronic media, giving rise to ungainly discussions. In the eyes of millions of cricket fans, who follow every bit and byte on all media, this meaningless debate was yet another attempt to show Indian cricket in poor light.

We had a classic case of crowd's response to some of the media spiced-up reactions during Team India's initial loss to Australia in World Cup 2003 in South Africa. The end result was Rahul Dravid's car being stoned in Bangalore and Mohammad Kaif's house painted black in Allahabad.

We are already witnessing a new dangerous trend among a section of the supporters, who go to the extent of burning the effigies of the players and coaches to vent their disappointments. The exaggerated media projection about the so called differences between the players and coaches could play spoilsport.

If such a trend continues, I won't be surprised if any cricket fan takes a detrimental step towards a player. Sensational journalism cannot only harm cricket in general but also the players. It is time for the irresponsible sections of the media to behave and show restraint.

Back to cricket, the Lahore Test was surely a tame beginning for such an important cricket series. We did see and hear a lot about how dead the pitch was. To be honest, the chorus of dead wicket gained momentum only after a befitting reply came from the newly-formed Indian opening pair.

Scant respect

Sehwag showing scant respect towards the Pakistani attack was commendable. One could easily make out that the current Pakistani bowling attack was far more effective and penetrative than what it was on the previous tour. On a few spells, the Pakistani speedsters made even the unresponsive wicket talk — PTI

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