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On cricket

The editorial "A reality check" (March 27) draws attention to the inability of Team India's senior players to perform consistently. It is ridiculous that our selectors do not find a handful of performing players to replace them from among a hundred million people. This is because they focus only on the international cricket team, while the State and junior teams are out of their view.

N. Sumithra Suresh,
Dindigul

Senior cricketers who have been out of form in recent years should voluntarily retire from the game. They should emulate tennis legend Pete Sampras who retired once he started losing vital tournaments.

K.H. Krishnan,
Shencottah

The BCCI should resist patchwork strategies such as changing the captain or coach, including this bowler or excluding that batsman, and so on. For any improvement to happen, it must be realised that the malady lies much deeper. As pointed out in the article "Twilight of the idols" (March 27), character is more important than skills. In recent times, India has rarely looked like a team with strength of character. This and other psychological issues must be addressed. For doing all this, some six months' respite from international cricket is necessary.

A. Ramachandran,
Kochi

No doubt, some changes will be brought about in the team. But it is certain that the `veterans' will not be replaced. Just as scriptwriters write scripts to suit veteran film stars, the cricketing establishment will recast the script for the same set of players. A few cosmetic changes, and not a sincere attempt at talent hunt with a view to revamping the team, will be effected. As for the fans, they will gradually regain their interest in the game.

G. David Milton,
Maruthancode

The irrational reaction of some fans shows cricket has turned from a sport to a dangerous obsession. It is time India stopped paying cricket such huge attention and started focussing on other sports.

Nazreen Fazal,
Bangalore

People are talking about pressure on Team India owing to the average fan who knows very little about the game and wants nothing less than the World Cup itself. But is it not ridiculous to talk about pressure, as India was required to defeat only Bangladesh and Bermuda to gain entry into the Super Eight?

A. Mohamed Aslam,
Madurai

The idea that the men in blue were the frontrunners for the trophy was falsely manufactured and spread via commercials. In doing so, the advertisers played with the hearts of millions of Indians. Each one of us would have dreamt of a victory for Team India, but the dream would not have reached the level it did had there not been such publicity for the concept. The ad companies should be brought to book for spreading misinformation for commercial gains.

Safiya Sameena,
Vijayawada

A lot is being discussed about the huge losses suffered by advertisers due to India's early exit from the World Cup. I hope the debacle will prompt the ad companies to rethink the idea of using celebrities for any and all advertisements, as a result of which there has been tremendous erosion of creativity. How we miss the creativity that gave us the Air India Maharaja, the Amul girl, and the long forgotten Murphy baby! If the focus shifts away from the use of celebrity faces, it will result not only in better ads but also, hopefully, in better performance by our team.

Usha Sahana,
New Delhi

The article "Beyond the humiliation at the World Cup" (March 27) provided a different perspective to the hype-driven championship. The Indian team's ignominious exit is a blessing in disguise for real lovers of sports as it helps to understand that the malaise is much deeper than it appears.

Jameel Pasha,
Chennai

Some observations relating the performance of our cricket team to the state of the nation in the corresponding times are right. Thus, when Indira Gandhi was at the helm we were capable of assessing our strengths whether in sport or other domains and could assert ourselves if we had merit. Interestingly, she seems to have influenced not only our World Cup success in 1983 but also our defeat in 2007. As some cricket enthusiasts argue, there would have been no Bangladesh but for her!

P. Desikan,
Bangalore

The comparison between the Prime Ministers of India during the World Cup years and the performance of the cricket team is amusing. Perhaps in 2011, we should determine our participation only after ascertaining whether our Prime Minister of the time is strong enough to inspire us to win the World Cup.

Vinod Kumar,
Palayamkottai

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