From the publishers of THE HINDU Vol. 24 :: No. 46 :: Nov. 17 - 23, 2001	Home Contents
	LETTERS Poor show Sir, - I am a regular reader of your magazine and would like to share my views about India's loss in the first Test. Shaun Pollock took key wickets at the start of both the first and second sessions of the day, then ripped out three tail-end batsmen as he took 10 wickets in a match for the first time in his 59-Test career in the first Test match against India in Bloemfontein. The coolheaded South African captain sent India crashing to a nine-wicket defeat on the fourth day. Another sob story of defeat abroad. Little master Sachin Tendulkar and the debutant Virender Sehwag hit hurricane centuries and put a respectable total in the first essay. But poor and inaccurate bowling made things simple for the South African batsmen. Gibbs and Klusener made sparkling centuries and that was a huge advantage for the home team. The Indian thinktank experimented with India's most dependable as well as crafty and time consuming batsman Rahul Dravid as a makeshift opener. He failed in both the innings. Dravid has the temperament to stay long at the wicket. Another thing is playing many one-dayers most of the players are not able to stay long at the wicket. If one goes through the scorecard one can find that more than 1200 runs have been scored within four days of cricket. But if the players can score 250 runs per day (and it is a good score in 90 overs as far as Test cricket is concerned) the match could be saved. It will be wise to economise words on Indian bowlers. But the Indian batsmen too don't show any application, dedication or determination. Nowadays Test matches are result oriented but then we cannot find one batsman struggling against a bowler. Batsmen have forgotten to take singles,which are the life blood of an innings. Moreover Test cricket is dying. GOUTAM K. R. DUTTA, RAIGANJ Inconsistent team Sir, - One often wonders why India is rated so low by the different ranking systems for the performance of the team in One-day Internationals, despite having top-class players like Sachin, Sourav and Rahul. It is apparent when one looks at the performance of India in the recent triangular series in South Africa where we beat South Africa comfortably one day and miserably failed against Kenya in the next outing. In fact, if it was not Kenya, we would have not qualified for the final. All these are due to the fact that there is no consistency in the performance. If Sachin and Sourav do not give us a head start the lower order finds the scoring rate a daunting task. Our strength is batting but we pack our side with more batsmen and expect just four bowlers to do the job knowing that our weakness is bowling. This is because our batsmen prove the law of average by failing exactly when it is required like in the finals of the last few tournaments. V. S. GOPALARATHNAM, CHENNAI Too much hype Sir, - I feel it is a bit early to eulogise Ajit Agarkar's performance against Kenya (Vindicating the confidence, The Sportstar, Oct. 27). Let us not forget Kenya, are the minnows of international cricket. Also it is unfair to compare Agarkar with Debasis Mohanty. After three matches bowling 10 overs for 18 runs with three wickets versus Carl Hooper's West Indies team Mohanty was left in the cold. If he has been punished by the batsmen, then who hasn't been in one-day cricket which is a batsman's game? Rather Mohanty is the only genuine swing bowler in India and has done well in the limited opportunities he has got. Remember his performance in the World Cup in England, when he clean bowled the destructive Lance Klusener off the first ball of a one-day international. With horses for courses policy, Mohanty should be selected for India on seamer-friendly pitches. RITESH MISRA, NAGPUR Great father and son Sir, - India's Ajitpal Singh (1975 Senior World Cup captain) and Gagan Ajit Singh (2001 Junior World Cup captain) will go into the record books as the only father and son to win hockey World Cups for the country as captains. But DD Sports failed to bring the action live. There were not many pictures to adorn the sports pages of the dailies either. The print media is obsessed with cricket while DD which declares 'come alive with DD sports' could not have ignored such an event. A. G. KANETKAR, MUMBAI Give them opportunities Sir, - After going through Sidhu's column (The Sportstar, Oct. 27), I wish to express the following: Though I am a great admirer of Sidhu I disagree with his views, that novices shouldn't be paired with experts. If Kenya and Bangladesh are bracketed that way, then how can they come up to international standards without participating with the Test playing nations? They have every right to play top grade cricket. Also when Kenya defeated the West Indies in the 1996 World Cup and then beat India in 1998 (Gwalior) the performances were said to be of high quality. Or else one has to admit that the Kenyan novices won against equally incompetent sides. In my opinion, Kenya should be given opportunities in four-nation tournaments rather than in tri-series. Even one win by Kenya can upset a Test team and change the outcome, which won't be the case in the tri-series. VIMAL KUMAR, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Contents • Daily Sports • The Hindu • Business Line • Frontline • Home Copyrights © 2001 The Sportstar Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Sportstar.