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Asian players need to get rid of the "I"! |
A Feature by Syed Ahsan Ali
on June 26, 2007
 It
is never late to learn something good.
Life needs to get better. If you lie,
then there is no harm in changing that
habit. If you don’t tell the truth to
yourself that is also a lie. Lie is
always a lie whether it is big or small.
One lie that is popular in Asian cricket
usually comes from the big names. And it
is something like that I think I still
have a few years of cricket in me, or I
am still hungry about making runs at
this level, or I will not call it off
till I think I can do it. Another lie
which is very common in Asian cricket
about captaincy is that if they ask me
to lead the side I will take the job, or
it will be an honour for me to take this
leadership role. We hear these kind of
statements from our prestigious stars
after convincing all and sundry through
their performances try to suggest
through their words that they have that
hunger that needs to keep them going. If
you closely observe that statements that
are released to persuade public about
their will to keep going, then you find
that it is usually filled with torrents
of “I”. I can do that, I will do that, I
still have the gas in tank, I do not
need to prove my commitment, I think
they find a scapegoat in me and several
more like these are routine in our
cricketing structures.
Aussies also make
it controversial to an extent that
people start asking questions about
their abilities.
Mark Waugh
took handful of time when he was asked
to call it a day, the other
Waugh
followed the suit and even
McGrath
had few critics in last few days but
thankfully he managed to do it
gracefully. Pakistan and India are world
leaders in prolonging their careers till
they lose all hopes of making any
comebacks.
Javed Miandad made it troublesome
for all when he was selected on public
insistence wherever he lost all
bolstering from selection panel. The
lethal duo of
Wasim and
Waqar also left it too late for some
drastic muckraking. Sachin is also
trying hard to clutch at any straw to
stay in both forms of the game these
days.
What is this trend
and what makes them clasping so tightly
their places and names in World cricket?
Life has to move on. No matter how big,
powerful or influential you were at your
pomp. It is natural that what begins
come to an end sooner or later.
English players are
much better when it comes to
disappearing from the scene with grace.
Nasser
Hussain understood it fairly well at
his time that tide of things has turned
against him in favour of
Michael
Vaughan. It was the time when
labours of Nasser with that team were on
the brink of bearing fruits. But when he
thought it was over, it was really over.
No second thoughts at all. Similarly,
Vaughan did the same last week. His
interview to the Guardian in which he
allegedly mentioned that the Fredalo
incident was responsible for bringing
down the World Cup campaign also left
him stranded. Then his shoddy batting
displays in his stint as one day batsman
also forced this decision. It was
heartening to see that there are still
players who value the public opinion,
opinion of opinion makers about their
exhibitions and their self esteem. It is
not the stage where you show your mental
and physical grit to silence your
critics. This is a cricket field not
your backyard where you can show how
powerful you are. It is a
performance-oriented place not a
training-oriented sanctuary.
Start working and get this “I” trend out
of our system otherwise our cricket will
keep suffering between the clashes of
egos, identities, entities and personal
whims and notions. Realization of the
fact that it is time now to pack the
bags is the key in staying afresh in the
memories of your fans. Kindly, Stars get
rid off this “I”.
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