West Indies inflicted a deep gash on themselves by dumping Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan. A smooth transition is always more healthy than a clean break. In this context, I don't understand players giving up captaincy and refusing responsibility to help with sustaining goodness in teams.
Australia, until recently, were that team. There were no mass exclusions, always minor cuts. Not since, Kim Hughes relinquished captaincy to Border has Australia had a former captain in the team. Traditionally, Australia has always appointed the best batsman to lead the side. Therefore, this new experiment is going to be interesting.
West Indies have had no such tradition since Richie Richardson was captain. The administrators and selectors have done great disservice to West Indies by constantly harking back to past glories and thereby undermining the current crop. The players need encouragement and little of that sort seems to be coming from West Indies administration. It's not surprising that there is so much rebellion. There is a complete lack of understanding of today's youth and their motivation for sport. It's unlikely that the West Indies will regain even an iota of their past glory with such poor treatment of players. This is sad because the Caribbeans play a very entertaining brand of cricket that needs to be nurtured and preserved.
Sri Lanka too have wounded themselves immensely by taking on the IPL players. All that the current plan has done is divided the team. Those that want to fulfill their IPL obligations and those that put country above IPL. Why create a situation where one has to choose? By throwing down the gauntlet the team has now been divided. This to a point where Malinga has decided to give up Test cricket altogether. I can't understand why a player has to choose between money and country. Cricket is rich enough to give a player both. Sri Lankan administrators and selectors are shallow score-settlers and are simply jealous of the opportunity that today's cricketers have to make a life out of cricket.
Has anyone understood why Pakistan cricketers are taboo for the IPL, but umpires aren't?
This brings to question a very oblique theory. Vallabhbhai Patel once joked to Gandhi that he didn't know what it cost the country to keep him poor. India too probably doesn't know what's it's costing cricket to make India number one. Dead pitches, neutered fast bowlers and shorter boundaries. No wonder Pakistan and West Indies cricket is dying or in Pakistan's case fast bowlers being forced into match-fixing to survive.
Has the price been worth India's ascent to the top?
