Shape up or ship out

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Make way Team India under-performers and those constantly battling injury problems. Generation Y is coming through, fitter and hungrier than you. Its members have proved at every opportunity that they are the future of Indian cricket and they have the talent and the fitness to outdo the old legs. Isn’t it time for those oldies, who are way past their sell-by date, to move over for the good for the game?

Not many have been inclined to do that. The wish to tarry until push comes to shove runs universally in sport, more so in Indian cricket. The great batsman Vijay Merchant had said, “A cricketer must retire when people are asking ‘why?’ and not ‘why not?’”
Still there are very few who have shown the knack to time their exits as carefully as Sunil Gavaskar did. Not even Kapil Dev moved until the signals came that he would be nudged if he did not quit. Of course, Imran Khan was the one who went out on a note of great glory, never playing international cricket again after winning the World Cup for Pakistan in 1992.
Facing mealy-mouthed Aussies who are also determined to recapture the top Test spot is Team India’s immediate task. Having never won a Test series Down Under, India are under pressure like never before.
To beat the Aussies on their home turf, India needs more than theories and messages on social microblogging sites. Team India need to be aggressive and twice as good as the home side to win Down Under. They have a blend of youth and experience to tackle a watershed series. If they don’t shape up now, they may have to suffer the blue Aussie expression — “Get on yer bike mate.”

oldies not helping their cause
It hasn’t been a good time for some of the oldies lately, not even in domestic cricket. When Ajit Agarkar put up tantrums and stormed out of the venue after being dropped from the Mumbai Ranji team, he was acting like most ageing cricketers do when the time is up for them. Many others like him wish to linger. For instance, Harbhajan Singh who is prone to giving himself fitness and international career longevity certificates whenever selection time comes up. After being dropped from the Indian team to Australia, Bhajji found out he had a shin injury that would take months to heal.
The point being made in the Harbhajan case is if a cricketer is picked for Team India he tends to hide injuries while trying to stop a promising youngster from grabbing his spot. Bhajji was said to have put so much emotional pressure on his friend Mahendra Singh Dhoni that Ravichandran Ashwin was given the toughest assignments in the World Cup when asked to bowl all his overs in the Powerplay despite which he out-bowled Harbhajan in the two games he got. Once given a Test chance, Ashwin proved himself so capable of standout performances that no one is grieving Bhajji is not in the selection picture now.
Even quality batsmen like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have not had much to show in Test cricket this year. In his last 25 Test innings Gambhir averages 29.33 while Sehwag’s highest is 55. But, given Sehwag’s genius for strokeplay there is no predicting when he will click big time. And as he clattered ODI cricket’s biggest ever double-century, nicking the record from Sachin, he had a dig at those who were putting his form under a microscope with a droll comment on how one needs to be experienced to accomplish great deeds!
This is a broad hint from the master blaster that minor form slumps should not take away a match winner’s place in the team. But not everyone is a Sehwag.

slow and steady initiation
World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev looks at the positive side of juniors earning their place the hard way. “When a player waits for his chance it makes him that much competitive. It brings about a sense of competition in the team and in turn leads to better results.”

Look at the case of Ashwin who has done extremely well in his first Test series. He will know the importance of performing consistently, as he earned his place in the Test team after proving his worth in the shorter versions,” explained Kapil.
Their IPL contracts are sufficient to keep them in clover for longer. Even so, champion ODI performers like Yuvraj Singh wish to stay on in international cricket for the buzz. Career longevity is good for the endorsements market too. The architect of two great triumphs in world championships for Team India in 2007 and 2011, Yuvraj has battled his way past a benign lung tumour but he is in no mood to call time on his career.
As a member of the tweeting generation, Yuvraj keeps putting his point of view across to millions of his fans of how he is often the persecuted one. “I am fine, I am fit” is often the thrust of these terse messages that are an instant hit with youth. When fit, Yuvraj is a limited-overs match winner but angry tweets may not be able to resurrect his flagging Test career.
Chairman of selectors, Kris Srikkanth had this to say about when that moment to bid good bye to the game finally arrives in a cricketer’s life, “To be honest, it is not an easy decision (to call it quits) but players will have to accept reality and get on with life. Every athlete has a sell by date.”

few warhorses still battling on
What complicates the current scene for ageing cricketers is the oldest of them all — Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar — are still so match fit and ticking over with quality Test runs that they inspire a whole generation of ageing stars to play on. The two are, however, exceptional players and such disciplined men that their age hardly comes into the argument.
Former Indian skipper Bishan Bedi says pointedly that age is a mere number and has no place in professional sport. “As long as players are performing, they must be left alone. The youngsters are also very talented but that alone cannot be the reason to push the seniors out when they are performing. The under-performers should be thrown out,” said Bedi.
The problem is with those who find it difficult to sustain their levels of brilliance. This includes the impact players too. The cry for making way for the next generation is gaining ground by the day with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin performing well whenever given the chance. Manoj Tiwari and Ravindra Jadeja, who’ve been on the fringes for the last few years, itching for an extended run, have consistently proved themselves in whatever little chances they’ve got.
It’s because of them — the fresh legs — that India have been able to make a spectacular comeback with just two losses among a dozen wins in the last three months since the forgettable England tour. They are representative of the spirit of youth willing to throw everything they have into playing for India. Isn’t it time those who are under-performing make way for them?