Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's offer to quit the Test captaincy is a peevish reaction to the harsh and justifiable criticism levelled at him and his team for the twin disasters in England and Australia.
At a time when a captain has to show the way forward by inspiring his team to bounce back off the floor, Dhoni has been busy contemplating his own future.
Where was the need for the Team India captain to ruminate on where he may stand in 2013 and years into the future when all the problems of Indian cricket seem pegged to the present?
Modern cricket is full of highly paid galacticos whose selfish commitment to their star value and their sizeable endorsement and management contracts is becoming legendary. The lack of credible alternatives in a failing team may have emboldened Dhoni to speak in challenging tones now about the Test captaincy, which he terms a great personal sacrifice.
His open espousal of younger legs and fresh minds in his team may appear to be logical but it is disparaging of the seniors who helped his team reach the heights in Test match cricket as well.
While their string of failures in Australia is not to be dismissed as a mere reflection of current form of the greats, it is only right that they be respected for their enormous contribution to Indian cricket despite their decline.
Dhoni may be sceptical of the Test match format - he was once guilty of skipping a Test tour to take rest - but he cannot display his contempt for it by attaching so much importance to the defence of the World Cup which is years away.