Captain is as good as his team

Captain is as good as his team
Mohinder Amarnath’s outburst against Mahendra Singh Dhoni is understandable. As a selector, he was not only against Dhoni, but he made the ridiculous suggestion that Virender Sehwag should be made captain of the Test team. That position probably cost him his promotion and he was instead booted out of the selection panel. We must not forget the memorable victories that Dhoni has brought for India. Before the arrival of Dhoni, I remember Sunil Gavaskar say that “India is famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”. If every time five top batsmen get out for less than 50 runs what is a captain supposed to do? We do not have players like Amarnath or Gavaskar these days, and the selection committee lacks the guts to drop non-performing seniors, who have been primarily responsible for the disgraceful loss.
—RG Wadhwani, Mumbai

Play the game on merit
Apropos of “Jimmy opens a can of worms”, Mohinder Amarnath, cricketer, match winner, coach and selector, has opened a Pandora’s box in speaking his mind openly about the Indian team and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. During his cricketing career, Jimmy had a very tough time with the selectors, and once he even called them a pack of jokers. Now, after being removed from the selection panel for his outbursts, he has once again shown the courage to call a spade a spade. He has every right to state his views about the Board of Cricketing Controversies of India. After the poor performance by the Indian team, many expected structural changes in the side. But not much has happened and many of the old faces survive. Indian cricket is passing through one of its worst phases and the truth is coming out slowly. We cannot bask in past glory, but must play the game on merit at all times, to bring laurels to the country.
—Anandambal Subbu, Navi Mumbai

Perform or perish
Apropos of “Singling out Zaheer is not fair...”, one appreciates Srinath’s lament over Zaheer’s elimination from the Indian Test team, the ground truth, unfortunately, is not in Zaheer’s favour. He has taken just four wickets in six outings and that’s not good enough, when the team is down 1-2, with the possibility of a series loss looming large. Besides, Zaheer has not been ‘singled out’; Yuvraj and Harbhajan have been put out also, and I would guess that at least two more non-performers will be shown the door after the final Test. In the England team, Stuart Broad was dropped, but Finn who replaced him, did well in the third Test. Zaheer has had his days and he will hopefully bounce back. It is not the end of the world for him.
—Dr V Subramanyan, Thane
Automatic doors
Hundreds of thousands of commuters travel on the suburban railways daily. An average 200 people fall, are injured and even die each day. But the railways and the government are not doing much about this, although one rupee on each ticket is charged to fund the security of passengers. During the past 10 years or so, I have intimated the railway and state authorities about the need to install automatic doors on the suburban trains to reduce the accidents. Now I plan to sit on a hunger protest on 30 January 2013, on the occasion of Gandhi Puniyathithi, if the authorities lead me to do so, by not responding to my pleas for passenger safety.
—Manmohan Gupta, Mumbai

Spectators sacrificed
No other cricketing nation is as fanatical about the game and has so much money and power along with it as India has. The bench strength that we have must be the envy of others. If only the BCCI was more faithful to the game than the lucre it generates, we would not have been in this sorry state today, suffering consecutive routs at home! The administrators, abetted by sponsors, appear to be deciding the composition of the team, and they must be pulled up for the unacceptable performance by the team and certain individual players. The enthusiasm of the Indian spectators cannot be offered at the altar of the BCCI’s cash chest.
—R Narayanan, Ghaziabad

Castrate the rapist
Apropos of “Automan picks 4-year-old from school, rapes her”, I believe that castration is the only fitting punishment for such beastly acts that may deter these potential offenders from forcing themselves on women. For, which man would not fear about remaining impotent for the rest of his life!  Castration may sound a barbaric punishment, but barbarians like Rajesh Vamne deserve nothing less.
—KP Rajan, Mumbai

Of scams and shams
Apropos of “Oppn gets govt into ‘let’s probe Wal-Mart’ lobby”, it has been the case recently that every time the Opposition raises the matter of corruption, the government has put up stiff resistance against instituting an inquiry into the scam, fearing that such an initiative could amount to admission of guilt. The Opposition on its part has been equally adamant, leading to paralysis in the functioning of the government. Eventually the government surrenders, agreeing to conduct a probe. This is the first time that the government has conceded to the the Opposition demand for an inquiry without much fuss. Perhaps it has learnt its lesson that delaying agreeing to an inquiry only allows the media to dig out more skeletons from the closet. Besides, the government is adept at manipulating inquiries, like we have seen in the case of the Haryana government’s inquiry on Robert Vadra’s business dealings and the irrigation white paper in Maharashtra that were a sham.
—VM Swaraj, Chennai

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