Friday, June 10, 2011

West Indian cricket is inconsequential



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Sachin Tendulkar will be skipping India's Test tour of the West Indies and spend time with his family instead.

Of course this news is not new but it still rankles.

A few years back, this event would have been inconceivable. Today it generates a muted response. A few raised eyebrows and then a quite resignation to the times we live in. It is now acceptable for one of the greatest players of all time to play for a private franchise and rest when his country will be trying to win a Test Series at the home of a side that was once the most feared and respected side of all time.

Its a reflection on many things. The decline of the West Indies; first and foremost.


Its one thing to be in decline but when the foremost cricketer of today, does not even consider worth his while to be a part of something he has never accomplished; win a Test Series in the West Indies; the condemnation is total.

It is also a reflection of the importance, might and influence of the IPL. Not one of India's stars thought it was in their best interests to skip the IPL in preference of the West Indies tour. Not Sachin Tendulkar, not Zaheer Khan, not Yuvraj Singh, not VVS Laxman, not Rahul Dravid.

One of the reasons, often cited, for Zaheer Khan's resurgence as a Test class bowler to possibly India's best since Kapil Dev, is his stint with Worcestershire. That was before the IPL. Which young bowler today will sign up for the rigors of county cricket to be a better bowler when he can make millions bowling 'back of the hand' slow bouncers in the IPL. No one. Not Dhawal Kulkarni, not Jaidev Unadkat, not Praveen Kumar.

And who would blame them, when Sachin Tendulkar himself does not consider a Test tour of West Indies as worth his while. If ever anyone needed an indicator of the viability of West Indian cricket in particular and Test cricket in general.

This is it.

Sachin Tendulkar has confirmed. Test Cricket is not important and West Indian cricket is inconsequential.

16 comments:

Vaibhav Sharma said...

well its true that west indies have declined but its not fair to say sachin does n't consider test cricket important. he is an aging player and needs to save his body for the best and the toughest games. And regarding the IPL well you cant rest for a tournament for which you are paid million dollars and IPL is not that bad! since the advent of IPL, India is rising in cricket.

Ram said...

"Test Cricket is not important"
Well, as far as Sachin is concerned, he 's spent more of his time in the last year in playing Tests compared with ODIs. He's does'nt play international T20 even though there was a huge clamour asking him to play in the last T20 world cup.
It is the viability of MI which is the problem. That team needs Sachin to survive.

Anonymous said...

the reason sachin gave for skipping the tour is that he wants to spend some time with his family. this seems reasonable on the face of it. over the last 20 years he may have spent more time on tour than at home. why didn't he skip the IPL instead? well... we can reason that he got to stay close with his family as the IPL happened..

any which way you look at it... he surely wouldn't have passed up a tour to australia or england. so this is really just a sign of the decline of the windies rather than sachin's giving preference to IPL.

Vaibhav Sharma said...

its correct that west indies is declining but its unfair to say sachin prefers ipl over tests. he is an aging man who needs to preserve his body for the best and the toughest games. and well you cant skip a tournament for which you are paid over a million dollar bucks. and IPL is not that bad for india! since its advent India are on the rise.

Golandaaz said...

Ram,

I agree with you. A lot franchises need the star players to play in the initial years. Else people will stay away

Golandaaz said...

Anon,

Of course, its clearly a sign of the devaluation of the prestige in beating WI.

Its not just a decline. Australia too is in decline but teams would still line up full strength to get an opportunity to beat Australia.

Not so with WI. This is a combination of decline, changed player preferences and a total devaluation of a series win in the WI

Golandaaz said...

Vaibhav Sharma,

I don't see why it is unfair to say Sachin prefers IPL over the WI tour and Test Cricket. He just did that and I am not saying its "wrong". Just that it reflects the state today's cricket is. Different from years past...

Anonymous said...

no need to be shy.

repeat after me and say it slowly but surely -

'He just did that and it is wrong as well.'

Full Ok.

Go grod Go.

- R.A

Golandaaz said...

RA :-)

If I were George Bush, yes I could categorize the world as good v evil; right and wrong.....but i am not....

so lets just say that SRT played the IPL over the WI tour and that's the only truth and it sucks

Vaibhav Sharma said...

golandaaz..

sachin did not ignore "tests", he ignored a weak opponent! if the England tour would have followed the IPL , i bet he would not have missed it! its just that west indies is nowadays ignored by almost everyone including ICC let alone the players.

Ameya said...

Now, now Gol. That is a big statement to make - 'Test cricket is not important' for Sachin. :-)He would have lined up to play Eng, Aus and even have missed a few IPL games if that had been the schedule. As I said in my previous comment - not a coincidence that we aren't playing England first up after the IPL.

Would it be safe to assume that you have lived first-hand the glory days of the WI when they were the team to beat, which would explain your need to see India's best beat them at their home? Because I haven't and yes, I don't see the point of turning up to beat their current lot at their home on their sluggish pitches in front of their passionate crowds (oh, wait!). There really is no incentive for our senior (and tired) players.. They would rather be fresher, rested for the Eng tour later - who could turn out to be genuine challengers for the no.1 rank!

So yes, WI cricket is inconsequential today and that is the only truth :-( .. Watch Sach take on Eng in the tests later! :P

Golandaaz said...

Vaibhav,

That's your hypothesis.....

and mine is that if there was an IPL season 5 in the WI Sachin would have gone with family

We can't argue on what might have been.

Can only state what is true. And the truth is Sachin played an IPL season in favor of Test Matches in the West Indies. He does not care that he will retire without a Test series win in the West Indies.

Sunil Gavaskar won in the WI, so did Rahul Dravid, but not Sachin. For him it was more important to play the IPL

Vaibhav Sharma said...

winning in WI is not as important nowadays as it was 10 years back. even our second string team has defeated them without a fuss in the one day series. its same as saying a legendary player would retire without a series win in Bangladesh.

Golandaaz said...

But even if this were Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, I would have said Sachin prefers IPL to Tests. Its true isn't it? why so much hesitation in saying it the way it is.

Its true that WI decline is a factor. yes...in fact the title of my post is "WI cricket is inconsequential"....

But now people like SRT are using which Tests they will play and which they will not. When Sachin does in LOIs, I don't complain but in my view Tests are a bit holier. His commitment to Test cricket broadly is not total. It is based on the weakness of the opposition, prestige, etc etc...

Just like past Australian and English greats who chose when to tour and not to tour the subcontinent....

straight point said...

sorry for being late on the issue...

so when you hear sachin saying that 129 run chase to win test match in west indies still pains him... you know he meant it as joke...

Golandaaz said...

SP, thanks for mentioning it :-) There is nothing more to say....is it...