Battles lost and won

Sir — India’s historic triumph in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup will surely lift the sagging morale of Indian cricket fans. The victory can be attributed primarily to three factors. First, the absence of a high-profile coach ensured that there was no meddling with the captain’s decisions and no rift among the players. Second, the predominance of young players in the team meant that they fielded brilliantly which ensured that India had an edge in tight situations. Third, in the absence of superstars, each and every player rose to the occasion under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s inspiring leadership. It is now for the fans to allow the young cricketers to build on this success rather than distract them with an overdose of hero-worshipping.

Yours faithfully,
Vinayak Sharma, Guwahati

Sir — The Twenty20 World Cup has been a phenomenal success and it has changed the complexion of the limited-overs version of the game. This format requires altogether different kinds of skills from the traditional 50-over game. Both India and Pakistan fared badly in the World Cup held six months ago. In this new format, both teams, though initially written off even in their own countries, reached the finals. On the other hand, the finalists of the ODI World Cup, Australia and Sri Lanka, had mixed fortunes in the Twenty20 championship. The Aussies appeared to be in command in the semi-final against India when Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds were going at the Indian bowling. But India took the game away from them finally. Will the Indian team be able to extend its success in South Africa against the visiting Australians in the upcoming ODI series? Not only will things go back to the 50-over format, but, with the return of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, even the composition of the team will change. It will be interesting to see how the three seniors perform under the captaincy of M.S. Dhoni. Will the youngsters find it difficult to adjust to the 50-over format in just five days? The seven-match series against Australia will be the real test for Team India, and winning it will silence the critics for a long time to come.

Yours faithfully,
Ganesh K. Sovani, Thane

Sir — While congratulating the Indian team on its excellent win in the Twenty20 World Cup, one has to concede that the death knell of traditional cricket has been rung. Since Twenty20 is likely to become the most popular format of the game, a technically sound cricketer will soon become extinct. The batsmen will only learn how to hit the ball out of the ground. They will also learn the extra-curricular arts of swearing (à la Yuvraj Singh), glaring (S. Sreesanth), and perhaps dancing too. Gone are the days when the batsman never looked at the umpire after getting out, the fielders applauded a good shot — in other words, everything that gave cricket the title, “a gentleman’s game”, has been lost. Let us name this game “bricket” and the players “bricketers”. At least the word, cricket, will not be put to shame.

Yours faithfully,
S. Chaudhuri, Guwahati

Sir — For once, the Board of Control for Cricket in India must be thanked for choosing performance and youth over ageing record-holders with inflexible bodies. There is a need to respect the limitations of advancing age not only in sports but also in all other walks of life. Can our old politicians please follow the example and give a chance to the youth?

Yours faithfully,
Raghubir Singh, Pune

Sir — The new-look Indian team has lifted the fortunes of Indian cricket from the dumps it was in after the one-day World Cup. The victory has re-established cricket as a team game which is not meant to prioritize individual performances and records.

Yours faithfully,
Sunil V. Khaitan, Calcutta

Sir — In a country like ours where cricket is above all religion, the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat is still trying to put communal colours to the game. When all the state governments are vying with each other to reward the players from their own states, the Gujarat government has shown no such benevolence towards the Pathan brothers. Modi must understand that if there is an election in the state today and Irfan Pathan is a candidate for the post of the chief minister, Modi may well lose his chair.

Yours faithfully,
Bhawani Poddar, Dibrugarh

Sir — It is natural for the nation to be overjoyed and the BCCI to reward its cricketers for winning the Twenty20 World Cup. But what about the huge sums being offered? Yuvraj Singh performed exceptionally well and his six sixes in an over and his half-century off just 12 deliveries make him worthy of an incentive. But one crore rupees is still a bit too much. The excess of adulation, as well as criticism if a player or team performs badly, is a feature of cricket-following in our country. And the media, by blowing things out of proportion, are partly responsible for this.

Yours faithfully,
Nandini Saraf, Calcutta

Sir — No doubt the Indian cricketers deserve to be congratulated on their Twenty20 World Cup victory, but are we not going overboard with our celebrations? Except for making a few rich cricketers richer, this victory will have no bearing on the day-to-day struggle of most Indians, nor is it going to change the way the world views India. Isn’t it time we got our priorities right?

Yours faithfully,
Ramani P. Easwaran, Bangalore