The fab four of Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman has been a major disappointment in the current Srilankan Series. What was incomprehensible was their reluctance to have a counter attacking strategy to Ajantha Mendis. These four has been crease tied and has been bamboozled by the mystery spinner. I would have liked to see Sachin handle him if it were a few years earlier. Remember how he prepared for Shane Warne prior by having a leg spinner bowl outside the leg stump for hours. He thrashed the living daylights out of Shane Warne. We have grown up with the fab four in the last decade, but I am afraid age, slowing reflexes and lack of confidence has finally caught up with them. Having admired them all these years, I just hope that they leave the field gracefully rather than be in a situation where they are shown the door kicking and screaming. Same is the case with Anil Kumble. The heart is still there, and what a big heart!. The competitiveness is still there. Again, what a competitor!. But the skills are waning. He got the opportunity to lead India too in the fag end of his career, deservingly so. Let us not worry about who will lead India in Tests (I am not sure about MS Dhoni. Would rather prefer Sehwag to lead the Test Team) or about their replacements. Most of the lot of Yuvi, Kaif, Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Raina, Piyush Chawla are not upto scratch compared to the veterans. But young Calves need to be given milk. We need to give them opportunities. They are the future. The past has to make way. From the millions, there will arise someone better than even the fab four.
It is also time to say goodbye to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi after the Olympics. They have brought laurels to the country and could have achieved more but for their off the field antics. What a pity! The tennis scene is not very rosy. Sania has reached a plateau and the mens circuit in India is very weak. It will be a long time before we see the likes of Paes and Mahesh.
There are hardly any other stars that we can be proud of in the sporting arena, except for the finest India has produced - Viswanathan Anand. He is at his peak and let us hope that he remains at the top for years to come.
It is the season of change for sportspersons. But not so for our administrators. The unaccountable nincompoops who are the blood suckers. The people who destroy Indian sports year after year. As long as we are apathetic, we will continue to see Indian sports taken down the drain by the Suresh Kalmadis, MS Gills, Priyaranjan Das Munshis and their ilk for a long long time. A country of 1.1 billion and we are not even hoping for One Olympic Gold. Into the first two days of Beijing olympics, it is the same old story of underperformance or non performance. We just make up the numbers at every Games, more of administrators than athletes. What else can you expect with the sporting culture we have.
