Cricket-When Boys became Men and Men became Boys

Last week our Indian boys trampled all over the English team on a Cricket Field in Chennai. Obviously to be elated with a victory achieved on a dead pitch will lead to chest beating. The media went gaga and painted the two with headlines that would make any youngster proud of his achievements.

But I would want my dear readers to mark my words. The real test for a Karun Nair and a K L Rahul will come on a seaming English pitch on a cold winter morning. That will differentiate the boys from the men. That will be the litmus test for our boys. Do not mistake me. I too was there at the Chepauk celebrating the teams achievements and plaudits at a convincing 4-0 win over England.

Victory is never really short term. It has to be viewed with a long term perspective. My angst with the media is right here. They get it all wrong and begin to glorify a player as if he is the next biggest thing that has happened to Indian Sports. Let the boy grow up, Lets back him up when he is tested in alien conditions.

I just happened to follow the Karnataka versus Tamil Nadu-Ranji game played at Vizag. Match was played on a lively green top. A four day game lasted just two days and both our heroes Rahul and Karun came a cropper. One can understand that both of them were totally drained out after scoring nearly five hundred runs between them but is that reason alone justified. This is where the differentiation lies between being great and being a champion performer. Rahul Dravid was for instance a Run machine in his hey days, rightly called the wall. He was difficult to get out innings after innings, not withstanding the conditions.

Having seen Karun bat, I have noticed glitches in his batting technique. Lets give the youngster time to overcome his glitches. Even K L Rahul needs to learn to build his innings. Nearing a major landmark, or immediately after that he tends to lose his focus. Rahul is yet to get into the practice of accumulating runs once he settles in. This was an art that Dravid was adept at.

From the point of BCCI they will need to have more sporting pitches in place. Lay out tracks where pace will do as much talking as spin. Until we lay out pace friendly tracks we will continue to struggle in overseas tours. Have a horses for the course policy. For instance Dinesh Karthik has had a fair bit of success in English conditions.

My request to the media would be "Allow the boys to graduate to men, give them time, celebrate their success, back them up in their failures and critique them with a view to improve their game.