The 2nd Ind-SA ODI – A gift to the visitors

          So the 2nd India-SA ODI has ended and we cricket lovers got to witness another disappointing performance that has played out so many times before. But all we are able to do about it is vent about it in our private spaces and among private groups of friends etc. When things happen so bad, we are so numbed by it that we realise only in such moments that we, the people who follow cricket like a religion, and spend time and money on watching and supporting our national cricket heroes, are in fact quite often shortchanged for good results, because the team, or some players in the team, made ‘mistakes’ which could have been definitely avoided with a little more sincere effort on the part of the erring players. This is the highest level of the game, guys.

          It is unforgivable that a Yashasvi Jaiswal who was so greatly hailed for having risen from humble circumstances to making it so big, should turn out to be quite a case of butter fingers. When he’s fielding, two terrible things seem to happen. One, he seems to attract the ball towards himself quite too much. It’s quite uncanny, really. Two, even when he gets to reach the ball and actually lay his hands on it, the ball slips through his jelly fingers. Is he scared of the ball hurting him, or is he scared he’ll fall and hurt himself. Either way, these are problems you expect professional sportsmen to have found a solution to before entering the world stage. A truly honest and sincere cricketer will overcome these shortcomings through more intense practice at the nets. Seems like Jaiswal doesn’t do it. Not even the remorse of not being in good batting form presently prods him to get down to it. In this way, he is not fielding or batting well. Why is he in the team then, selectors? Is there no one responsible to call out his laziness and order him to get down to practicing fielding and catching? Catches do win matches.  

          Arshdeep Singh’s laziness is soon going to take on the proportions of legion and lore. It was not too long ago that in another match we saw him drop a dolly of a catch that lost us the match. There was even uproar then to the extent that security had to be deployed outside his home. Yet this guy thinks that just the reputation of being a wicket taking bowler is enough contribution on his part for the team and the nation? And the cricket fans? In this 2nd ODI he let slip by, once on his left and once on his right, two hits that then went off to be boundaries. Even the bowler and senior team members were angry at the ridiculousness of it. Because he only had to reach out and he’d have got his hands to the ball; it went that close by him. But, trust a lazy Indian cricketer who’s made it big early in life to be satisfied with what he’s doing. Being a tall person, he probably doesn’t like to bend down, so he’s decided he won’t do it. Having committed the same mistake twice in one match betrays this mindset.

          Ravindra Jadeja, once known as one of the best fielders in the world, for all his years of experience, over-ran a ball at the boundary, because he couldn’t judge the line of the ball? Goodness! And it’s said that experience is a great teacher.

          We lost this match by a ‘whisker’. That ‘whisker’ could easily have been covered by the two boundaries that vee-ed past either side of Arshdeep, the six that Yashasvi cushioned in his hands before it landed softly outside the ropes, and the boundary that Ravindra let slip past, had not happened. 

          We gifted away the match. As we so often do. And for a cricket enthusiast and spectator, it is disgusting. Especially at this level of the game.

          We have so many good players waiting in the wings just dying to be in the playing eleven. Why then do we allow the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh, and more, the luxury of getting away with unforgivable, unprofessional lapses, and atrocious insincerity. Send them packing to domestic cricket till they get their acts in order. Let them know what minimum standards of excellence are required to be playing in the national team. No one should ever be thought indispensable. The top echelons of the game’s administration are lucky that the general public here do not yet have un-ignorable avenues of marking their anger before them. 

          But one shouldn’t bank on it. Some day some earthquake will throw them off their cushy executive chairs. Why not pull up your socks now and get down to effective administration, administrators.

                                                                                  ***** 

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