The 'Who Killed Woolmer' Jack-Pot: Strangely enough the action of the field is hotter than the action on the field in this year's Cricket Worl Cup. Even my wife, who is not the keenest of cricket fans regularly tunes in to the sports news programmes to get a sniff of an Agatha Christie 'Who-dun-it' saga. The news channels aren't complaining. What MAX lost in India's defeat was the 24 hour news hounds gained in Woolmer's death.
The importance of the Bob Woolmer Case (it is not safe to call it a 'Murder Case' for everyday there is a new theory on how he died) is the match fixing angle. I do not have much to add to all the speculations on the issue of match fixing. But I just have one question to ask. If the ICC was serious about fighting match fixing, why is it that the official website of Wisden Cricket - www.cricinfo.com has links to Cricket Betting?
Chappel and India's Crash: We are all disappointed at India's exit from the World Cup. But let that not make us lose sight of some basic facts. India's trip to the World Cup came shortly after what can be term a series of mega debacles - in West Indies, in South Africa and in the Champion's trophy. But just before the World Cup we played like tigers against the West Indies and the Sri Lankans - on home pitches, on known conditions. I presume this schedule was engineered by the board to drive up the frenzy before the World Cup. The media blurted out headlines - "The nightmare is over, the hopes are high". But if we remember history we can feel a little less taken aback by the Indian team's performance. In fact I think Greg Chappel was correct when he pointed out that the last time that the Inidian team has won a tournament abroad was in 1985! There is a little bit of history to it.
So that brings us to the favourite question of them all - who is to blame for the debacle. Chapple has had to take a lot of flak for the 'process' that to took the team through - the biggest of them being the row over the dropping of Sourav Ganguly. Recently a sports journalist has come to Chappel's rescue by suggesting that Chappel had not been given the freedom to continue with the 'process'. A lot of discussion has taken place on whether Chappel should have had the freedom or was the BCCI correct in reining him in; whether it should have been Old Guns or the Young Blood.
My opinion, however, is that Chappel should have had the freedom to carry out the 'process', but only if the 'process' yielded results. You cannot build a team while the team is losing day in and day out. One cannot treat the cricket team like a much delayed construction project which puts up a sign saying - "TODAY"S INCOVINIENCE FOR TOMORROW"S EASE". A team has got to win. That is how Australia built its champion side.
Chappel cannot be absolved of all blame, nor is he the only one to blame. I think Indian cricket needs serious reforms. The organisational structure of Indian Cricket continues to be skewed and undemocratic. Certian states have upto 3 or 4 Associations, while the entire North-East doesn't play cricket. There is a feudal mindset which goes into the team selection from the district level which does not allow new and talented players to emerge.
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