With a population exceeding 100 crores, Indians find it distressing to find that in the field of sports the performance of Indians is pathetic to say the least. So many reasons have been put forth for this plight. Through this article, Srikrishnamangal tries to find out where we have really gone wrong.

As compared to other sports is better managed in India both in financial and technical aspects. But there are certain flaws which, if rectified, can go a long way in making India a strong contender for the World Champions Post.

Australian and Pakistani players were heard condemning the pitch at the Wankade stadium for the Indo Australian match was under prepared and they termed as detrimental to cricket as a whole. To them we would like to quote Murali Karthik who said there is nothing called a perfect pitch. Either a pitch is condemned as a dead pitch (as in Kanpur) or a turning pitch (as in Mumbai) or a pitch favouring fast bowlers as in Nagpur and Perth. Indians never complained against the pitch at Perth. Hence Australians have no right to criticize either India or Sri Lanka. Home teams have an inherent advantage to prepare pitches suiting their bowlers.

What is not understandable, of course, is the anti-national act of the persons responsible for preparing pitch at Nagpur for the Indo-Australian fixture. It seemed that the pitch had been transplanted from Victoria in Australia, to Nagpur, specifically to suit Australia. The predicament was compounded by Captain Dravid by selecting 3 spinners for the match. Had this been done in Bangalore or Chennai, perhaps the result would have been different. However, in this pitch it was like committing harakiri.

When somebody criticized that Indians are lions at home, but lambs at alien pitches. Some Indian officials, it is told, assured that this will not be repeated in future. People understood his statement to mean that in future, Indians will be lions abroad also. But little did they realize that what he meant was that in future he will see to it that Indians are lambs even in India. After the Nagpur debacle, the real truth has dawned upon us.

This shows the utter lack of coordination among selectors, officials and players.

What has Sharad Pawar, Suresh Kalmadi, Manohar Joshi or for that matter, Lalu Prasad Yadav have to do with Indian Sports? Have any of them specialized in any sports activity, including kabaddi? So it will be in the interest of India, if politicians stay away from the Sports arena.

The total number of runs scored by all our selectors together might be a few thousand runs. How can they judge the bowling or batting competence of the present aspiring cricketers? Just consider an imaginary selection committee proposed by us:-

West Zone : Sunil Gavaskar

North Zone : Kapil Dev

East Zone : Saurav Gangully

Central Zone: Narendra Hirwani

South Zone : S. Venkatraghavan.

Readers will be surprised by the inclusion of Saurav Gangully in the above committee, if his current batting form continues, we guess, he will very soon qualify for the same. Jokes apart, the above committee will be morally entitled to make assessment regarding batting, pace bowing, spin bowling and umpiring. Moreover, these selectors can be asked to search for new talents in the leagues and clubs of their respective zones and come out with a list of players, who can be groomed for tests and one dayers. No one will charge these luminaries with zonal bias.

While assessing the capabilities of the aspirants, it should be done collectively by the committee and not only on the basis of the advice given by zonal selectors. We would like to quote the example of Imran Khan, who searched for talents in the nooks and corners of Pakistan. Groomed them by giving ample chances and was instrumental in bringing Pakistan to the heights where it reached.

In Australia, Sri Lanka and Zealand, the cricket board & media work in coordination in favour of the Home Teams. Whereas our media is always at loggerheads with the home team by picking holes, wherever possible, regarding selections etc. during the ongoing matches. In other countries, Officials take extra effort to prepare pitches to suit the home bowlers. The media on its part, criticizes every move of the touring sides. A concerted effort is made to demoralize the touring team, even before the start of the play. But India the reverse holds true. We are a bunch of people suffering from inferiority complex and slavish mentality.

Our one day team is more or less well balanced. The only fault we can point out is the absence of a regular wicket keeper. Dinesh Kartik or Dhoni should find a permanent place in the playing 11. The name of Pankaj Dharmani also can be considered. However, if our non-playing captain insists on Dravid keeping wickets, the 7th place should be allotted to an all-rounder pace bowler like Robin Morris or Daniel Manohar or Sanjay Bangar. The last named one has opened for India even in tests. The four bowlers should invariably consist of two spinners and two pace bowlers. Gangulys preference for 3 medium pacers and one spinner may work in foreign lands but not in India.

Though Mumbai and Tamil Nadu were finalists in the Ranji trophy for 2 consecutive years, their players are being given a shabby deal by national selectors. Sadagopan Ramesh was good enough to be selected for the Australian Tour and he also scored a century in the preliminary matches. But he was not given a chance to play in the final 11. Chopra took his place. In Pakistan he was replaced by Yuvraj Singh, who in turn was replaced for matches against Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh. So why this animosity against Ramesh?

Another player being neglected, consistently, is S. Sharad. He has scored more than 6000 runs in the Ranji Trophy fixtures. If you want to know about his current form, he scored a century in an one dayer in 2005 for Tamil Nadu and a 50 for South Zone in Duleep Trophy. What else do the selectors want to consider him for selection? Amar Mazumdar of Mumbai is another such neglected batsman. Is there any other criteria for selection? In the 3 teams selected for Challenger Trophy, it is paining to note that none of the above players were selected.

Perhaps the reason may be that captain Sourav Ganguly and the selectors think that there are no places for middle order batsman in our much daunting test squad. This shows that their thinking is only short term and with no plan for future. With Ganguly consistently out of form and retaining his place only because he is captain and Tendulkar being injury prone and surviving his because of his glory. It is time that selectors set their sight and throw the net wide enough to find out four or five middle order batsmen who can serve India long enough in the coming years. To my mind the following three names of Amol Mazumdar, Shridharan Sharad and Venugopal Roa come in first glimpse.

Suddenly all rounders have gone out of favour in our One Day team since the exit of Robin Singh. Selectors should be in search of bowlers who regularly take wickets in the domestic circuit and simultaneously score centuries and select and coach them for inclusion in future sides. If they consider Yuvraj, Sewag and Dinesh Mongia as all rounders, God save India. All rounders of the yester years like Rishikesh Kanitkar, Anantha Padmanabhan, and Gyaneshwar Pandey were neglected for no fault of theirs and hence faded away from the Ranji arena. Had Patel (of New Zealand) and Danesh Kaneria of Pakistan been born in Gujarat, they would still have been playing for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy without being considered for the national team. Spinners like V. V. Kumar and Padmakar Shivalkar had the same fate.

Our obsession with Pakistan: Here our viewers are to be blamed. The offten heard sentence is that Let India lose against anybody else, but should win against Pakistan. This attitude seems to have affected our players psyche. It is no wonder therefore, that India has won all their matches against Pakistan in the World Cups IV to VIII, but never succeeded in winning the Cup itself. This may be because all their energies (both mental physical) is burnt out in the league phase itself, playing against Pakistan. Whether putting India and Pakistan in the same league is done deliberately to boost the coffers of host country, we do not know for sure. Anyway it has worked against the Indias chances of winning. Even in the coming World Cup in West Indies, these countries have been grouped together with Kenya. It is high time, that Indians treat Australia and England as their potential rivals and reduce their concentration against Pakistan.

They can take a leaf from Kapil Devs statement. When he was playing for Haryana, he was vying with Yograj Singh for honours in the Haryana team. But when he started playing for India, his goals were set higher, i.e. to perform better than Karsan Gavri and others. Soon these people also stopped to be his rivals. Fast bowlers from West Indies, South Africa, England and New Zealand were his rivals. This is how he became the worlds highest wicket taker in his days.

Lack of importance to domestic tournaments: Here our media is to be blamed. Even in the middle of the running commentary of matches, between India and Australia, I have heard Australian Commentators speaking passionately and with pride about the matches between their local teams. The same passion is now absent in India. Duleep Trophy finals and Ranji finals do not get the important attention they deserve.

Long ago, in my youth, I remember a match between West and South zones at the Brabourne stadium. Both the teams had all the test players of that time, in both the teams. Dileep Sardesai, Farookh Engineer, Ajit Wadekar, Chandu Borde and Russi Surti for the West Zone and the Nawab of Pataudi, Gundappa Vishwanath, Buddi Kunderan, Subramaniam, Prasanna, Chandasekhar and Venkatraghavan for the South Zone. The stadium was almost full. The match lasted for five days. Tons of runs were scored and the players played with enthusiasm and passion. South Zone won on the First Innings lead (as both could not complete both innings). Can any one inform Srikrishnamangal of any other game in recent gaesm with so many national players in the sides.

With so many One Dayers being played even against smaller teams like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, we request the selectors to give chance to all the domestic players who have scored a minimum number of runs or have taken a minimum number of wickets (to be fixed by selectors) to prove their worthiness. If they fail, nobody will blame the selectors. But not being selected, even after good performance gives place for doubts about the partisanship on their part. To prove this point, we have to quote the omission of S. Sriram in the one day side against Pakistan. His rivals Dinesh Mongia and Doni who failed in Bangladesh have been selected. Perhaps some of the Zonal selectors are afraid that the players from the rival zones may get selected, if given chance and hence nip it in the bud by blocking their choices.

To end on a positive note the new format for the Ranji Trophy, devised by Sunil Gavaskar is working excellently. One only hopes that the selectors find the best players from these teams and include them in the national team. It is time to think beyond Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar and allow players having current form to prove their worth. We also request the T V Channels to give preference to the telecast of domestic tournaments as compared to masala matches which include film stars. Time has come to treat cricket as a competitive sports instead of a tool of entertainment.

We suggest an annual tournament between Duleep Trophy champions and the Rest of India with all the national players included. The time may be adjusted in such a way that it does not clash with International Commitments. This will act as a litmus test for the potential of the cricket players.

The statements made by the outgoing German Coach to the Indian Hockey team is the most damning revelation of the state of affairs in the Indian Hockey Officialdom. He spoke of behind the scene maneouring , the lack of coordination between him, Jyothikumaran and K. P. S. Gill etc. etc. If this is true, how can one ever hope for a bright future, for Indian Hockey? We request the higher ups to clean their Auegieon Stables first before thinking of Indian Hockey team.

What is Shoaib Aktar to Pakistani team mates, it seems Dhanraj Pillai to his team mates, howsoever talented and dedicated he may be. It will be of no use, if he cannot coordinate with his team mates. Moreover age is on his wrong side. Hence it would be prudent if the IHF selects a full fledged team without Dhanraj Pillai for the next Olympics to be held in China and start preparing in right earnest.

The German coach also revealed that he had no choice in selecting the team, because the whole team was selected by the sponsors and given to them for silent approval. They refused to sponsor the team, if Dhanraj Pillai was not selected. If this is indeed true, then nothing can be more injurious to Indian Hockey. If excess of sponsorship is the bane of Indian cricket, the lack of it is affecting other sports adversely. Whatever it may be, there is no question of allowing the sponsors to dictate terms regarding selection of any sports team.

It is always seen that most of the officials are themselves ignorant of any change of rules in the sports discipline they are in. Thus, by the time, they come to know of the change and communicate the same to the players, it is too late. At least instead of heating up the chairs they sit on, let the officials keep in touch with the changing scenarios and in accordance with the rules.

Once upon a time, Indians and Pakistanis were the champions of touch hockey. But since International Hockey Federation was in the hands of the Whites, the rules of hockey were changed to suit their muscle power of players and hockey was made similar to football. Whether the artificial turf on which todays hockey is played, generating heat and has to be kept under water was introduced to suit the cool conditions in Europe also needs to be investigated. These rules, and other similar changes had put Indians and Pakistanis at a great disadvantage and the results are so glaring for everybody to see. Similarly in cricket, when Bhishan Singh Bedi was taking scores of wickets keeping seven fielder on one side, the Europeans solved the problem not by improving their batsman-ship against spin, but by changing the rules by reducing the number of fielders. All these times, our officials in the ICC were either silent spectators or willing abetters. At least the scene in cricket arena things have changed for the better. Still the way in which, our spinners from Asia like Murlidharan and Harbhajan Singh are being hounded for chucking, while leaving out likes of Bret Lee et al show that the whites are at their game.

Though there are more officials than players in most of the disciplines, it is often found that the players suffer for the lack of visas, sports kits etc. etc. Our officials are specialists in mesmerism, i.e. to create a mess and make merry. The recent denial of visa to Kaluvitarana for the Tsunami match in Mumbai is a standing example.

By now, we hope that the experiments of K. P.S. Gill is over. Let him now settle on a settled (permanent) team and a coach with a fixed term till at least the next Olympics.

After cricket and hockey, it is lawn tennis players who have given the Indians something to cheer about, so far. The Krishnan family and the Amritaraj family have done a yeoman service to the survival of lawn tennis in India. However, the present scenario is very bleak with Leander Peas out of form and Mahesh Bhupati in quest of individual doubles title, the ground situation for the Davis cup tournament is very poor. We can only request that the Krishnans, Amritarajas and Mankads may be drafted into the All India Tennis Federation and new players groomed urgently to represent India in the Davis Cup.

The same holds good other sports as well. It is often seen that in majority of the cases, the people who head the Federation of any sports discipline are there only on the basis of their financial, royal or political status and not on the basis of their sporting talent. This trend has to be changed. For example, Kutraleswaran, a former swimming hero, is no more in the sports right now and has gone abroad. However, on his return he wants to start a swimming academy on his own. Nothing is heard of Rupali Rephale, another swimming star who had crossed many channels in the world. Similarly so many sports stars may be withering away for want of social and financial support.

Once again it is suggested that talented sportsmen, old and new should be drafted into respective federations like P. T. Usha, Manual Aeron, Michael Ferreira, Arti Pradhan et al and used for the improvement of the games. On the contrary, we see P. T. Usha being insulted by non-invitation for Olympics torch carrying ceremony.

We request the politicians and the sponsors to mend their ways or else the day is not very far off when the sports lovers of this country will rebel against them and stone them wherever they go.

Last but, not the least, we would like to say that as long as any group of players representing India officially, and play any game as an Indian team, the people of India cannot be denied their right to see them in live action though the Doordarshan (irrespective of who sponsors the events). For example, if the present Indian players and Pakistani players play under the banner of Dal XI and Mia XI , we are least bothered, whether it is telecast or not. But it is invariably seen that patriotic sentiments of Indians and Pakistanis are aroused and exploited by the concerned parties to boost their respective coffers. After doing all these efforts to show to the world that India is playing against another country, one should take with a pinch of salt in the statement made to court that the players are representing only BCCI and not India.