The last thing Sachin needs is pressure. Rather than focus where he failed against Sri Lanka, look at the vicious turner he bowled to get the dangerous Mahela Jayawardene out! Doesn't that count in his favour? Has anyone noticed that he is also the second highest wicket taker in the ongoing tournament? Isn't that worthy of applause?

Maybe selection based on merits and not connections and politics would give a better team.

Here we go again. A losing captain attributing the loss to a failure to play to team's potential. Why do captains keep on repeating the bleeding obvious! It is much better if they just congratulated the winning team, said their team would try to better next time or something sensible like that. But, oh no. The losing captains tell us what we already saw and knew.

Azhar is good commentator. He should continue with it and perhaps give tips to Indian players.

Going by current form and fitness of the two players, Zaheer Khan can never fit into the shoes of Balaji. It would be better for India to go in with two spinners (Kumble & Harbhajan) and three seamers (Pathan, Balaji and Nehra) and 6 batsmen with Dravid keeping wickets. Laxman should sit out of the match against Pakistan to rest his knee

Azhar is great human being, great cricketer and will be a great commentator. If any one else can do commentary, why not Azhar? Yes, Azhar should be allowed to play cricket if he is willing to and definitely, he should be allowed to do commentary.

Pakistan is most likely to win Asia Cup. I think India do not have enough talent on bowling side. But I think Sri Lanka too has very good chance. Murali is very fit and in form. Pakistan might escape to the final because of Bangladesh in their group.

Remove Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana and Moin Khan from Pakistan squad. Then only will it become a good team and perform consistently.

Why did India open with Patel & Tendulkar? Zaheer Khan needs to be dropped for two series and let him improve during that time. Ever since he came to the Indian side in 2000, he always carried some kind of injury during the middle of a series.

Azhar should be allowed to play cricket and to do commentary. At his time Sachin was only the player on whom other players use to depend on. Moreover, if he failed to play everybody lost hope and the blame was on Azhar as he was captain. Now the youngsters have set their own place. Azhar can be a great coach even.

Azhar is still fighting a court battle. I think despite that he's already faced enough insult. It's a shame that BCCI cannot respect one of the finest cricketers of Indian cricket.

ICC has made cricket a business with changes like 12 players a team, Twenty20 etc. This is taking the cream of cricket, and now the Azhar issue. If somebody wants to make amends of his past, why ICC wants to interfere? Ehsan Mani and Malcolm Speed are no cricket gods.

Keep Zaheer Khan out of Asia Cup until and unless he is 110% fit. Put less stress on Irfan & stop flirting with Patel's career.

Yuvraj must be a opener with Sehwag bcoz 1} Since he is a lefthander it will be nice to have a left-right combination to open 2) He must be given chance to prove himself as a opener 3) Also he is capable of giving a fast and big opening stand .........it will be nice if both the batsmen make's run fast as it will be useful for a win....... we lost many because of a slow start........

Tendulkar is great batsman and being great, his thought are really welcome

Congratulations to Darren Sammy; All the best in representing St Lucia on the West Indies team.

It is a good sign in world cricket to see Sehwag type of batsman. They have lots of potential to achieve their goal, but don't ever tell in advance any thing. First, try it and then when u achieve the goal thank God.

It is nice to hear form Sachin. However, it is pathetic to comment on Indian team becoming No 2. Why not No 1? If this is the predetermined notion of numero uno batter what would be that of others in the side?

According to me Munaf Patel should get atleast a chance to prove his caliber...he might prove himself as India's fastest bowler and join the top fast bowlers list of Akhtar and Lee.

I totally agree with Murali. To add where stopped, Cricket is not a gentleman's game anymore but a game for punters and racists.

Chopra is like Chetan Chauhan of the yester years. He has good defence, staying powers. May not have that vociferous appetite for big, long innings. But whatever he scores is definitely in the team's interests and good support that is the prime requisite for the country.
Who knows with experience and time he could be another Rahul Dravid in the making.

Well Mr Krishnan the reason people were talking about Euro Cup instead of cricket was just because there is no major cricket tournament on these days. I really don't think football won't be as famous as cricket for atleast 35 to 40 years maybe more. Indian team is doing really well in cricket these days and imagine India-Pak ODI decider Vs a Euro cup match, I bet 95% people will watch the India-Pak match. Ok now imagine the Euro Cup final vs India-Pak Test match. Well, I still feel there will be more cricket audience, Mr Vineesh Krishnan, Indians worship cricket and football will need a miracle to change that.

Dear Mr Guha
It was a nice experience to go through your suggestions regarding Indian cricket. The points that you covered were primarily regarding the core cricket administration. However, there are various peripherals of this game that need to be improved at par. eg. curators, physiotherapists umpiring, scoring etc.
The Board is giving a serious thought to improve the present standard of the same. However, It would be beneficial for the Indian cricket if enthusiasts like us come up with suggestions regarding the same.
I do hope you will give a consideration to the above.

Will you pl stop being a spokesperson for murali , just coz, i guess, he happens to be an asian and a brown. There is no doubt that Murali is the biggest cheat the game has ever seen, the biggest disgrace to the game that can ever be and deserves to be thrown out of the game immediately.

"Chopra might not have had big scores to boast of, but he is a lambi race ka ghoda and too good a player to warm the reserve benches." What about Yuvraj?Isn't he also too good a player to be warming the bench?In a career of only 4 tests he has a ton as well as half ton to his name.Chopra has been left behind here.

slightly humourous article..well done (!) but i found it to be more in bad taste... and also that had a very patronising tone to it...

Excellent article... presented in the form of a story or a play. And literally pulling on all the strings that PCB has been trying to tie to get out of the humiliation suffered for the loss against India. But they are making a complete fool of themselves by coming out with one stupid reason after other... They are like a kid/teenager who is caught by his parents, smoking a cigarette or failing an exam who tries to come with one ridiculous reason after other to "save his skin". And above all, today itself June 10, 2004, I read another piece that said "Only 150% fit Shoaib will be picked". Another stupid reason for trying to pick on him. Anyway, congratulations to the writer for putting up such an excellent article. I liked the comments comparing the Pakistan Parliament with graduate school professors, getting sadistic pleasure in torchering the students during viva, but then giving good marks.

Good luck Vineesh with future articles also.

Jai Hind

Isn't throwing in cricket involve straightening of the elbow at the point of delivery? if Murlai cannot straighten his elbow due to a birth defect, does not that mean that he is the only bowler in the world who cannot 'chuck' even if he wants to? also, how could one chuck/throw the ball and also flight it as much as Murali does at the same time? then, why the double standards employed in tolerant levels in terms of degrees of streightening - is it to accommodate brett lee? we all know how he pitches it in! i even read an article on cricinfo about both lee and akthar identified as being guilty of "hyper-extension" of the elbows when they bowl? why accuse Murali of all people? its bad sportsmanship of australians with a simple 'a'.

Murali, you are a fantastic cricketer, & a real credit to the game. Don't let stupid comments from Prime Ministers of all people, who should know better, ruin your great moments. Millions like myself honour you & the joy of watching your magical art. May you go on for many more years to come.

why can`t BCCI market & organised domestic cricket like they organise football in europe ? how about season were from sept to march all national players has to play ranji they will get good amt of money from this as it is the indian co`s who sponsors international matches . all ranji match should be played day-night it would be better for our domestic cricket in the long term.

Well done Mr Balakrishnan, where are all our friends in Asia ? should not all of us stand together and fight this so called white man's crazy idea that they are superior, should'nt we show them that we have the best in all departments of the game, we are superior by lengths. History shows us that they captured our countries only by deviding us. so come on asia stand by Murali.

There should be a position at ICC to monitor performance of umpires also. The cricket score card should capture the umpire who declares OUT to a batsman. e.g. "Tendulkar LBW Sami given by Bucknor". At the end of a series, an analysis be made to see the unbiasedness of an umpire (or the number of errors they made). In the current rules umpires are treated as if they are above all rules. Gone are those days when they were treated as god.

The column is very good. I wonder whether that person (Aussie PM) has common sense to say such thing in public. If he congrats murali or some other player it is Ok. But criticizing? By such a high level person (Only the post is high level; not the person or personality).

Very relevant facts Sunil. racial comments and commenting people like Sanath Jayasuriya as black Monkey are all part of the so called 'The Australian thing' It's all bcos there forefathers were criminals who were dumped in this piece of land by the english.

Yes, I do feel that they (weaker teams) should be deleted from the Test status teams so as to give other countries a feel that they are playing a competitive side. That has been an issue for a long time. So it has to be solved as soon as possible.

Yes I fully agree with you, the Colourless people (not Whites as they would like to call themselves) try all in their power to stick to each other, they know that the situation in Zim might snowball to other areas like Australia, New Zealand etc where simillar situations have brought these Asia Pacific Countries under European rule. Asians should think well and side with our Black brothers and sisters, it is the right thing to do, let us forget about the colonial mentality and the gifts that these so called whites give us, let us remember that all these gifts are tied up to strings with hooks at the end.

murali is a stuid bowler.
tell him to learn some more good sin from me

Yah really he is cool and is capable of getting more wickets in Test and One-day Internationals also.

The columnist has many a valid point. His perception of the issue is different from that of the embedded journalists who hold the key to our conscience. They plant stories the way they want and make us believe them by weaving around some magical illusions. It is high time that we called a spade a spade. And, Vineesh, with his thought provoking arguments, makes us look at things from the right (more left;-) perspective. I remember a malayalam poet who wanted us to shout truth from the roof tops; he once wrote (a rough translation): I'm not afraid of the King, so am dutiful to tell you the truth. We need people like Vineesh who are not afraid of the ruling class, who often manipulates our thoughts and history to achieve their ends. I pray, may his (Vineesh's) tribe increase! Kudos to thatscricket and the writer.