Tuesday, November 25, 2003

A study in contrast...

Two key contributors for the opposing teams. One the vice-captain and the other the most important batsman of his team. Both are candidates for the MVP of their teams (if such an award exists in cricket). And yet marked differences in the way they speak about team selection and their peers.

Sachin Tendulkar on India's would-be openers - "Sehwag is a very dangerous player. He can turn around and play a big innings, even match-winning innings. He has done that in the past and stroke-players like him are very exciting to watch. Let's hope we see more of him on this tour," he said.

"Ramesh has given himself a nice build-up for the series with this innings. But I can't really comment if he would play in the Tests. It is up to the coach and the captain to decide... I don't take part in that."


This is extracted from a piece that had Sachin Tendulkar commenting on various issues including the Indian team's goals during this tour (Courtesy Rediff's Cricket section.).

Contrast this with Adam Gilchrist's comments on the selection dilemma that Cricket Australia faces.

Wouldn't a senior player's kind words do a world of good for a wanna be. Sadly a wanna-be's what a lot of India's fringe players have been reduced to. I certainly would have hoped much better words from Sachin on a performance that was equivalent to his knock today, both in terms of runs and also the sheer value for the keeping the teams morale intact, if not raising it.

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