Can Wright do what Simpson couldn't?

John Wright is now the man in the hot seat. He has to literally wake up the sleeping giant. Bobby Simpson, the great Australian captain and coach, in his capacity as the technical advisor to the Indian cricket team tried his best to improve the standards. The heart of the matter is, we Indians are not Australians. We could bring in the foreign coach, the computer analyst, the physio, the psycho-analyst, so on and so forth. It takes eleven good fighting men, who carry the pride of playing for their country to win a cricket match. Besides Sachin Tendulkar the only name one can think of as a real fighter who gives it all is Robin Singh. And Robin is busy playing Ranji trophy for Tamil Nadu. The reasons given by the selectors is that Robin is not young anymore. One of our present selectors was called out of semiretirement at the age of 35 and did rather well in shaping an Indian victory at Headingley in 1986. Does age really matter?! Not all bottles of wine get better with the years, but some wine do and they are known as vintage! What really matters is that we need to see the best eleven men on the field giving more than their best.

If Wright could get Srinath to send down a few outswingers, Venkatesh Prasad to bowl faster, Rahul Dravid not to push the ball at the fielders, Kumble to bowl a few more leg breaks, Ganguly to run faster between the wickets, get the whole team to run and field like the 'ever green' Robin Singh, and not to lower their heads when the going gets rough, the nation would be proud of 'em all. These are all able cricketers who have performed well for India. But their best hasn't been good enough, they have to give more to the cause of the Indian team. It is not just professionalism that we expect from the 'foreign hand'. It is all about waking up the sleeping giant and putting some pride in their being. When one talks about our great World Cup victory of 1983, it would be prudent to remember that the momentum got a kick start in the West Indies in the early part of that year. The team really believed in themselves and was willing to give more than their best for the cause of the team. Man to man, the millennium team stands taller than that of the early eighties. There is nothing foreign about the task ahead of John Wright, Can he deliver what Simpson couldn't? The nation waits for an answer.