Seniors deserve more respect

From Vipul Gupta, India
For long I have an unabashed admirer of the 'seniors' in the team particularly Anil and Sachin. Both these gentlemen have been the pillars of Indian Cricket for the last two decades and their contribution to the game has gone a long way in ensuring that the game flourished and prospered in India and their great deeds on the cricket field have only swelled the hearts of many Indians on countless occasions. That is the reason why I was completely surprised on reading reports appearing in certain sections of the media that the BCCI very 'magnanimously' offered the seniors an opportunity to gracefully exit from the game, a game which they served with distinction, by way of a 'voluntary retirement scheme'. I am sure that the champions that they are, they take a lot of pride in their performance and it would have been absolutely galling for them to learn that people have started considering them to be a bit of a liability for their team.

Cricket nowadays has become a very serious professional sport, where a lot is at stake for everyone concerned. It has become so cut-throat that there can be no room for any sentiment or emotion. If it is considered that a particular player's best days have gone by, then he should be immediately put to pasture rather than risk any match or series. Lest I be misconstrued , I am not even for a moment suggesting that the 'Fab 4' and Kumble should retire, as I feel that all of them still have a lot to offer to the team in Tests. They had entered the team on the sheer weight of their performance and they had backed it up by performing at the highest level quite consistently. If the Board feels that by allowing a berth for these players in the team, they are only displaying the gratitude of an entire nation than they are only being grossly unfair to the players as well as the public.

The seniors do not need the Board's charity as the youngsters who are waiting in the wings to take their places have not shown the consistency that is needed to succeed at the highest level. Their time will come but it has not come now. It would be poetic justice indeed if this team does well and goes on to win the series powered by the seniors. Let the games begin.