Selection and retirement policy

Sports

Recently there was this news item that some of the Mahendra Singh Dhoni disciples had decided to build a shrine in his honour and in another incident there were almost riots in the Kolkata region when former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had some problems with the country’s cricket administration. It is the basic truth that in India most of the cricketing superstars attain demi-god status. If that is the status-quo what could be the public feeling on a personality of the stature of Sachin Tendulkar? … Phenomenal!

At the same time especially in Australia undoubtedly cricket has grown systematically into ‘superstar’ status as a team rather than individuals. In Australia we see that individuals do not grow bigger than the game.

While watching the Indian Premier League tournament I was just thinking to my self “Oh! These Australians are mad”. Why? When one watched Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden or Shane Warne in action they can at once jump into the conclusion that those must have been premature retirements. Gilchrist and Hayden were the same run making machines that they were while serving their motherland while Warne who called it a day after Australia’s last Ashes win at home in 2007. Mind you Warne weaned from ODI cricket after playing the Asia XI vs ICC World XI match at Melbourne, in January 2005. That part of the picture also will be discussed later in this article.

At the same time former Australian skipper Steven Waugh tried to stay a bit longer they say, but when the time was ripe the Australian cricket machine saw to that he retired with all due respect.

In short Australia in spite of being the country that has produced most of the greatest cricketers of all time that includes names in the calibre of Don Bradman, Shane Warne or Dennis Lillee has never let the individuals get beyond the laid down norms of the game in that country. The most recent example is that the action taken against that superb allrounder Andrew Symonds. He jumped the rails twice “THUD” he was thrown out of the team. May be slight delay, but the train is back on its track. At the same time the Australian media and the public had not made a monster out of Symonds who had the wherewithal to seek refuge in the highest echelon of the country and make mockery of the people who took action against him.

In many ways, in Australia there are systems and they see to that those put into effect work effectively. That criterion is common while following the basic road rules or even the selection of the Test team.
In India it was different. Once you attain superstar status you rise above the prevalent norms. There was one stage recently that it was difficult to make any changes in the Indian line-up as the final Xl had several slots almost reserved for the established superstars. For instance who would want or have the guts to drop a fit Sachin Tendulkar so that they could pave the way for a promising Virat Kohli or a Mohommad Kaif looking at the long run?

In Sri Lanka once again the status quo is not very different. The established players rule the roost and are almost infallible. You take a step to change the balance you are in for lot of flack.

Earlier I mentioned that in Australia they have systems and the systems work. Recently I heard that the Sports Ministry and the selectors were on their way to moot a selection policy. Prior to that I suggest that there should be a selection policy to select the selectors, a time frame for selectors and given set of ethics for our system to work the way it should. At times we wonder whether some of the selectors who sit in there do have the real credentials to occupy those seats, they are there just to make the numbers or it is just you and I were buddies while working at that place. Then the other factor is the time frame. Even the President of the United States of America has a life span of four years and two terms. But, in Sri Lanka there is a selector who is in his ninth year going in the same cap. In short what should be done is that prior to a selection policy we too must first clean up our stables. Then even the players would fall in line with whatever the decisions taken by the selectors.

Last weeks’ Vaas-de Mel cut, a very sorry picture in the state of affairs behind the curtains.

There have been cricketers right from the beginning who have had their own exits from the game from the very early days of Test cricket. In the early stages players like Sidath Wettimuny, Ranjan Madugalle and Ravi Ratnayeke retired from the game still with a lot of cricket left in them.

Then came the inglorious exists of players like Asanka Gurusinha, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Romesh Kaluwitharana etc. After being an integral part of the World Cup winning team these players stepped out of international boundary lines even without a whimper. Then also there was the Atapattu affair. He plucked the opportunity to expose some muppets in a post match press
conference, after he had forced his way back into the senior side. Earlier Atapattu who was one of the most prolific batsmen in the Lankan cricket history was kept away from the playing Xl during the entire 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies for no apparent reason other than victimization.

Why is all this happening? It is a direct result of a lack of policy and the ability stand by their decisions. As much as a selection policy, Sri Lanka also must have a retirement policy for players which is publicized so that no player however powerful he is cannot exploit the standing order.

For a game to grow and sustain it should evolve within. If some slots get stagnant then the evolution stops and then the whole system begins to rot.

However unlike in India where the senior players are held back from the short forms of the game. In Sri Lanka some of the senior players move out from the record heavy, but the lean pursed Test cricket and concentrate on the ODIs and the T20s where the monetary exploits are greater. In reality that also must be discouraged as much as possible.

If a player is not fit enough to take part in the purest form of the game, then those slots could be filled by the youngsters in the shorter forms too.

Sri Lanka should have very clear policy in selection and retirement and those should be binding at all costs.

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