If you went by some of the hype - and no one does that better than India - Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a combination of Douglas Jardine and Mike Brearley: a brave and intuitive leader who has brought cricket's most powerful entity to its knees. Every other article is guilty of comparisons, foolish at the best of times. Dhoni is portrayed as the street-smart, quick-witted future; Anil Kumble as some kind of aging blunderbuss who lacks tactical nous and inspirational qualities.
How fickle we can be. It's not even a year since Kumble's team pulled off the greatest of Indian cricket victories, at a venue, the WACA, where Australia were thought to be nigh on invincible. Since it doesn't suit the story though, Perth is conveniently forgotten. Only the 320-run triumph at Mohali matters.
Short of striding out in Kumble's blazer - shoulders too broad to fill? - Dhoni didn't put a step wrong in the second Test, leading with flair and personal example against a team every bit as strong as the South Africans whom India overcame on his captaincy debut in Kanpur last April. His poise and candour at the post-match press conference spoke of a man who will grow into one of the most challenging jobs in sport. But does that necessarily mean that the selectors should wear sackcloth and ashes for appointing Kumble captain for this series?
Never change a winning team. There's perhaps no bigger cliché in sport, and like most of them, there's a kernel of truth at the heart of the argument. Of course, there have been hundreds of occasions when a successful side has been tweaked with no dramatic repercussions, but the cautionary tales linger so long in the memory that the cliché becomes accepted as a truism.
The ultimate proof that it's probably ideal not to fix what isn't broken came at Berne in July 1954. Hungary's Magic Magyars were the best football team the world have ever seen, and Ferenc Puskas their greatest player. An ankle injury had kept him out for most of the tournament, and he had hardly been missed as Hungary defeated both Brazil and Uruguay to reach the final.
On the big day though, sentiment overruled pragmatism and Puskas came back into the starting XI, against the Germans, who had started to peak at the right time. He was clearly unfit, and though he scored the opening goal and had an equaliser ruled out in the final minutes of the match, it was the Germans who lifted the trophy. Hungary was never again able to produce such a group of outstanding players; the side of the 1950s remains sport's most poignant what-might-have-been story.
In his own way Kumble is Indian cricket's Puskas, the talisman responsible for almost every single major triumph by India dating back to 1993. Like Puskas in the days before Berne, no one really knows how well he's recovered from injury. He says he's fit to play. And do we really expect him to say otherwise? After all, this is the warrior who once bowled over after over with a broken jaw just so his team's chances wouldn't be adversely affected.
There is a school of thought that says Kumble should step aside and allow Amit Mishra, who took 7 for 106 on debut in Mohali, to play at the Feroz Shah Kotla next week. Well as Mishra bowled on debut, he's no Kumble, and he certainly doesn't have the Kotla catalogue that India's greatest slow bowler has. In six Tests at the venue, Kumble has 55 wickets at 15.41. It was there that he took his perfect 10, and the curator, Radhey Shyam Sharma, has already announced his intention to give Kumble a "present".
Past records don't win you games, though. Having taken 16 wickets in 1997 and 19 four years later, Jason Gillespie was expected to be instrumental in Australia's campaign to retain the Ashes in 2005. The spark, that indefinable something that separates the great from the also-rans, had gone, though, and in three Tests he took just three wickets at a cost of 300 runs. Gillespie's Test career effectively ended the day he conceded 114 runs from 19 overs at Old Trafford. No lover of Indian cricket would want to see Kumble exit in such fashion, but after the downturn in his performances since Perth, there's a very real fear that the finale won't be a rousing one. With the emergence of Mishra, Kumble faces a situation similar to that which confronted Nasser Hussain five years ago. Michael Vaughan looked increasingly like the man to take English cricket forward, and with Andrew Strauss offering a viable top-order alternative, Hussain did the honourable thing and walked.
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The Kumble quandary
Imran Khan bats for Lawson
Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has said it was unfair to blame national coach Geoff Lawson for all the ills in the team.
Imran said one should not expect a coach to perform wonders when a country's domestic cricket structure itself is weak.
"What can a coach do when the domestic structure is not right. There is need to improve our domestic cricket system first and foremost," Imran said.
He pointed out that if a coach could perform wonders then Bangladesh should have been world champions as they had the best coach in former Australian Dav Whatmore.
Another former captain, Javed Miandad also felt it was unfair to only blame Lawson for the team's poor performances.
"I don't think Lawson is solely responsible. The players should also take responsibility and I think they should be held accountable as well," he said.
Miandad felt it was necessary to bring some changes in the cricketing set up in the country and treat the players on equal terms.
"I have never agreed on having a foreign coach. But we need to overhaul our entire system and the board has to ensure it will not compromise on discipline and treat every player equally," the former captain and coach said. Lawson, the former Australian Test pacer has been facing an embarrassing situation since returning from Toronto where Pakistan lost the final of a Twenty20 tournament to Sri Lanka.
PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt publicly said he was a useless person and his contract was not being cancelled because this would mean huge financial burden on the board.
"I would not like to see him one day after his contract expires next year," Butt said.
Lawson has kept a low profile but former players believe that with the Board Chairman ignoring him and not meeting him and instead making strong statements in the press against him, the pressure is growing on the Australian to resign.
Richie Benaud's baggy green up for sale
Sydney, Oct 23 (IANS) Former Australian cricket captain Richie Benaud's coveted baggy green cap will be auctioned in Melbourne on Nov 5 and is expected to fetch up to A$ 25,000 (US$16,640).
Benaud, a Test cricket all-rounder, has become a highly regarded commentator since his retirement from international cricket in 1964.
"He is arguably the most influential person in world cricket, not only as an inspirational player and leader but through his work as a commentator for the Nine Network and the BBC," auctioneer Charles Leski said.
The baggy green of Benaud, who captained Australia in 28 Tests and in 1963 became the first player to complete the Test double of 200 wickets and 2,000 runs, is expected to sell for between A$20,000 and A$25,000.
Mark Waugh and Geoff Marsh's baggy greens will also be auctioned on the day.
Last month, Sir Donald Bradman's first Test cricket bat went under the hammer, fetching a record price of A$145,000 and, much to the relief of many in Australia, it was snapped by an Australian bidder.
With wide interest in the auction from overseas, including India, it was feared the bat, signed by the entire 1928-29 Australian and English teams, could end up overseas.
In June, former Australian cricket Captain Allan Border's baggy green cap fetched A29,000. The baggy green, signed by the great cricketer, was said to be his first cap to go on sale in public.
