A change of heart

Sir ? The report ?2020 odyssey in 45 minutes? (Jan 18) puts the cart before the horse. India would not have had to wait till 2020 to achieve developed country status if successive governments had taken the trouble to mould better leaders. Our selfish netas have remained the same since independence, much to the detriment of India?s potential. No amount of wishful thinking on the part of the president will do unless the present leaders are replaced by those who are committed to the country instead of their own interests.

Yours faithfully,
Jayanta Dutt, Calcutta

Easy pickings

Sir ? Virender Sehwag?s exploits against Pakistan can be compared with Sunil Gavaskar?s heroics against the West Indies or V.V.S. Laxman?s success against Australia. Bob Woolmer is right in saying that some cricketers perform well against particular countries. It is equally true that some batsmen have a special liking for specific bowlers. Sandeep Patil used to score heavily of the bowling of Englishman, Bob Willis, while Kris Shrikkanth plundered runs against the Australian speedster, Craig McDermott.

However, while talking about the first test in Lahore, one should not forget Rahul Dravid?s contribution during the epic opening stand with his deputy Sehwag. While some batsmen like to tear into a bowling attack, others like Dravid are content playing a sheet anchor role, thus enabling their partners to pile on the runs . But for cricketers like Dravid, test cricket would not have been what it is. A test side can only hope to become world-beaters when it has a good blend of attacking and defensive batsmen. Finally, we seem to have one such team in the making for India.

Yours faithfully,
S. Padmanabhan, Bilaspur

Sir ? The test match at Lahore proved to be a happy hunting ground for batsmen from both the sides (?Indian openers butcher Pakistan attack?, Jan 17). Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid would have loved to get past the record of the highest ever opening stand in test cricket but the nawab of Najafgarh, who seemed to be in a hurry, failed to break it. The match would only be remembered for the tumbling of records and little else. Cricket pitches need to be sporting enough so that they help bowlers too. Otherwise, it is difficult to obtain results on pitches which favour the batsmen only.

Yours faithfully,
Arjun Chaudhuri, Calcutta

Sir ? Inzamam-ul Haq had warned that the Indians would be greeted with green tops in Pakistan. But his threat turned out to be a hoax as we saw in the Lahore test match. The flat track at Lahore reflects Inzamam?s lack of trust in his own bowlers. Asian countries have been fooling themselves into believing that the ?home advantage? lies in producing tracks that either turn viciously or are placid. This makes our batsmen jittery while playing on bouncy wickets outside the subcontinent. It would be wrong to assume that pitches outside the subcontinent are conducive to fast bowling only as Australia, England and the West Indies have produced some great spinners too. Asian countries must produce sporting wickets so that our cricketers become better players on all kinds of pitches. The ICC should think of creating a pitch committee consisting of representatives from all member countries who would ensure that pitches are of good quality through out the world. Asian countries delayed the introduction of astro turf in hockey, which led to Europeans dominating the game. A similar fate may befall cricket in the subcontinent if we do nothing about the quality of our pitches.

Yours faithfully,
R.B. Easwaran, Chennai