True sportsmen or amateur salesmen?

When you sit down to write on cricket, it is all reason and logic and fact and figures. But there are times when you find yourself chatting -- on the phone or, as in this instance, on a chat programme -- about the game, freewheeling your way through thoughts. And suddenly, a different mindset emerges. As a person, a fan, you find yourself thinking, and saying, things you would not as a reporter.

Excerpts from a chat Prem Panicker had with Sujata Prakash.

Sujata: What's your take on the Tests? I wish the Indians would try their hardest and just go for a win in the first Test..

Prem: I think if they are going to win it has to be in the first Test. The best batting conditions they will find. I suspect if they win the toss and bat first they will do very well. The trouble is if it is the Proteas that bat first -- you know how we are, either we get a great opening spell, or a haywire one and if it is the latter, it kind of sets the tone for our performance for the rest of the game.

Sujata: Bloemfontien is a good batting strip, yes. It would be good to bat first but only if we can put up a competitive score otherwise we might as well hand it to them on a platter. Well, that's the whole problem with the Indians. They must learn that unless they seize the initiative in the beginning and make the opposition lose heart it's always going to be hard. It's like tennis, you're down 0-4 and you know clawing your way back in is next to impossible because your spirits are crushed more than the other guy.

Prem: Absolutely true. I think two sessions on day one will tell us the story. The morning one and the evening one -- morning, because it will set the tone, and evening because over there a breeze starts blowing during that period and often, teams that are 1 or 2 wickets down at tea find themselves 6, 7, down at stumps.

Sujata: You know, having finally won our first match last night in the tennis league I was telling you about, after weeks of being thrashed, I think I know some of the things one has to do to stop losing. Keep to the basics for starters. Brilliant play is not always possible, but one must remain alert to the coach’s instructions; minimise faults and wait for the other side to make a mistake. We did all that and won. And it helps me understand better what the experts say when they criticise the Indian team for not sticking to the basics.

The sad thing is, I've always been an optimist, always believed deep down that 'tomorrow' the team would reveal its true strength and then go straight to the top -- but now, sadly, I think this is the best we are ever going to get.

Prem: Right. Frightening when you think that the threesome, by any yardstick, are at their peak or just past it, so rather than get better, things can in fact only decline unless the team as a unit gets its fundamentals right.

Sujata: There's no way they'll get better unless they practice and train much harder. It's not that the opposition is more talented; it's just that they're better prepared and more consistent. They also have the upper hand in terms of team rapport. Can you imagine Mark Boucher being suddenly dropped in the middle of the ODIs and Klusener keeping wickets? We'd laugh, right? Then why didn’t we laugh when Dravid kept wickets? Are we so used to seeing this chopping and changing that it seems normal?

Prem: That's a thought… The consistent teams are the ones that are consistent in personnel, actually, you are right. Another key for me is fitness. I mean, having seen a few of these guys train in the gym, you never see the kind of drive required of a top athlete.

Sujata: Well, what's the use of having a trainer if you don't listen to him? The Indians have only to look at the South Africans and Australians to see the level of commitment they bring onto the field. It's not that they don't want the adulation or the perks, but they earn it; the Indians don't.

Prem: Dead right. And for the Indians in any case it comes too easy. They only need to be 12th man and they get mobbed -- so why should they work? Elsewhere, you’ve got to be in the top 5 in the world for someone to even turn around for a second look, never mind being mobbed.

Sujata: Some of our players should ask themselves why they are getting injured so often. Every sportsman should ask himself what he wants to be remembered for, and then work towards it. Rhodes still throws himself around to save a single. He knows what he wants to be remembered for, and I bet he sleeps well at night, knowing he's earned his salary and hasn't let the team down.

Prem: Right, but look at our players, they think gym is like some kind of punishment. The attitude is 'I didn't do my homework so I wasn't taken on the picnic, so ok, this time I'll go through the motions so I don't get left behind'.

Sujata: One just has to give up on these guys!

Prem: I think that is precisely it with me. I kept analysing the hell out of things and suddenly it occurred to me it is all a waste. Without the drive and desire, everything else is hot air.

Sujata: Drive and desire cannot be taught, it has to come from within. So, tell me, is every Indian cricketer doomed to become like that once he gets into the team, no matter what he was like before?

Prem: Yes. It's so difficult to raise one's own standards when everyone around you is lowering theirs. Here, after a defeat, we officially say, 'yeah, we lost it, it was one of those things, we’re looking forward to the next game' … and that about says it all.

Sujata: Rubbish! If one gets used to losing, and doesn’t lose sleep over it, he’s no sportsman!

Prem: Which is why the Indians are no sportsmen. Not in the truest sense of the word.

Sujata: If the Indians are not sportsmen, than what are they?

Prem: Amateur salesmen. They sell their own images, first, and through it, they sell sundry goods. Rahul Dravid is The Wall. Sachin the Master Blaster. Ganguly the Prince of Calcutta. Srinath The fearsome paceman. Kumble the unstoppable leg spinner. And so on and so forth. The results tell a different story, but who's noticing? We create the myth, we perpetuate it, we swallow it ourselves, and the more we swallow it the more the sponsors line up.

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