by Navaneeth OM

I was going through the sports page of one of the mainstream Malayalam newspaper today. Was stunned and sad to see the kind of language used. Some of the points mentioned were “Kohli played cautiously like Sachin to move from 90 to 100. And, reached 100 by executing a Sachin style straight drive. Kohli took out of form Ajinkya Rahane under his wings and outplayed South African bowlers”. I cannot understand and even talked about it to few who understands cricket and they said, it is just ridiculous, and it is just story writing and not news reporting.

There is no doubt, Sachin Tendulkar is an idol, God of Cricket for Indians. But he was in a different league of his own and so is Virat Kohli. By saying that one plays cautiously in his 90s to reach the 100, you are ridiculing both Sachin and Virat and in a way admitting that they play for records. If you cannot read the game or understand what the team management decided to do on the match day-2, don’t assume things. Anybody who understands cricket, the team batting in the 1^st session of a day will obviously play cautiously and will save the wickets for if they lose a wicket early, there was every chance that India would get bundle out for less than 400 and it will be decisive in winning and drawing the match, even if not losing it. And, taking that as slowing down by Kohli to get another 100/milestone is a shame. If that was his attitude, Virat Kohli would not have declared the innings when he could have easily extended the innings for next half an hour (5-6 overs) to give a shot at his 1^st triple hundred, he was in such murderous mood and almost all Indians would have loved to see another triple hundred from an Indian player. Nobody would have complained, unless for some people who wanted to create controversies and make it a debate running for days for business mileage. Since they are comparing everything with Sachin, why didn’t they compare yesterday’s declaration with the hue and cry made when Rahul Dravid declared the innings when Sachin was at 194 n.o against Pakistan in 2004 at Multan. Sachin was upset over it, but Kohli happily went for the declaration. This paper didn’t even acknowledge or did a mention of it. They would have mentioned it if the Captain and the batsman were different, because the business thrives on negativity and controversies and who is bothered about the sportsman spirit or gentleman’s game.

Now, coming to the point of out-of-form Rahane’s case. Where in the world would the recent scores of 81 & 102 (man of the match), 24 & 64 n.o., 15 & 27 n.o., 59 in the recent 4 test matches against West Indies & SA would make it out of form? totally absurd isn’t it. Why such negativity or is the reporter unaware of what is going around in the game before reporting such non-senses. Over last 2-3 years, this combination of Kohli & Rahane has given the Indian team some of the solid partnerships needed for away wins, which is much more challenging than playing in Indian pitches. They know very well what to do and they did that again yesterday in the 1^st session, which obviously helped them to go aggressive in the 2^nd & 3^rd sessions to rest the onus with the team.

It is a cardinal mistake to compare legends or greats playing at different times, whoever they are and comparing them illogically is disrespecting both the parties to it. Kohli’s straight drive to complete his 26^th hundred was not like Sachin’s, why do you want to put it that way. Both play differently and both are treats to our eyes when in full flow, we do not want them to be compared. Let us leave Virat or anybody like Rohit Sharma to play peacefully and not bothered about records. After the 1^st test Rohit Sharma, with back to back centuries in the 1^st test against SA was compared to Sir Donald Bradman and even better than that. How can anybody do that just based on the scores. Milestones and records should never overtake the game. They should remain within each era. Because the game, the facilities and the surroundings have been going through lot of changes to make it a thriving business. So, you can never compare the players in different era and do not make the mistake to do so as well.

Many media, be it print or visual or now the social media, assumed there is fight between Dhoni and Kohli when Dhoni was around. Now, since Dhoni is taking some time away from the game, the matter is shifted to another set of senior players in the team, Kohli & Rohit. One did not clap, another one did not smile…. what nonsense? If at all there is some rift, is it right for the media to make it worse, write unnecessary stories and try to make the rift wide open and irreparable and affect the performance of the individuals and in-turn the team? Or, do something better like reminding them of the wonderful partnerships they combined to murder the opposition and stay united for the interest of the game and the supporters.

Good criticism is always welcome and should be done. Why is the media not giving any importance to Hanuma Vihari being dropped from the team in the 2^nd test? He has been a solid player in the middle over for India in test matches for over a year now. His recent scores being (32 & 93, 111 & 53 n.o, 10) and still dropped from the team for the current test match.

This is just one of the many such bad comparisons that we see now a days. And sports news attracts many youngsters and these kinds of negativity will sometimes stick on to the young generation which in-turn will affect their thought process as well. After all, what value does records, and milestones have if the team does not win the match. We, the supporters idolize some of the great players, but we want to see Indian team winning the matches and the collective efforts to do so.