Concentrate on Cricket

By Gulu Ezekiel

One hopes Dhoni and his merry men can put the Sehwag brouhaha behind them and concentrate on the battles ahead in the World Cup Super 8 stage which begins on Friday.
Having brushed aside the feeble challenge of both Bangladesh and Ireland in the group stage, the defending champions will certainly have much sterner tests ahead of them. They are grouped with West Indies, England and South Africa all three of whom have looked to be peaking at the right time.
The IPL and its backers have being working overtime to cover up the origins of Sehwag’s injury suffered in the course of the semifinals for Delhi Daredevils against Deccan Chargers.
While Delhi manager TA Sekhar claimed it did not occur during the IPL, Sehwag himself went and spilled the beans when he admitted he had injured his shoulder while fielding in that match.
This was backed up by team coach Gary Kirsten and now that it has come out of the horse’s mouth, any further cover up attempt will be futile.
The captain has been put in the invidious position of trying to justify Sehwag’s inclusion while at the same time fighting off rumours of a rift with his vice-captain.
It is astonishing that a billion dollar outfit like the BCCI is incapable of carrying out routine medical tests on the team before their departure. Surely an MRI would have revealed the tear in Sehwag’s shoulder and all this unnecessary mud-slinging between the players and the media could have been avoided. In the end the captain has been left carrying the can for the Board’s blundering ways.
But then when it comes to Indian cricket it has long been known that loads of money does not translate into professionalism and good sense or for that matter, good taste either.
Just take a look at the vulgarity of the IPL trophy and you will know what I mean!