An early exit in the recent Champions Trophy has opened a can of worms in Indian cricket. At a time when the raging debate is about the future of the 50-over cricket, India’s failure to go beyond the league stage has raised a lot of questions, mainly in the bowling department.

In this backdrop, the Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy among the best available India players, including M. S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma and Suresh Raina who returned from South Africa, will acquire much significance.

Otherwise, the tournament, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here from Thursday — that coincides with the richest cricketing event, the Champions League — would have been reduced to just another in the BCCI calendar.

Eight of the India players involved in the Champions Trophy — Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Ashish Nehra, Amit Sharma, R.P. Singh, Rahul Dravid, Praveen Kumar and Virat Kohli — will be turning out for their respective franchisees in the T20 competition, giving more players, some hardly known outside their states, a chance to rub shoulders with the likes of Harbhajan and Dhoni.

Dhiraj Goswami from Assam, Jalaj Saxena from Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand’s Ishank Jaggi and Maharashtra’s Ameya Shrikhande are a few of the little-known players who would be keen to make an impression.

Performances in the Challengers have often been considered for India selection. Though major changes in the Indian squad are not expected as Dhoni’s men look to bury the forgettable Champions Trophy and take on the winners Australia in a seven-match ODI series starting in Baroda on October 25, the selectors also do not want to send wrong signals by Read more…

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Almost a decade ago, Kapil Dev infamously broke down during a BBC interview as he fought off allegations of corruption, saying he would rather kill himself than take bribes. You would think why the heck am I talking about Kapil Dev when the great fellow doesn't even make it to the brief columns now?

Coming straight to the point, another of our great sportspersons, sprint queen P T Usha, was all bleary eyed on Tuesday as she lambasted Sports Authority of India officials for treating her shabbily. Apparently, the sprinter found the hostel provided to her by SAI sub-standard. "If I get this type of treatment, you can imagine what other athletes get," she said.

The athletics federation thought they had done their bit by apologising to Usha. As expected, the blame game is on in earnest, with sports minister M S Gill saying SAI cannot be blamed as the event was organised by the Madhya Pradesh government. The state government, in turn, has ordered a probe.

Usha's outburst reminded one of hockey superstar Dhanraj Pillay's infamous interview where he went on record -- again with tears in his eyes -- that he would never let his children pick up a hockey stick. Pillay was, understandably, upset at the step-motherly treatment meted out to sportspersons from disciplines other than cricket.

The point here is not why the famous-but-not-so-rich -- am not talking about Kapil here -- break down so easily on camera. The question is why our sportspersons who have done this success-hungry nation proud at one time or the other left to fend for themselves?

One risks the danger of falling into the trap of getting into a cricket-vs-other-games debate here. But life isn't fair, certainly not for sportspersons who don't wield the willow or chance Read more...

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