A few days before the Test match series between Australia and Pakistan started, there was a huge uproar in Australian cricket circles, with Mitchell Johnson questioning David Warner’s place in the Test team and also wondering why he should be allowed to bid goodbye to Test cricket when he wants to. His argument was that, apart from a double century last year, Warner hadn’t scored enough runs in the previous few years to be guaranteed a place on the team. Warner had announced his intention of quitting Test cricket after playing at his home ground, Sydney, early next year.
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Johnson was querying how Warner could consider himself a certainty for all three Test matches against Pakistan, looking at his lack of runs except for that double century. Warner has now answered that in fine style by hitting a brilliant century in the first Test match in Perth. Though he got out for a duck in the second innings, his 164 in the first innings pretty much assures him a spot in the eleven for the next two Test matches too. Johnson admitted that a text message from Warner in April had been the main driver for his article about Warner’s place in the side.
Players who have earlier been teammates falling out with each other is nothing new in sports, and that’s why it’s important to have a cooling-off period before a retired player is given the responsibility of coaching the team or being a selector. Some perceived slights with his former teammate may cloud judgement and lead to some ill-judged decisions against his former teammate, who is still playing. The BCCI has got it right with a five-year cooling-off period after retirement before appointing the retired player as a selector and coach, and that’s how it should be. Hopefully, by then, any lingering ill feelings will have been tempered by the passage of time. Something similar should be done before a coach of a state or an IPL team is appointed a selector because you don’t want any player suffering from bias by the state or IPL coach.
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I have been witness to how a perceived slight has resulted to a huge extent in a player being left out of the team, though the reason given was the shot he had played. I was coopted with no voting rights on that selection committee because I was the captain of the team. The selector concerned was livid because, as he said in the meeting, this player had ignored him when, a few days earlier, their cars going in opposite directions were at a traffic light. Try as he did to attract the player’s attention by unrolling his car window, the player did not look his way, and so the upset selector said that the player had become too arrogant and needed to be taught a lesson. The player’s bad shot became a very convenient reason to drop him, though all members of the selection committee, including me, were collectively responsible for the final decision. The selector had been appointed to the panel within two years of his retirement, and he had shown even before this meeting that he was going to get even with all those with whom he had perceived a problem, even though there was none intended.
File | Indian captain Leander Paes shares a lighter moment with tennis Legend Vijay Amritraj during the Draw Ceremony of the Davis Cup Asia - Oceania second round tie between India and Uzbekistan in Jaipur on April 28, 2005. | Photo Credit: RAJEEV BHATT
Anyway, a much brighter subject than misunderstandings between former teammates is the news of Vijay Amritraj and Leander Paes being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame. This is a huge honour and a richly deserved one for both. Not only have they been outstanding players, but they have also been truly wonderful ambassadors for the sport and India in particular.
This honour comes through being voted in by previous inductees in the Hall of Fame, and that’s why it’s doubly precious. Well done, Vijay and Leander, and thank you so much for putting India on the world tennis map.
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