Ted Corbett's Cover Story on the Aussie captain, Ricky Ponting (Sportstar, Dec. 16), made for enjoyable reading, for it focussed not only on his recent Bradmanesque run, but also on the evolution of his personality.
Like Mohammad Yousuf, the Aussie captain has also hit a purple patch — a period in the careers of several top-notch batsmen when their bats start resembling a barn door to the poor, clueless bowlers.
While batsmen of the modern era have the distinct advantage of batting on featherbeds (point made by Ted Corbett) when compared to their counterparts of say the 1950s and 60s, it has also to be noted that they have the exacting task of performing consistently well both in the ODIs and Tests, a strain their breed of the bygone era (the days of uncovered pitches) never experienced. Guess, it all evens out in the end!
Suresh Manoharan HyderabadInspiring figureThis is with reference to Andy Hampson's article on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Sportstar, November 11).
This man, who has captained his club Manchester United to the top of the Premiership table, deserves all the credit the writer has heaped upon him and much more.
Unmindful of the presence of star-studded teams like Chelsea, Solskjaer has inspired Manchester United to unleash its full potential and become the most feared outfit in the league.
Amar. V Rishi ValleyFinding replacementsThis is with reference to the article, `Where are the replacements?' by Peter Roebuck (Sportstar, Dec. 9).
When Gavaskar retired from cricket we found a prodigy by name Tendulkar as a replacement for him. And we found Srinath for Kapil as a frontline bowler.
But India is always encountering two hurdles in its selection policy: 1) They just ignore and brush aside proven youngsters like Sharath and Sriram, both from Tamil Nadu. 2) They take youngsters like Parthiv Patel into international cricket very early.
To learn from Australia, the youngsters there are allowed to wear the baggy green cap only after having proved their mettle in domestic cricket.
Premkumar Kani Chennai
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