No one knows....

Was reading Sidvee's brilliant take on the happenings in Australia, with Bob Gatewood's "No one knows" fortuitously playing on iTunes. Somehow felt a link between the words and the dilemma(s) facing the big 3 in the middle order, and also cricket fans like me (and Sidvee) who probably started watching serious cricket in the late 80s when SRT was just making his entry. I might overplay this one, but an Indian team without SRT is something that seems unfathomable to me (similar sentiments with Dravid for Sidvee, I assume), for want of a better word. It's almost like you walk past that compound where your grandparents' house stood, look in and realize it's no longer there, and Time has moved on, and there stands a multi-storey building. 

Life is a garden, the more that something grows....the more the ground is bare, when it goes 

Laxman and Dravid have been part of the backbone of our lineup for the last 15 years or so, and to me they are what GR Viswanath was to my father's generation - stylish, impeccable strokeplayers, probably straight out of the Don's coaching manual. I have to admit I've seen very little of Vishy; the only games I can recollect are from the 1980-81 series in Australia, where he looks rather unimpressive. I still watch the Laxman-Dravid innings from the Eden Gardens Test in 2001 and get nostalgic not just over their strokeplay, but also over the circumstances in which they played it. Sometimes I have a gut feeling that back in the 70s, cricket writers (and radio commentators for that matter) conveyed a lot more in their pieces than today, painting a Monet/VanGogh like tapestry, and not the Jackson Pollock-style inanities.

Water, sunshine, love and rain...can't make that space grown again....round and round we go.....no one knows...

Today, both Laxman and Dravid, and Tendulkar to a lesser extent, face questions about their place in the squad. Sadly, all three have looked woefully out of sorts during the series, despite their best efforts. People claim Kapil overstayed, which is a fact, considering the fact that he was blocking Srinath's path into the Test team. At this stage, I am not sure if the same can be said about the big-3. The Rohits, Yuvis and Sureshs have been tried and tested, and found wanting; which was not the case with Srinath. Quite frankly, whatever people might say, the cupboard is bare as of now. There is time before the next Test series, and that time must be used by the big 3, or the authorities/coaches to try and get the next generation (Sharma, Yuvi, Raina, Badrinath, Pujara) ready to take on whatever comes their way in the next 5 years or so (medium-term vision?).

No one knows if time is telling the truth....or how our garden will grow....why is time not ours to control....no one knows...no one knows...

I am not sure what the road ahead will be like, but the future has to groomed, and groomed NOW. IPL or not, It looks like the next away series of note is against South Africa in November 2013! There's more than enough time to get these guys geared up to face quality teams on quality wickets. At the same time, creating sporting wickets in India would go a long way in building bowlers who can make the most of conditions and not look like clueless buffoons on non-subcontinental wickets in Australia/NZ/South Africa. There was a time spin was India's strength, but that's not the case now. Ashwin is decent, but the buck stops there. Bhajji is in woeful decline, and I'm afraid his only performance of note on the field of the last couple of years of his career will be his settling scores with Sreesanth, if he does not come back AND perform well. Pragyan Ojha is decent, but might be second-best in holding a place in the side, considering Ashwin's decent run with the bat.

So for you the time has come, to head off towards your kingdom come....so unfairly now, you must go...

Changes must be made, although I fully understand they might not be implemented in the upcoming series at home vs. Pakistan. But I cannot really see Laxman or Dravid (or Tendulkar for that matter) in the team beyond that series. The tour to Lanka, and the subsequent home series against NZ, Aus and England potentially offer the perfect setup to get the new guys in, up and running. It may be unfair, but the time is probably right. The water, sunshine, love and rain provided (if any, since you can never be sure with the BCCI), will make the space grow again. If this does not happen, I foresee a very long and arduous learning curve, with the Indian team potentially heading into a steep decline similar to what the WIndies have gone/are going through.

So unfair a man like you, was cast down for what fate would do....for you there is no day in the sun...

And finally, back to Dravid...the man who has been the proverbial Atlas for India, bearing every burden (and the innumerable brickbats) which have come his way. He has done everything a man could have done in times of crisis - opened the batting, donned the wicket-keeper's gloves. If there is one man who should be allowed to choose when he wants to walk off stage, it is him. To me, despite my [blind] loyalties towards Bombay and Tendulkar, he is the true great amongst the three, or the greater of the 3 greats. Without him, I wonder what the team would have been like, much like you wonder what the Windies would have been like without Richards - he's the glue which has held the team together.

But then....Que Sera Sera....like Sidvee concluded, the last word lies with Messrs. Srinivasan, Fletcher, Dhoni and Srikkanth.