Worshipping false Gods

By John Cheeran
Though India has won the first two one-day matches against England in the seven-match series, changes are likely to take place in the team sooner or later.
Indian team management’s immediate objective should be to win the next two matches, which would give them the series victory.
That should enable skipper Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell to take some tough measures against some of the established batsmen in the side. Here I presume that even if India win the next two matches, there will not be any significant contributions from openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
These two have tested the patience of Indian fans and team management and they should be told to take a walk from the side now. Even when conditions were conducive for batting, Sehwag and Gambhir failed India miserably. Their failure at the top, especially in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, is unpardonable.
Hence Dravid will have to re-think his opening options. If I were in Dravid’s shoes I would have promoted Yuvraj Singh as an opener to begin with Sehwag and will bring VVS Laxman to bolster the middle order.
If Sehwag remains restless and out of form, there is another path. In that case, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh should open the innings for India. Both VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh have opened in one-dayers and Tests before. And anyone objecting to the idea of making VVS and Yuvraj Singh openers, they should realize one fact.
If a technically unsound Sourav Ganguly could open the Indian innings in one-dayers, anyone can do the opener’s job. The successful opening combination of Ganguly and Tendulkar were the product of the exigencies of one-day cricket and Test match technique was not the basis for such a move.
That should hold good for a new opening combination like Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh or better still VVS Laxman and Yuvraj.
Who knows we will have to accept the reality when Tendulkar comes back he will have to revert to No.4 batting slot in one-dayers too. Naturally, there will be instant criticism against such a move but whatever works best for India should be acceptable for everyone.
The time to worship false Gods is over.