Ravi Shastri - former Indian cricketer turned commentator May 17, 2006: It’s bit funny when you think of it. Ravi Shastri, the flamboyant commentator, has said that no player is indispensable to the Indian team. Runs and number of centuries are not important but playing as per the needs of the team is what counts. And, Shastri agrees that players have made giant strides in the limited version of the game.

The logic is infallible and can’t be argued with. What’s the problem then? The problem is with the person offering the comment.

Most of us are not young enough not to know the exploits of Ravi Shastri himself on the cricket field. He was a cricketer with limitations who played within those limitations. He was fortunate to play both versions of the game and he was lucky there was not so much competition in his days for a place in the team. And he was lucky in having somebody like Sunil Gavaskar at the helm who seemed to like him. But it was clear to all intelligent observers that he struggled in ODIs. This is not to forget that he was declared ‘champion of champions’ in a particular tournament. The fact remains that he often found it difficult to force the pace in one day matches with his limited array of strokes. He depended heavily on the flick shot to fast bowlers and the lofted shot to spinners.

Navjot Singh Sidhu - former Indian player, now commentator He would stonewall for long periods, allowing the asking rate to climb and climb. Finally, things would reach a point of no return and he would try to slog and invariably get out. This became such a routine affair that he was greeted with boos and catcalls in different stadiums of the country. That such unpopularity didn’t deter him from going on to become one of the leading commentators is, well, another story altogether.

Why blame Shastri alone? If you look at the commentators whose number is increasing, save for Sunil Gavaskar, you find a bunch who went out of the game frustrated. There is that Bengal wicket keeper Saba Karim, there is Chetan Sharma, Arun Lal, Madan Lal, Yashpal Sharma, L. Sivaramakrishnan, W.V. Raman…If you allow me to be more uncharitable, I would even include K. Srikkanth and Navjot Sidhu in the list of failed cricketers and certain other one-match wonders whose names I fail to recollect.

I have no problem with these cricketers trying to earn their bread by using their ‘expertise’. But people who have followed cricket for some time find it difficult to swallow some of their comments.

In the past, cricketers like Sourav and Dravid have got irritated by the comments by ex-cricketers and have made their displeasure clear both in public and private. I think their anger is justified. Don’t preach what you couldn’t practice.

It is more the fault of TV channels who are ready to recruit based on their cricket CVs. For instance, when one channel tried out Venkatesh Prasad soon after he retired, he turned out to be a complete disaster. It’s another matter that Prasad is a gentleman cricketer. In England and Australia, cricketers have gone on to become great cricketers. Richie Benaud, Ian Botham, David Gower, Geoff Boycott… the list is long. The same can’t be said about India and its bunch.