Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Raj and the Maharaja


Raj Singh Dugarpur has been an enigma of Indian cricket for the last few decades.As his name suggests he is one of the few Indians who still live in the "Raj".Here is the only Indian who at India's finest hour,the 1983 world cup ,said that it was a fluke and that the Windies lost the cup rather than India win it.Here is the man who doesnt consider Kapil Dev to be a great player even though he has been voted the best Indian player of the lst millenium.
He is a staunch critic of Jagmohan Dalmiya,but when he had the reigns in his hand what did Dungarpur do?He hoisted Azhar as captain,made the Indian team lick the boots of any white team they played against and kept players like Ravi Shastri(who could have been the greatest Indian captain) out of the side.Regionalism,groupism and even (as later incidents showed) match fixing were thriving in his era.Dalmiya for all his faults has put India in a very commanding position in the ICC and Dungarpur has been a dismal failure.
His diatribes against Sourav Ganguly arguably the best Indian captain are totally unprecedented and shows how an insignificant person like Raj Singh can say anything and get away with it.
What is Dungarpur's contribution to Indian cricket? A big zero,actually he has done more harm to it.On the other hand Ganguly has served Indian cricket like no other player .He instilled the Aussie spirit in the team.I am no Ganguly fan and agree that his days are over but we as true cricket lovers should not let parasites like Raj Singh belittle our heroes and get away from it.I am sure no one will remember Dungarpur 50 years from now but Sourav Ganguly (love him or hate him) has already become a part of cricketing folklore and will always be regarded as one of the greatest Indian players.The days of Raj are over Long live the Maharaja .

2 comments:

Krishnan said...

Here I would like to draw the link between "free speech" and "mature audience".
Mr. Dungarpur expressing his opinion(which is radically different from the opinion of the general public) is an example of free speech...which I should say is a very good sign.....but we would all be showing maturity as audience if we could critique(not compare) his work as an administrator and Ganguly's work as a player and decide whose side to take.

Anonymous said...

Atta Boy!way to go..Maharaj is past his prime,undoubtedly..but comparing from the contribution point of view Dungarpur doesn't stand a chance..and talking about BCCI Administration..well..what better to place to check out a bunch of jokers!...It's a Full Monty show