City Bias

By Fredrick Franklin

Are some people we trust as legends taking their power too far and giving us highly biased opinions?

Sunny Gavaskar must learn not to contribute a column to one of the nation's premier dailies when in fact there is no 'juice' to offer. Today's column (17th October 2011) was about Ajinkya Rahane needing to cement his place. Smacks of the mentality of former cricket giants Mumbai in deciding the nation's affairs in cricket.

Sunny: A picture of bias?

Many people like Sunny must realise that that old order hath changeth and Mumbai rules no more, no doubt they have a classy Ranji Trophy team and the private franchise Mumbai Indians won the global Champions League Twenty20 tournament. Everyone acknowledges that fine ability. However, the Indian team is composed of players either from the north or the south of India, save Sachin Tendulkar the legendary old guard who plays selectively to prolong his career.

Even the low profile Gautam Gambhir constitutes a better force to reckon with as does R Ashwin from Chennai in the south who's showing his uncanny ability with the ball. Nobody really craves to see a Mumbai-ite as once they did Tendulkar, Manjrekar and Kambli for example. There are replacements and these have a different edge. Therefore Gavaskar's focus is purely on a Mumbai-ite cementing his place in the Indian team.

Well, no doubt Rahane has shown ability but let the man prove himself. Why must we have these Godfathers in the shadows (Sunny). Why reams and columns about the man from his city? Does Sunny bhai want to take over Indian cricket again? And what has he shown that elevates him to a better level? Neither astute cricket knowledge off the field nor objective SWOT analyses in the commentator's box. Surely, the ''master batter' Sunny would defend himself that he was merely providing opinion and to ask us to look at the facts, however, shouldn't he change his style when being consistently perceived as a 'home-pitcher?'

Ravi Shastri, epic in his winning the Champion of Champions Audi car in the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 was after all initially blooded by Sunil Gavaskar who sent an SOS while on the tour to New Zealand in 1981. It's also famously known that Ravi Shastri was the only bowler in the famous '85 championship who bowled all his allotted 10 overs in each match, thanks to his patronising skipper Gavaskar. And Shastri also opened the batting, another innovation that Sunny bhai though of for him on a Pakistan tour, owing to the 'circumstances' of the moment. Now, wouldn't a stodgy opener get more scope to get those 50s and stake a claim to the Champions of Champions prize? And all the while, the ebullient K Srikanth got the vital runs to help India ahead.

Shastri performed but is a Sunny-promoted man?

Anyway, now Sunny and Ravi rule the roost in providing the dullest, leave alone biased Indian commentary while also not being sufficiently proficient in the English language. They are paid 355,000 USD (1.6 crore Indian rupees) just to speak the Indian cricket board's gospel in the commentary box. A sad case of a feudal landlord (the board) as one journalist stated wanting to command the dominions in an utterly unfair show for Indian sports lovers.

We may have seen one movement like Anna Hazare's in the more important political spheres but now, who will lead the other revolution? That is, to see that Indians are not denied true and skillful opinion.