India's inconsistency is becoming disturbing

the cricket board president is unhappy with the indian team''s performance in the first test in south africa. the selectors are sore with the team management for making a mockery of their selection by not playing specialists in their designated places. the coach says the team management erred while selecting the eleven. the players are going about their own mindless way.none of these gentlemen seem to know whether they should have a replacement for injured wicketkeeper sameer dighe or not. but someone in the board has already asked sarandeep singh and ajay ratra to pack their bags just in case. board president jagmohan dalmiya keeps harping on the 2003 world cup while the team''s performance in recent test matches is causing concern. he has sought and received reports from coach john wright and physio andrew leipus. he says he will talk to them on their return from south africa on the inconsistency in performance. wright''s remark on team selection is significant. is it his way of saying that he was helpless at drilling sense in the minds of the tour selection committee or is it a genuine admission of collective failure? he was talking about ajit agarkar not playing, but not as to why the team management tinkered with the batting line-up by asking the reluctant rahul dravid to open the innings. then this suggestion that if someone has to be sacrificed at the top then it should be venkata sai laxman and not dravid! why at all think in terms of a sacrificial lamb. what passes understanding is the way every team management thumbs its nose at the national selectors. dalmiya has met the union sports minister with television cameras in tow twice in a month to give a low down on indian cricket. the good thing about cricket is that you don''t have to send a formal invite for a press meet, the officials do it by word of mouth, unlike the officials of other sports bodies who have to strain every sinew to get a decent gathering to hear them. all of a sudden every utterance of wright is being weighed with his purse. his emoluments are being compared to his predecessors. the writing is on the wall for wright even though the feeling is that he shouldn''t be touched till the next world cup. the board chief is a great believer in everything indian. he is not one who is enamoured with anything foreign. the two marshes —- rod and geoff —- didn''t take long to realise their days were numbered and the two have already found new havens. nothing wrong with either what the board did or the high-profile coaches. the board chief is seen to be active. he has converted the first meeting of the office-bearers of the board into what he called a brainstorming session and the scope of discussion on junior cricket was enlarged, with a whole lot of special invitees to kolkata. some of them politely declined the invitation as they knew they had little to contribute and had been invited for ornamental value. the first concrete move he has taken is to appoint dilip vengsarkar as talent resource development officer whatever the high-sounding designation may mean. not all take vengsarkar''s appointment at face value. some see it as a way to appease him as the other superstars of indian cricket have had their pound of flesh over the years. it is also seen as an exercise to build bridges with the western states who stood solidly behind sharad pawar and a c muthiah at the last election. whatever be the motive, the decision is right and can''t be faulted. vengsarkar is deeply involved with coaching as he had been running an academy in mumbai. if given a free hand he might deliver too. it will be interesting to know what he thinks of the junior selection committee and whether he will take cognizance of its recommendations based on regional considerations. one of the selectors is there because of his valued vote as a secretary of an association, not because he has any exceptional knowledge of cricket. come to think of it, one can count the number of people with any cricketing background in the various committees on the fingers of one hand. if one knows vengsakrar he will not take any nonsense from these selectors.