Thursday, November 23, 2006

Demand for quota in cricket!

There was a joke spread through emails some time back on how the Indian cricket team would fare if quotas are introduced in cricket. It was just a joke, describing several funny possibilities. Now, our politicians have actually called for quotas in cricket!
This is what Ramdas Athawale has to say on our defeat to SA. His comments are in bold:

New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Members of Parliament today expressed disappointment over India’s humiliating loss to South Africa in the second cricket one-dayer in Durban, with some of them demanding coach Greg Chappell’s removal and an explanation from BCCI chief Sharad Pawar.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Kumar Malhotra said Pawar must take some hard decisions to ensure India’s sequence of defeats was broken.
‘‘People feel hurt after they watch the performance of the Indian cricket team. Since Pawar is BCCI chief, he should tell what are the steps he is taking to save the team from continuous defeats,’’ he said.
‘‘What he thinks about the coach has to be decided by him,’’ he added.
Holding Chappell responsible for the defeats, RPI MP Ramdas Athawale demanded removal of the coach and non-performing players.
‘‘This is a disappointing performance as India could score only 91 runs. This means Greg Chappell is not fulfilling his responsibilities. This defeat has brought disrepute to India. ‘‘We also have demanded that at the district level scheduled caste and scheduled tribe players should be given reservation and the players performing better should be nominated for selection in Indian team,’’ he said.