Dear Saurav,
It’s so disheartening to learn what they have done to you, it just leaves all Indian Cricket fans with a sense of disgust and disbelief. To me and I am sure to a lot of other Cricket fans out there the game won’t be same without you around, in fact I am not even sure if I would even like to watch anymore.
People and the media say that you are being punished because you are a member of the Dalmiya camp, I don’t personally believe this as far as I know you were only a member of Team India Camp. It was not as if you were made the skipper as a favor from Mr. Dalmiya - to the best of my knowledge he didn’t score the 15, 000 runs you have scored in international cricket on your behalf, he didn’t lead the side for you to famous victories at home and abroad ( which is such a rare occurrence for an Indian cricket team), he didn’t create a winning unit from a bunch of losers.
Anyway all this doesnt matter anymore, they say that you are a fighter and that you will fight you way back into the team, but I feel that you should retire from international cricket and save yourself from further insult. Don’t get me wrong, not even for a minute do I think that you can’t make it back to the team, but what’s the point ? They will put you under the scanner for every single inning of yours, they will create so much pressure that it won’t be worth it, more importantly your ex team mates don’t appreciate your worth.
Talking about your team mates makes me really angry, Mr Nice Guy - Rahul Dravid is anything but Mr. Nice Guy, his comments after they dropped you throw a lot of light on his personality, especially when one recalls that he managed to stay in the ODI team thanks to you and your idea of making him keep wickets. Let’s not talk about Sachin Tendulkar either, I mean he is such a great player - Right? No Wrong, I don’t even recall 10 matches in the past 5 years which he has won for India, even though he keeps adding to his tally of personal milestones. Well the rest will get a chance to prove themselves sooner rather then later, and you know what people like me out there are waiting with bated breath to see them perform against stronger oppositions like Pakistan and England.
When you are winning people forget everything, let India play Pakistan and then England and I am sure we will see knives out in the open, all foolish tactics in the name of experimentaion will have to be explained at that point of time. I almost forgot Mr. Chappel, well all of us will soon see the results of his interesting tactics and experiments.
In the end all I can say is that don’t lose heart, there is so much in life more then cricket. You have been the best captain India has ever produced and you will stay the best in the years to come.
Yours Truly,
Ex Cricket Fan