Letters to the Editor: Minority PM

History has been made in the UK after the election of Rishi Sunak, an Indian-origin Hindu as the Prime Minister (PM) of Great Britain. There was great jubilation across the nation at this development, which is very natural. It simply proved that East or West, Indians are the best. But unfortunately, there are some people namely Mehbooba Mufti, Shashi Tharoor, Chidambaram etc., to name a few, who are having entirely a different view on Rishi Sunak's feat. Being in the Opposition bench politically, they are raising once again the issue of minority appeasement. They shamelessly questioned the possibility of one belonging to minority community to become the PM of India. While doing so, they very deliberately seem to have forgotten that the likes of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, APJ Abdul Kalam, Gyani Zail Singh and Manmohan Singh have who gracefully served the nation as President and PM.

The above-mentioned discarded politicians should gracefully retire from politics and public life as they have become a liability for the nation. They, in fact, should be treated as outcastes by bona fide Indians.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Avoid repeated embarrassment

The Indian cricket team's unexpected exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 after the semi-final defeat at the hands of England by 10 wickets reminds one, just 12 months apart, their premature loss in the group stage of the T20 WC 2021 in the UAE. According to statistics, the Indian team has so far failed to annex the trophy in the ICC world championship for consecutive seven times in the last nine years. The last ICC championship was won in 2013 when they had defeated England in the ICC Champions Trophy under the captainship of MS Dhoni. Since then, except only one loss in the group stage of the ICC championship, i.e., 2021 T20 WC, the Indian team lost twice in the final and four times in the semi-final. The prolonged shabby performance of the cricketers in the ICC championship should open the eyes of the cricket administrators. The BCCI should not take successive failure of the team in the knock-out matches over these years lightly. The Board has to delve deep into details and find a remedy to stall regular repetition of embarrassing defeats in the ICC championships.

The T20 format is a young man's game for their mobility and sharp running in the field. The T-20 team should be a mix of experienced and young cricketers. The team was already burdened with under-performer openers in Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and aged Ravi Ashwin and pacer Bhuvaneswar Kumar, who has been currently an under performer. Ashwin, who is undoubtedly a world-class spinner in the Test cricket, is not suitable in the short form cricket, particularly in T20 format. Yazuvendra Chawal, who has built his career as a wicket-taking spinner in T20, was totally ignored in the tournament. Harshal Patel, an accurate bowler, who was made to seat throughout the competition, should have been played in place of Kumar. Rishav Pant should have been an automatic choice in the playing eleven and he should have been utilized as an opener in place of Rahul, the latter could have been pushed down in the batting order. Deepak Hooda, a flamboyant batsman and handy spinner, was played in just one match. Rohit Sharma's captainship was very ordinary. Rohit should have been much more prompt and smart in handling the bowlers and attacking field placing when the English opening pair was toying with the India's fragile bowling from the very outset.

Discipline in the team has to be enforced strictly. It is sad that Anil Kumble had to leave the team as a coach in 2017 due to differences with Kohli. Anil Kumble was a hard taskmaster as he got India very good results in one year and lost just one match (out of 17 matches) that speaks of Kumble's expertise as a coach. A few top players remain engaged in commercial promotion of products and get extensive coverage on the sports channels. These channels run records of their past performance and shower massive adulation 24x7 that accelerate their image larger than life. That such a state of affairs does not spoil discipline and focus of the team on performance is what the BCCI has to look into, take remedial action and take full control of the game. In the end, on discipline issue, I find some remarks of veteran Sunil Gavaskar after exit of Kumble are very relevant. He said, "You want somebody to just tell you, ok boys, don't practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping". He then thundered, "if any of the players are complaining, I feel those players are the ones who should be left out of the team". The miserable situation calls for taking resolute action.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.