27 May,2011 08:06 AM IST | | Clayton Murzello
The big drama over Gautam Gambhir's shoulder injury that puts him in doubt for the West Indies tour has raised a Club over Country question, which some television channels are riding on to attract eyeballs.
Gambhir has been accused of hiding his injury and who is to know the truth? But, it must be remembered that the cash rich tournament (Indian Premier League) Gambhir was playing in, is a Board of Control for Cricket in India event.
If Gambhir is honouring and earning from his IPL commitment to Kolkata Knight Riders, he had the blessings of his Board.
Gautam Gambhir. PIC/AFP
That the Board did not think it prudent to pull the World Cup stars out of the IPL for a while without taking away the sheen of their high-profile tournament has turned out to be foolish.
In this day and age, players cannot be expected to pull out of lucrative tournaments. It is here where the BCCI should play good 'parents'.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, the 1983 World Cupper reckoned and said so when he attended an official reception for the 2011 World Cup winners that the playing XI needed a two-week break.
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He had a fair point. Injuries can occur in any event but our World Cup stars would have not been hit too badly financially, physically and mentally had they stayed away for two weeks.
Come to think of it, why blame Gambhir? Blame Indian cricket's chieftains instead. The over-indulgence starts with them.
And by the way, the BCCI has to show more respect to international tours.
It is a shame that seven (Sehwag, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Nehra, Chawla, Dhoni, Sreesanth) from the World Cup-winning squad do not figure in India's first one-day series after being crowned world champions. Gambhir could well be the eighth. The term champions just got one hell of a blow.
