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[cricinfo]

Another example of how Team India lacks a good leader on top of having a *ty management ....perfect recipe for youngsters to be shoved and pushed and taken for granted....and shows lack of political acumen of captain and management

No one told me why I wasn’t picked, no word of consolation either’
SWARUP KAR PURKAYASTHAPosted online: Friday, July 13, 2007

After India SoS, pacer Rakesh Patel just sat in the dressing room, watching his dream go bust

Ahmedabad, July 12: The disappointment is evident in Rakesh Patel’s voice. He came close to wining the India cap, twice. And each time it proved ‘so near yet so far’. And this time the disappointment unfolded for him in dramatic fashion.


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He was sent an SoS to fly to Belfast from Liverpool to bail India out as most of the bowlers were down with the flu. The Baroda pacer responded promptly, and reached there in time.

His hopes were soaring. “I had this dream of playing for India before retirement. Finally, I think I have made it,” Patel had told this daily then, after receiving the call.

His folks back home in Navsari, a district in Gujarat, started distributing sweets in celebration. Little did they know then that soon another disappointment will hover over their courtyard.

In the morning of the match against South Africa, Patel woke up with the hope of using the conditions conducive for seamers to trouble the Proteas, and cement his place in the side. But as luck would have it, his name was not inked in the playing eleven. The team went into the match with four bowlers, including two seamers.

“The way they called me I was certain that I would play. Besides, I thought they would play three seamers as the conditions were good for fast bowling. But to my surprise and disappointment, I was not there,” said Patel, who has moved back to Liverpool to play local league there.

Just like in 2002-03 series in New Zealand, here also, sitting at the dressing room, he had to control his urge to run down the bowling mark to destroy the opponents’ batting line-up. “It feels bad, of course. Coming so close and yet the dream remained unrealised,” said the 22-year old.

But what would probably hurt the bowler more would be the fact that no word of encouragement came from any quarter, not even from captain Rahul Dravid. “Dravid thanked me initially for joining the team on short notice. But no one told me why I wasn’t picked. There was no word of consolation either from anyone,” said Patel, who has taken 45 wickets from nine matches so far in the Liverpool League.

Patel does not even know how much he would get paid for his services. “I have got my daily allowance. But how much will I get for being there, I don’t know. The BCCI usually decides on such things after a tour,” said Patel, who took 37 wickets in the last Ranji season.

So what does he do now? Go back to the dead tracks in India and toil hard season after season, like he had been doing relentlessly? “I will keep playing the game, pursuing my love. And hope that one day my dream will be fulfilled. My dream to wear the India cap,” suddenly again there is hope in his voice.



http://www.indianexpress.com/story/204707.html

[WicketView]

Another example of how Team India lacks a good leader on top of having a *ty management ....perfect recipe for youngsters to be shoved and pushed and taken for granted....and shows lack of political acumen of captain and management

No one told me why I wasn’t picked, no word of consolation either’
SWARUP KAR PURKAYASTHAPosted online: Friday, July 13, 2007

After India SoS, pacer Rakesh Patel just sat in the dressing room, watching his dream go bust

Ahmedabad, July 12: The disappointment is evident in Rakesh Patel’s voice. He came close to wining the India cap, twice. And each time it proved ‘so near yet so far’. And this time the disappointment unfolded for him in dramatic fashion.


 Related Stories Win was needed vs Sussex: We must show intent, along with form
Dravid rested, Tendulkar to lead
Trophy won in Belfast yet to be traced
Murali 15 off record
Middlesex lose despite Kartik’s five-for
He was sent an SoS to fly to Belfast from Liverpool to bail India out as most of the bowlers were down with the flu. The Baroda pacer responded promptly, and reached there in time.

His hopes were soaring. “I had this dream of playing for India before retirement. Finally, I think I have made it,” Patel had told this daily then, after receiving the call.

His folks back home in Navsari, a district in Gujarat, started distributing sweets in celebration. Little did they know then that soon another disappointment will hover over their courtyard.

In the morning of the match against South Africa, Patel woke up with the hope of using the conditions conducive for seamers to trouble the Proteas, and cement his place in the side. But as luck would have it, his name was not inked in the playing eleven. The team went into the match with four bowlers, including two seamers.

“The way they called me I was certain that I would play. Besides, I thought they would play three seamers as the conditions were good for fast bowling. But to my surprise and disappointment, I was not there,” said Patel, who has moved back to Liverpool to play local league there.

Just like in 2002-03 series in New Zealand, here also, sitting at the dressing room, he had to control his urge to run down the bowling mark to destroy the opponents’ batting line-up. “It feels bad, of course. Coming so close and yet the dream remained unrealised,” said the 22-year old .

But what would probably hurt the bowler more would be the fact that no word of encouragement came from any quarter, not even from captain Rahul Dravid. “Dravid thanked me initially for joining the team on short notice. But no one told me why I wasn’t picked. There was no word of consolation either from anyone,” said Patel, who has taken 45 wickets from nine matches so far in the Liverpool League.

Patel does not even know how much he would get paid for his services. “I have got my daily allowance. But how much will I get for being there, I don’t know. The BCCI usually decides on such things after a tour,” said Patel, who took 37 wickets in the last Ranji season.

So what does he do now? Go back to the dead tracks in India and toil hard season after season, like he had been doing relentlessly? “I will keep playing the game, pursuing my love. And hope that one day my dream will be fulfilled. My dream to wear the India cap,” suddenly again there is hope in his voice.



http://www.indianexpress.com/story/204707.html

Wasn't the guy flown in as a backup and not in the team of 16 or whatever  in the first place? ie. everyone agreed that there were better players than him to play for India. So, if some of those guys managed to get fit for the match is it not obvious that he will not be picked? The guy acts as though there is a mystery to this question, and he had earned the break with work/talent but was denied it.

Sure, it helps if the powers that be acknowledge the services of such people and make them comfortable. But with such brains or sense of what is reasonable, that might turn out to be very difficult. So, while I hope the BCCI pays him appropriately (clearly not match fees because he did not play a match, but something), it would be better if the press did not start pandering to such rubbish. 

On a different note I am wondering who this Rakesh Patel is? I had assumed that it was this guy:
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32248.html
But that guy is 28 years old, while the article is speaking of a 22 year old.

[prfsr]

While it is true he was a backup, if he was told that he would be playing, then he should have been informed. It would not kill people to be nicer to fringe players.

Incidentally, the day Bose and someone else arrived (Sharma), they did not have a room at the team hotel. They were put up somewhere and joined the team a day later. Dravid said "Oh, you are here" and that was all the contact any of the management had with Bose.

The Patel incident would be consistent with the team management's modus operandi.

-P

PS: This is from a Bengali paper that Bose spoke to, so feel free to not believe it, or ask "if this is true why did the English papers not print the story?"

[WicketView]

While it is true he was a backup, if he was told that he would be playing, then he should have been informed. It would not kill people to be nicer to fringe players.

Incidentally, the day Bose and someone else arrived (Sharma), they did not have a room at the team hotel. They were put up somewhere and joined the team a day later. Dravid said "Oh, you are here" and that was all the contact any of the management had with Bose.

The Patel incident would be consistent with the team management's modus operandi.

-P

PS: This is from a Bengali paper that Bose spoke to, so feel free to not believe it, or ask "if this is true why did the English papers not print the story?"

I want to stay clear of this Bengali-English paper issue. And of course, we don't need more proof that BCCI sucks (it would have been their job to book the room, not Dravid's). Without completely believing or disbelieving the story of Dravid's statement being all, I do feel that Dravid in general is not adept at dealing with people nicely.

However, I don't understand why you say Patel was told he would be playing. Even in this interview, he says

“The way they called me I was certain that I would play. "


Again, perhaps it would be nice if someone could make him feel comfortable with some (probably insincere) words (like hope to see you again in the dressing room?). But if he is unreasonable enough to ask this question, I suspect that even a few words like that would not be deemed sufficient by him.
 

[cricinfo]

While it is true he was a backup, if he was told that he would be playing, then he should have been informed. It would not kill people to be nicer to fringe players.

Incidentally, the day Bose and someone else arrived (Sharma), they did not have a room at the team hotel. They were put up somewhere and joined the team a day later. Dravid said "Oh, you are here" and that was all the contact any of the management had with Bose.

The Patel incident would be consistent with the team management's modus operandi.

-P

PS: This is from a Bengali paper that Bose spoke to, so feel free to not believe it, or ask "if this is true why did the English papers not print the story?"

I want to stay clear of this Bengali-English paper issue. And of course, we don't need more proof that BCCI sucks (it would have been their job to book the room, not Dravid's). Without completely believing or disbelieving the story of Dravid's statement being all, I do feel that Dravid in general is not adept at dealing with people nicely.

However, I don't understand why you say Patel was told he would be playing. Even in this interview, he says

“The way they called me I was certain that I would play. "


Again, perhaps it would be nice if someone could make him feel comfortable with some (probably insincere) words (like hope to see you again in the dressing room?). But if he is unreasonable enough to ask this question, I suspect that even a few words like that would not be deemed sufficient by him.
 

if you look back at our captains track-record ..he is (in)famous for such attitude....a good example is when it was reported that , RD is someone who will refuse to set field for bad bowling...rather he expects players to bowl on the spot at international level ...same way he probably expects guys to be matured enough to handle this kind of situation ....

there is the difference between a leader and a designated captain 

GURU AGAR GREG HO TO CHELA TO AISAE HI HOGA ...

[prfsr]

However, I don't understand why you say Patel was told he would be playing. Even in this interview, he says

“The way they called me I was certain that I would play. "

You are right. My mistake. We do not really know how much Patel was told and how much he assumed.

Sorry,
-P

[Jai]

While it's obvious that Patel is over reacting a bit, but this is true that even after all these years, we lack basic courtesy and management skills. While I don't expect the likes of Niranjan Shah to be caring and helpful to such players, it's sad to see that even the seniors (yes, I am not going to just mention RD although he's the captain) barely interacted with them. I am sure otherwise Patel would have mentioned the help he recived from the SRT or SG. Earlier a senior player used to share a room with a junior one on foreign tours. The idea was to make the junior one feel comfortable in a foreign country (usually his first ever overseas tour) and share the vast experience of the senior. I remember Sherry sharing his room with SG in the Eng tour of 1996. Are they still following those traditions or now not only the captain, but the senior guys also get their own private rooms?