When a larger, more balanced perspective is required

When will Indian cricket followers think with their heads and not with their hearts? When will they cease to be creatures of emotion and be more logical in their reasoning?

Remember the 1999 World Cup? On the eve of the competition, an opinion poll on this web site made India the heavy favourites. Thirty five percent of those polled (more than 10,000 respondents) were of the view that India would win the World Cup. Needless to say, the vast majority of them were Indians and given the sheer population of the country - and consequently the vast following for the game - it only exposed the fact that Indians, wherever in the world they may be, tend to be over emotional when it comes to cricketing matters. This was about the time when a national news magazine carried a lopsided cover story titled "11 reasons why India will win the World Cup." We all know what happened.

These thoughts come again to mind upon witnessing the reaction in India to Sachin Tendulkar being ignored in the Wisden 100 list of great Test match innings. One national newspaper in a banner headline screamed "Oh Jesus, the cricketing Bible excludes the great Indian God" adding that Tendulkar's exclusion was "a shocking omission." Another national newspaper called it "a harsh verdict" and said the ratings were bound to generate a lot of debate.

The fact remains - and Wisden's reputation is largely based on facts and figures - that a complex system of calculations depending on various factors was used to decide the top performances, like the state of the game, quality of the bowling, the pitch and the final result. And as Wisden Online director Anthony Bouchier put it quite plainly "Tendulkar did not meet some of these parameters. He needs to play more great innings in future to make the list."

The main point of debate around the country is how none of Tendulkar's big knocks have made it to the top 100 Test innings of all time or even in the top 10 among Indians. Granted that some of the inclusions and omissions are bound to raise eyebrows, but a list like this is bound to generate debate. Granted too, for the sake of argument, that a few of Tendulkar's innings could have found a place in either list. But then the main point is that if Tendulkar's knocks could have found a place, then so also could many immortal innings played by other greats. So many have been ignored but reacting in an over emotional manner, Indians cannot see beyond the fact that Tendulkar was excluded from the list.

In the top ten list, there is not even a single innings by Victor Trumper, WG Grace, Walter Hammond, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Gary Sobers, Vivian Richards, Denis Compton, Everton Weekes, Peter May, Greg Chappell, Javed Miandad or Graeme Pollock - to name just a few. The list is endless, really. The point is that in such things it is imperative to keep a larger, more balanced perspective rather than opt for any regional bias. It should be on the voting pattern for Wisden's five cricketers of the century wherein the electorate was asked "to set aside any bias towards your own country and your own era."

If it is any comfort for Indian cricket fans, the Wisden Online ODI ratings list would be out in the next seven months and Tendulkar who has an excellent track record in one dayers - including being the first to cross the 10,000 run mark - could leave his mark on it. However if for some reason he doesn't, then wait for all hell to break loose in India again.