Wizards of Lord's

Letters

"What is so sensational about the wrongdoings at ITDC hotels when parliamentarians, politicians and government officials are known to scrounge off public-sector institutions?" S. Balachandran, Mumbai

Credit it to the brashness of youth, the strength of character, the luxury of being under no pressure to perform or the vast reserves of self-belief and resilience, the kind of magic Moham-med Kaif and Yuvraj Singh produced to help India win the NatWest Trophy would make even sorcerers proud ("India's New Heroes", July 29).

Karthik K, Mysore

Cricket with its glori-ous uncertainties seems to be the only sport where the anticipation of what might happen has nothing to do with what actually happens. Our youthful new-look team has proved that it has what it takes to win.

V. Venkataraman, on e-mail

The young brigade of Indian cricket has shown the world that playing with hope and courage will always result in a win. Kaif and Yuvraj have not only made the nation proud but have also exemplified what playing like a team means. Their commitment and intense desire to win augurs well for the future of Indian cricket.

S. Lavanya, on e-mail

Kaif and Yuvraj have proved right the words of Swami Vivekananda: "It is usually the young who have the strength of mind ... and who will be able to make sacrifices to achieve their goals."

Mahesh Kumar, on e-mail

The way Kaif played and earned India victory, he deserves the sobriquet of "Ka(l)if of Lord's".

Malini White, on e-mail

The victory should relieve Sachin Tendulkar of any psychological burdens because it came despite his failure. He should now be free to play his natural aggressive game which will further improve our chances of winning the World Cup.

H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Mysore

Gone are the days when the entire country would walk back to the pavilion with Tendulkar. The senior players were made to look like novices by the daringly different approaches of Yuvraj and Kaif. The seniors need to guard their reputation.

Vinod Udyawar, on e-mail

When Sourav Ganguly yanked his shirt off after the famous victory, it made news and invited flak too. No one realised that had we lost, he would probably have been stripped naked.

Madhu Rau, on e-mail

No doubt the victory at Lord's made every Indian proud but it is too early to talk about India's chances in the 2003 World Cup as our team is known to be inconsistent. The real test will come when it plays better teams like Pakistan, South Africa and Australia. Until then it would be prudent not to create an unnecessary hype. We were crowing similarly about our hockey team just before the World Cup in Malaysia. Everyone knows what happened ultimately.

Dr Bir Singh, Delhi

We have seen many talented young cricketers like Hemang Badani, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Reetinder Sodhi rise to instant fame due to hype only to fall abruptly. Also, with our selectors using whimsical and parochial reasoning to dump players, there is no saying whether a hero of today will get another chance to prove himself.

Rakesh Singhvi, on e-mail

What Kaif and Yuvraj did was wonderful but we need to be cautious in inflating the balloons of their egos lest they should deflate quickly.

Diptansu Sharma, Guwahati

The hype surrounding India's victory at Lord's is unwarranted as the series did not feature great cricketing nations like Australia or Pakistan. Sri Lanka was a shadow of its old self and it is a wonder that England still has any cricketers.

Renjith P.R., Omalloor, Kerala

The media hype over the win is not for real. I still doubt whether the Indian team can face the pace of the likes of Shoaib Akhtar or emerge as winners against the accurate Glenn McGrath on the fast and bouncy tracks of South Africa in the World Cup. Time and again we place undue confidence in the Indian side only to see it fail us. It is time we stopped patronising cricket as we do now and look towards other sports.

Puneet Satija, Amritsar