Sushil Pathak

Sadly, it happens with almost everyone in life. It happened with almost all fallen heroes, conquerors or rulers. Whenever you are in charge and in total control, everything seem to be just fine. At good times, things go your way and happen the way you want it. But, just when you lost that touch, all of a sudden all your supporters, followers, fans and well wishers seem to be lost in thin air. Expect a few loyal ones, you are all by yourself and it’s only up to you whether you make it or break it. Just when you need ’em all, you find yourself fighting alone, totally abandoned by everyone. In this fight against the current, a lot of us will be dismantled and destroyed and a very few will make it across.

Former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting is going through the same phase right now. This great Australian batsmen is suffering a slump of form and nothing seem to be going his way. He lost his captaincy to young Michael Cleark but insisted to carry on for his love of the game. As we expect, media has always been hopelessly after him and calling him to retire. I understand that a job of a batsman is to make runs and if you don’t do it, you should step aside and yield to better ones. But, my point is, the way Ponting is being treated right now is just very unfair. He has been a great servant of Austrailan cricket for over 16 years now and led Australia to more World Cup victories then anyone else. But now, he is struggling to make runs and just everyone is treating him as if he is the real problem and that he should be booted out. Everyone is arguing that had already lost his charisma and charm as a bastman and it’s time to wave good bye. It does not take a master mind to figure out that most of these statements, if not all, are politically driven. They should all remember that he was the same batsman who had been scoring runs after runs in series after series and put Australia on top countless times. It is not possible to lost that fine art of dominant batting overnight. It is just that he is going through bad phase and this is the time when all of his fans and supporters should actually back him up and send a message that they are with him. He just needs some time to settle things down and get that magic click again. He is already 37 and for most bastmen, this is a time to retire. Precisely because of this, he should be given some more innings and make sure that no body drags this legend to ground and force him to retire when he is on a low. Give him a few chances and let him retire in style which he totally deserves. I wish to see this batting giant making tons and tons of runs against India in current series . Thanks to his finely crafted 62 yesterday. Hopefully that’s just a tip of an iceberg and a big-big inning is just around the corner so that he could send this age old cricketing message once again, “form is temporary, class is permanent.”