Hell hath no fury like a father embittered. Apologies to playwright William Congreve for the tinkering with his phrase. After cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh’s caustic words against legend Kapil Dev and former skipper MS Dhoni, it’s now the turn of the father of Sanju Samson to pour out his feelings against those who supposedly damaged his son’s career.
Samson Viswanath hogged the media attention a couple of days ago when he, speaking to a Malayali news outlet, accused Indian skippers Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni of wasting years of his cricketing career. He also dragged the name of former head coach Rahul Dravid. “There are 3-4 people who wasted 10 years of my son’s career,” he said naming the four. “But the more they hurt him, the stronger Sanju came out of the crisis,” he added.
Well, the fans of the four big names in Indian cricket can begin an argument with him and continue with it endlessly. But a better option is to be silent. Who are we to judge a father’s frustration about his son’s career? Surely his feelings are much deeper than we can even imagine. But the timing couldn’t have been more correct. Sanju has just scored three T20 centuries in five outings. That makes him the first ever batter in the world to achieve the feat in a calendar year. Father Viswanath has the bragging right, also the right to vent his anger.
Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj has a two-fold grievance. A fast bowler who played one Test match and six one-dayers for India has a grouse against both of the country’s World Cup winning captains Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni, and makes no secret of it. He blames Kapil Dev for sabotaging his career and Dhoni for that of his son’s. He and Kapil Dev, both fast bowlers, began their careers at around the same time. While Kapil Dev went on to become one of the legends of the game, Yograj didn’t go too far. He blames Kapil Dev for it.
Yuvraj, a prolific scorer and one of the best batters of his generation, was dropped by MS Dhoni from the World Cup squad of 2015. In 2007, Dhoni was chosen over him as skipper after Rahul Dravid despite being the vice captain. Yograj feels Yuvraj still had years of cricket left in him. It was cut short by Dhoni.
“He should look at his face in the mirror. He is a very big cricketer, but what he has done against my son… it can never be forgiven in life… That man has destroyed the life of my son, who could have played four to five years more,” he said in an interview with Zee Switch’s YouTube channel.
The anger of both fathers is justified from where they are. But skippers have to make calls that are not agreeable to all. They have to make decisions keeping the larger interest of the team in mind. Big names have to get the chop if necessary. It might hurt individual players. Beyond the glamour that captaincy brings, is the burden of harsh decisions and their consequences. Yograj won’t accept that his son was struggling with form, nor would Viswanath that Sanju has been given enough chances to prove his mettle.
The observation of Akash Chopra, former cricketer and commentator, is apt: “If you dig a grave, you will only find a skeleton.” In the times of social media, graves are being dug with certain single-mindedness, both by former cricketers and their near ones. Notice the frequency at which former players berate their captains these days. The intent: to dent the image of the person and bring him down from the high pedestal the adoring public places them on. Social media offers the right amplification to grievances, genuine or imagined.
How should the targets respond to angry papas? MS Dhoni shows the way. With silence. There’s something dignified about silence. The more you react to noise, the more you create fodder for gossip and pointless chatter.
Meanwhile, angry papas can go on with their rants. They have the licence.
(By arrangement with Perspective Bytes)