Sachin should say he wants to play 200th Test vs SA, not WI

The good is very, very good – five Tests against England in England next season, for the first time since 1959 – when we lost all five Tests. And the last time we played England two years ago? We lost all four Tests – so maybe England knows something good is on the cards, not to mention full-houses and full-media attention. For whatever the reasons, this is very, very good. But keep your fingers crossed – and your bats. The BCCI is capable of anything – including spoiling the best laid plans of Test cricket… especially spoiling the best laid plans of Test cricket but I have a very positive feeling that this time even the BCCI knows enough to leave something so good alone, [caption id=“attachment_1084011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of BCCI president N Srinivasan. Reuters[/caption] This far from humble writer has been crying out for the past 15 years that we should have two divisions in Test cricket – top five, and bottom five. The top five today would be South Africa, England, India, Pakistan, and Australia (in order of ranking) – and bottom five would be West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Very simply put, if a top five team plays a top five team in a Test series, it must be of five Tests; if a top five team plays a bottom five team, it must be a three-Test series and bottom against bottom team, a two-Test series. No bending of the rules by any national cricket authority, even the mighty BCCI – once a series is scheduled, it is played as scheduled. For now we come to the bad – and the BCCI – instead of playing more cricket with the top Test side, South Africa, the BCCI has chosen to shorten that tour and make way for two Tests with the Windies – ranked sixth in the world. The reasons? Do not ask, for you will never get the truth from the BCCI. We can only guess – and that leads to things going from bad to worse. Yes, Sunil-sahib, I know – you and all of Indian cricket were treated as second-class citizens by the English for decades – and that was pathetic. But the revenge we are taking is even more pathetic – people are saying that a god needs a second–rate team to finish his career playing against? I hope and pray that this is not true but we will never know unless the god speaks out… in specific terms – and the BCCI says ‘alright, let the god’s 200th test be against the best in the world.’ That is all we want, we who still love Indian cricket so deeply – in spite of the BCCI. All we want is the truth, and for the truth to be acted upon – And, finally, the ugly. No, not the BCCI – but the Ashes series being promoted by a song dealing – sadly – with domestic violence. Verbal imagery of domestic violence on shots of cricketing action – does nobody listen anymore? does nobody care? ‘Set fire to the bed’ – does this lead to the Ashes? ‘You kick me once, I’ll kick you twice’ Oh, you too, too clever gents and women in your suits and your air-conditioned meeting rooms, dreaming up new ways of selling what does not need to be sold – but you neither know, nor care – all you want is a your fee, your commission – and sitting in your little committee rooms, what is a little ‘domestic violence.’ Ugly, ugly, ugly. That is what it is and what you are. You make one of the saddest international issues of today a means of selling the highest form of international cricket? You mock both – but, most of all, yourselves – ugly, ugly, ugly. By the way, two final positive points – Zimbabwe and Pakistan – two troubled cricketing nations – are playing a Test – if anyone cares – and the Pakistanis are in trouble at 249/9 – and the Don’s final innings in Test cricket was against the best of the rest -England – and he went out on a duck – but against the best…