Cricket: The drama of Indian opinions

India is a country of diverse opinions. While we are slowly escaping the strong societal divides based on religion, food, culture, language and a million other characteristics of oneself that many dont really know of, the societal divide based on cricket might never set India free from its control.

While the Mumbaikar (and most Indians) believes, there has been no better cricketer to have lived than the little master, Sachin Tendulkar, most Bengalis would put their lives on the line to argue about the Ganguly supremacy. Most Delhities have already started comparing, the man in form,Virat Kohli to the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (Delhi doesn't see beyond Delhi). 

In this entire clutter of some knowledge driven opinions and many emotional opinions, the responsibility of the Indian selectors becomes all the more difficult. Harbhajan Singh decides to pick up a few wickets and Rohit Sharma decides to slaughter the bowlers for once and again India comes together to support the stars they had once ignored and probably witten off as the ones that need to retire NOW!!!!

These situations force me to wonder whether the public opinion of a player effects the decision of an Indian selector. At the end of the day, the BCCI and team management are also  human and being influenced by mass emotion is not something that is unheard of. 

However, we have seen some controversies in the past around inclusions and exclusions that stirred great controversies in international cricket. There might be a few more to come. Here are 3 decisions that if selectors ever commit to, there public reputation might just be tarnished forever :

• Dropping the great Sachin Tendulkar - If such a situation arises and the BCCI do manage to gather courage to take such a decision, chances of public unrest outside the offices of the BCCI can be expected. The little man is the face of cricket in India and the harsh reality of his retirement/dropping will be a truth to bitter for most to swallow.
  
  
• Sacking Dhoni from captaincy - While many may critic the way Dhoni's been batting lately, his captaincy has helped India achieve cricketing victories that many might have lost the hope for. The man has given the talented Indian team the head that had been missing for a while.
  
  
• Dropping Bhajji and including Ashwin in his place - The confidence the selectors showed on Bhajji did pay off but it also further created some complications post his tremendous bowling against the English. Picking Ashwin over him might not go down to well with the selectors.

Well, India is indeed a land of opinions, some knowledgeable some emotional. For the sake of cricket in India, lets hope selectors and the team management dont get swayed by the beliefs of followers of the cricketing religion.