INDIAN CRICKET'S FUTURE

Indian cricket has seen many great personalities - right from Ranjitsinhji to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But what is the sport's future in India? I reckon the cricket scenario in India is going to turn out to be like the hockey situation.
European countries like The Netherlands, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland are slowly gaining prominence in the world of cricket. The Irish' recent good yet highly controversial performance against Pakistan is only substantiating that point. If India is to lose out on the cricketing front, it is going to be because of the unavoidable cause - the Indian's basic physique is certainly not as strong and big made as some or most of the Europeans' - and the avoidable - the Indian character is such that hard work cannot be a substitute for talent.
Not much of the cricketing aptitude of European countries (barring England) has been seen until recently not because of incapacity but because of their being unaware of and not-so-interested in cricket. Now, since a cricket is becoming more and more popular and famous in these countries, they will not just come up as cricketing nations but will do so at a conspicuous pace.
Cricket, after all is a sport. Physical strength is required not just for the sheer game but also in a way for amplification of mental and psycological strength and I don't think any of my unbios countrymen will deny that the Dutch and Scots are endowed with more of that than we are.
In the case of hockey, India were on top of the world. They are still a very formidable team. But, their prominence has certainly decreased since the late entrants (the Dutch, etc) have 'stolen the Indians' thunder.'
The Indian cricket players and more importantly administrators have to work hard and be careful of the future of Indian cricketers. New players should be groomed, talents should be spotted and given attention, and most importantly politics should move out of the picture. A significant point here is that talents are being spotted to an extent now. But these 'talents' are either sitting in engineering colleges mugging or are exploited at a young age resulting in early burn out. Strategy is more important off the field as compared to on the field. -BS