On the contrary, Indian cricket is more like a jellyfish. You think it is moving when the high waves of the sea abound. Once the waves settle down, you find that the jellyfish floating just below the surface, has barely budged. This has been the plight of Indian cricket for as long as my personal experience dares to venture.

My good friend `Charlie' Gaekwad's latest outburst gives the impression of somewhat absolving himself of all ills pervading the Indian team under his charge. I wouldn't blame Anshu entirely for the present mess, but he must be man enough to own up some responsibilityfor clinging on to the post which has little to cheer, but frustrations are aplenty. I have a faint clue that `Charlie' is on the verge of losing his exalted position. Hence, the showing up of human frailty of passing on the buck. Personally, I am willing to take Anshu's explanations rather philosophically. But that, I am afraid, is not the need of the hour. If past is not to be raked and future is tense, the present calls for a ruthless handling of our overfed and underworked cricket stars.

The Indian performance in Sri Lanka was abysmal. The sight of grossly unfit international athletes parading themselves as representatives of India's most popular sport is very sore for the eyes. All eyes, not necessarily Indian, who follow cricket. The sad part is that we only get to see players in good or foul form. We seldom see the directors or producers of the great Indian cricket circus, who are invariably complacent for lack of proper accountability. There are many questions I would like to ask the caretakers ofIndian cricket. It is well nigh impossible to press the right button.

Now let us take Indian cricket's involvement in Sri Lanka. Both the players and the administrators of the Indian Board were aware of a hopeless and needless venture well in advance. Pray tell me, what preparations were made to face the well-oiled cricket machinery from Down Under? A four-day pot-luck of a cricket camp in Chennai? After the World Cup debacle in England, many in the BCCI would have us believe (and that includes Mr Gaekwad) that Indians did in fact perform creditably well.

Our politicians are presently engaged in some of the worst public mud-slinging. All norms of democratic behaviour have been The BCCI is not far behind our politicians in bending all possible ethics of grabbing power and authority. Come September, it is always the hob-nobbing for various positions of vital importance.

In earlier days, the BCCI officialdom was all about reflected glory. Now that glory carries the added qualm of financial deals of hugeproportions. For example, the TV rights and the team sponsorships are matters of enormous value which cannot be settled in one go. There are too many wiseacres who would like to take part in all aspects of cricket commerce. For goodness sake, let us not assume the players are dummy observers, as was their wont in the sixties and seventies. The modern Indian cricketer is not averse to introducing his personal interest in quarters which matter. The emergence of a ``vicious circle'' as explained by Anshu is not hard to decipher. This is exactly where the cookie crumbles. And we are left with a crazy nucleus of nouveau riche cricketers who are not sure of their priorities. At least in terms of personal or team performance.

Finally a word of caution for the Indian captain. If you expect more than a hundred percent from your colleagues, you had better set an example, especially in terms of fitness. Sachin, Ganguly, Jadeja and Dravid -- they all need to shed weight for the rest to follow suit, especially thenewly-married duo of Srinath and Kumble.