Did India miss an opportunity to give Sachin Tendulkar more exciting farewell?
Well, no one in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is willing to admit this but there was a scenario where India could have played against a better opposition than the listless West Indies, who failed to last even three full days in the two farewell Tests for the maestro last month.
Discussions with Cricket South Africa (CSA) officials have revealed that the South African team offered to tour India and play those two farewell Tests in November.
There, were of course, a few conditions attached to the offer but the BCCI, reasons best known to its bosses, was not too excited by the prospect of hosting Dale Steyn & Co. The BCCI, apparently, even said no to name the series after Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
It has come to light that CSA, in countless number of their discussions with the BCCI, put forward a proposal of touring India straight from Dubai, where they were engaged in a full fledged series against Pakistan in November.
As per the points of the negotiations, South Africa would play two Tests in India and then both teams fly out to South Africa for a three-Test series. And there would not be any onedayers during the two legs of bilateral exchange programme and the series would be called Gandhi-Mandela series or trophy.
South Africa's Pakistan engagement ended on November 15 and the two India Tests would have ended in the fourth week of November after which the teams would have shifted base to the Southern hemisphere to resume the Test rivalry for a prestigious cup.
Those were the broad contours of the tour but the BCCI did not apparently show too much interest. Instead, they invited West Indies who were pathetic on the field, losing both the Tests and one-dayers. The two Tests in Kolkata and Mumbai failed to go past the third day much to the consternation of the respective state associations.
The Tendulkar farewell was rather tame affair, fizz gone out of the contest because of the meekness of the opposition.
Imagine the scenario of the maestro facing the likes of Steyn and Morne Morkel in his last Test.
BCCI president N Srinivasan could not be reached for a comment while secretary Sanjay Patel could not immediately recall any such discussion but a top CSA official revealed the suggestion was made by its president Chris Nenzani to the top BCCI officials.
"They did not show much enthusiasm. We wanted to name the series after Gandhi and Mandela. If it had happened, this series would have been a fitting farewell to Madiba," said the official.
source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...r-a-tougher-farewell/articleshow/27236116.cms
Well, no one in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is willing to admit this but there was a scenario where India could have played against a better opposition than the listless West Indies, who failed to last even three full days in the two farewell Tests for the maestro last month.
Discussions with Cricket South Africa (CSA) officials have revealed that the South African team offered to tour India and play those two farewell Tests in November.
There, were of course, a few conditions attached to the offer but the BCCI, reasons best known to its bosses, was not too excited by the prospect of hosting Dale Steyn & Co. The BCCI, apparently, even said no to name the series after Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
It has come to light that CSA, in countless number of their discussions with the BCCI, put forward a proposal of touring India straight from Dubai, where they were engaged in a full fledged series against Pakistan in November.
As per the points of the negotiations, South Africa would play two Tests in India and then both teams fly out to South Africa for a three-Test series. And there would not be any onedayers during the two legs of bilateral exchange programme and the series would be called Gandhi-Mandela series or trophy.
South Africa's Pakistan engagement ended on November 15 and the two India Tests would have ended in the fourth week of November after which the teams would have shifted base to the Southern hemisphere to resume the Test rivalry for a prestigious cup.
Those were the broad contours of the tour but the BCCI did not apparently show too much interest. Instead, they invited West Indies who were pathetic on the field, losing both the Tests and one-dayers. The two Tests in Kolkata and Mumbai failed to go past the third day much to the consternation of the respective state associations.
The Tendulkar farewell was rather tame affair, fizz gone out of the contest because of the meekness of the opposition.
Imagine the scenario of the maestro facing the likes of Steyn and Morne Morkel in his last Test.
BCCI president N Srinivasan could not be reached for a comment while secretary Sanjay Patel could not immediately recall any such discussion but a top CSA official revealed the suggestion was made by its president Chris Nenzani to the top BCCI officials.
"They did not show much enthusiasm. We wanted to name the series after Gandhi and Mandela. If it had happened, this series would have been a fitting farewell to Madiba," said the official.
source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...r-a-tougher-farewell/articleshow/27236116.cms
