CLOSE-IN: The dreaded Pink Slip is now in cricket as well

The Pink Slip in the corporate world is a dreaded written or verbal message indicating that one has lost ones job and it's time to move on. In cricket, the Pink would naturally denote 'Night Cricket' and 'Slip' as an important fielding position especially when playing cricket at dusk.


Cricket may be a sport; however, it is gradually developing into a big-business enterprise. The growth of the digital world has brought about a revolution in the way the game is being followed. A cricketer being the centrepiece of this gigantic change has become the pawn to king or a vice-versa story.

The way cricket-related issues have changed can be perceived when the present Indian cricket coach, Rahul Dravid, was the one who delivered a Pink Slip to Wriddhiman Saha. He informed him that his days as a Test cricketer are over and it is time for him to retire. Saha, like many second-choice wicketkeepers who suffered in the past, remained in the shadow of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He was, thereafter, superseded by the flamboyant Rishabh Pant. His last stint in the Test match against the world champion side, New Zealand, was a fighting knock under immense pain as he had a severe neck ache. Saha has played 40 Test matches for India and definitely deserved a better and more honourable way to have been given the exit message.

Surprisingly, the coach was the messenger boy who delivered the Pink Slip to not just Wriddhiman Saha but, one gathers, also to some of the other ageing stalwarts. One understands that there is a time when one has to 'hang up ones boots' but for a coach rather than a selector to inform one is not the correct way to do so. The primary function of any coach is to mentor, motivate, encourage, advise and give direction to his players. The coach is the one who gets the selected team together as a fighting unit and extracts the best from each one of them.