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My partner and I almost split over the Sri Lankan cricket debacle. Lack - lustre performances, sometimes very dismal, other time very appalling and often pathetic; slip-shod fielding lousy batting and mediocre bowling - all combined had left no choice for my partner, except to fret and fume and ultimately hang his head in shame! A die-hard supporter of the Sri Lankan cricket team ever since it won the prestigious World Cup, he was almost in tears when Sri Lanka ingloriously capitulated to Pakistan at the last One-Day International. The Sri Lankans literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. My partner was further devastated when India, without their star master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar, thrashed Sri Lanka, a couple of days ago. In fact the Sri Lankans threw away both matches. They have only themselves to blame.

I tried my best to console him. ``It's O.K.'' I told my partner, ``We win some, we lose some.'' Then to reassure him I said. ``To win is not always success and to lose is not always failure. We cannot always win. I reminded him of Pierre de Coubertin's famous saying, ``The important thing is to take part and not to win.''

``Stop philosophizing,'' he yelled at me. ``Your friend Coubertin must be turning in his grave at the miserable performance of the World Champions. At least put up a decent fight and lose! You are just throwing the sponge away uselessly.''

``Don't be so pessimistic,'' I countered, ``You must take everything in the right spirit. Stars have fallen. So what is there to worry about a defeat in a cricket-match! There are important things in life besides cricket! Don't worry, my friend! Next time they'll do well.''

``Enough of your sermonizing,'' he thundered, ``What the Sri Lankans need is not batting, bowling or fielding practices, but catching-practices. They all have butter-fingers. See the amount of catches they have floored. Some simple and easy catches have gone a-begging! It's a disgrace! Don't these fellows know that one of the basic rules of the game is that ``CATCHES WIN MATCHES''? I'm going to write to the cricket authorities to drop the player who drops a catch. He should be penalized and banned for the next three games.''

``Don't be silly! Just calm down my friend. If we take your wonderful suggestion, then we have to ban the whole team because practically every player has missed a vital catch. That does not mean you must drop him from the team. Sometimes the sun's glare is too much and the player is almost blinded. Sometimes he is not in the right catching position. Sometimes the light is dim. Often he gets the ball when he least expects it. There are many reasons for missing a catch.''

``Again you are sermonizing. I don't like this preaching of yours. Success has gone to their heads you know! Success, must go to their hearts, only then they will value the game and respect the spectators who turn out in thousands to watch it. They don't go there to watch a team giving a third rate performance. It is not worth the money they are paying. Suicidal runouts have robbed us of many a victory. Half-way through the innings they go berserk. Fielding is listless, bowling spiritless and batting beyond redemption. The tail-enders don't use their imagination. See how many matches we have thrown away because of our stupidity. We don't have common sense. Aren't you aware that these guys were gifted with expensive plots of land and posh-houses; showered with titles and honours? For what? For getting beaten every time they step onto the cricket field! Since they have been so generously provided for, the incentive to perform well, is missing. They have become pusillanimous. They can't face Akram; they can't face Shoaib, and they can't face Ganguly either. They should all resign. Their World-Cup victory was a mere flash in the pan!

He was almost exhausted berating and belittling the players. ``Don't be so naive,'' I retorted. ``We rightly deserved to win the 1996 World Cup, because our players went through an excellent coaching-session. Their spirit was vibrant, their morale high and they out-played their opponents in every department of the game. Naturally we won the World Cup. Even afterwards we annexed a number of trophies. The point is our key players are on the sick-list. It is true that the Pakistanis are remarkable fighters. Akram, Shoaib, Saqlain are top-class bowlers because their line and length are accurate. We must give them due credit, admire, appreciate and even emulate them. Besides, they possess the three famous 'Ds' Discipline, Dedication and Determination. We should acquire these pivotal qualities if we want to perform well, not only in cricket, but in any other field in life as well.''

Unable to hear my ``sermonizing'' my partner remained silent. I thought the best thing for me was to keep quiet and allow silent reflection to take over. Meditation and contemplation can help in reviewing men and matters to a great extent. An honest evaluation of our performances during the past few months, will put us on the right track.