Ravi Shastri and Arun Lal are as suave as they come. Urbane, articulate, they are comfortable with the English language as well as the medium of television. At the drop of a county cap, they can theorise on the state of the game or pitch or analyse the strengths and weaknesses of players and teams. They are prepared to work hard as they always did during their playing days.

Sunil Gavaskar exited in as grand a manner as he entered Test cricket, and he timed his farewell to perfection. Today, he is busier than ever, writing, commentating for television, managing events like the Tied Test reunion, taking part in game shows and talk shows, and yet finding time for such of India's players as seek him out for his advice.

Cricketers, like actors, do not fade away. There was a time they knew no other life, so they tended to stay around the fringes of the big time. Today, they are savvy enough to prolong their cricket careers well beyond their playing days. Some take to coaching, some to administration, some others to the media, and these are the glamour boys. Those who take to umpiring are very rare these days. It is physically and mentally demanding and open to the closest scrutiny possible, with technology exposing their mistakes in a way never before achieved. (The same technology also tends to highlight their good decisions, showing them in a particularly good light especially when the naked eye believes they have erred and the camera proves otherwise).

But please spare a thought for the not so fortunate or bright among our cricketers. Players who have either sacrificed other options or possess few skills other than their area of specialization in cricket. Or take the case of a player like Debasis Mohanty or Rahul Sanghvi, players our selectors love to select as expert drinks bearers on long, arduous tours. They are rarely expected to play any cricket and perhaps more surprised than anybody else on the few occasions they are by some aberration called upon to do so. I wonder what kind of experience they accumulate as a result of all this hectic globetrotting doing the most altruistic service to Indian cricket.

What would Debasis Mohanty, no disrespect intended, have to say if Tony Greig decided on an impulse to invite him to the commentary box and ask him to pronounce judgement on some aspect of the game he last had a nodding acquaintance with way back in the 1999 World Cup? Do such players ever land post retirement sinecure or advertising contracts? With the amount of cricket they play, do they manage to acquire an education along the way, or do they find themselves in limbo like some war veteran trying to adjust to civilian life? I know Harbhajan Singh is an Inspector General or something in the police force, but will you blame him if he thinks 'Crime and Punishment' is the title of a chapter in the Police Manual? Don't you think it's time our players started attending training programmes that will prepare them for life after cricket?

© CricInfo