Reacting to a report by Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald correspondent, that Indian cricket team’s selection is caste-based, Dinnie comments that ‘journalists are quite fond of finding new angles to old, beaten-to-death topics’:
Gavaskar, from a proud, wealthy Brahmin family, the highest caste in the Hindu social order, had an uncle, Madhav Mantri, who played for India. It’s one of the great imponderables, a classic recasting of the nature-nurture divide to speculate whether Gavaskar, raised by a fisherwoman, could have played the game.
He might have had the eye and the dexterity to star in backstreet games, but would a fisherwoman’s son have played 125 Tests and scored 34 centuries? The chances may not have been great. The Brahmin caste, which forms only a tiny fraction of India’s population, has always dominated the national cricket side.
Don’t get me started on neuroscience. It’s my major. This is nature vs. nurture. Let’s leave it to the experts, Andrew.
Yes, it’s an old, beaten-to-death topic- why does it refuse to die? Atrocity News posts the full news report.
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Statistics is only as good as you use it. One could argue, maybe the reason why Aussies are so tough is because of their criminal ancestry ? Convicts to Australia, et all ?.
http://currentcaveats.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-caste-system-is-to-india-is.html
Gavaskar may be a brahmin but he played 125 Tests because he scored 34 centuries. He is, in my view, the greatest cricketer that India has produced, solely because of his now unimaginable record as an opener who faced the best ever fast bowlers without the protection of a helmet, often not even a hat. Today, guys can’t do it with all the protective gear they have!
There have been many other great Indian non-brahmin, even non-Hindu players. But the Aussies can’t see them.
Aussies are a unique bunch. Blame what they do on MAO! What/who is MAO?
http://www.vinodksharma.blogspot.com
I saw first time that Aussie are complaining about bad behaviour, and everybody knows how they play and their sportsmanship sprit :)