The third misconception about Indian cricket surrounds the issue of young players. India has the richest board in the world so we hire an expensive foreign legion of fitness gurus who correctly point out that we need younger players.

But what can they do about players who have who have already grown bigger than the game and don’t train when they don’t feel like it? Zaheer Khan, for instance, looks like he is doing just about enough to remain in the team but no more.

Munaf Patel wants to be accurate and sacrifices some pace. That’s fine. But a young bowler like him hardly ever bowling at 130km and over is depressing. What’s the excuse for his looking and fielding worse than people almost twice his age in other teams? The players should put some effort into training, lift their fitness levels so they retain their pace, remain accurate and still remain exuberant in the field without feeling tired.

The fourth misconception is that decisions centred around money will lift performance. Agit Agarkar exhibited the mindset of our players in the World Cup against Sri Lanka. We all know Agarkar can bat, but despite his captain walking down the pitch and talking to him, he threw away his wicket as if he didn’t feel like staying. The fact that it was the World Cup and that he was our last hope with Rahul Dravid out there lost its meaning on him. He is not a bad person, he just didn't understand how important cricket is to this nation. They should know that cricket is a religion and they are gods.

These are the people who are playing a different game of always concentrating hard on finding out what’s ‘good enough to get in and stay in the team’, and churn money. They don’t work hard, because any work is ‘overwork’ when they don’t need work at all. Some of the players are doing it unknowingly because it is like a following a ‘culture’ for them. In a bid to stay in the team, players often hide injuries. They keep under-performing and spoil the team’s chances of winning. It's money they play for and that’s not in the spirit of sport. Clearly the players’ interests appear to be different to the country’s interests.

Committed players, on the other hand, play to win. For instance, we all know that despite a few inadequacies, Dravid is committed. He may not be the smartest captain around or most confident carrying out bowling changes, but we can count on him for commitment. He plays for the win and not to retain his place in the team. He doesn’t let money control his play. We want money to be the last thing on a player's mind when he is playing for the country.