What do vultures do? They keep circling their prey and wait for it to get injured or tire and then they attack. Now, the victim might actually have it in it to push the vultures away and move ahead with a surge of energy. The vultures back off but still keep circling - waiting to see if the surge of energy was a temporary loss of reason or a continued display of energy. The moment the victim slacks off - they are there again to attack and claim their undeserved pound of flesh.

So why am I writing about vultures? Why this sudden fancy for vultures? Fine. Let me rephrase that paragraph a bit

What do Indian Cricket fans do? They wait for every opportunity to see one of the cricketers fail and then gleefully jump in on the criticism bandwagon. They demand for the heads of players at will. Only till the player actually proves the fans wrong and performs solidly. Even then the fans and critics back off just for a bit - grudingly - waiting for that window where they can be proven right again. They wait for the player to fail again and then jump right in with retirement calls.

Not much difference, eh? So, essentially I could claim that I wasn’t writing about vultures but about Indian cricket fans again!

Let’s just have a look at the current Indian team and see if my theory is right

1. Dinesh Karthick - People have taken exception to his not being a specialist opener and hence have ridiculed his being in the team.

2. Wasim Jaffer - The bugger apparently plays a big knock only when he is close to being dropped. He too doesn’t really deserve to be in the team according to experts

3. Rahul Dravid - So what if he has been India’s most consistent and brilliant player over the last few years? He failed in the Lords test and even the Trent bridge test. More importantly by siding with Chappel he alienated himself from the team. I have heard calls for Dravid’s head too. He too should be dropped really.

4. Sachin Tendulkar - He doesn’t measure up to himself anymore. We dont care if he is still good enough to play international cricket. He couldn’t even score the 9 runs needed to get his own century and we call him great and talented? Drop the bugger!

5. Saurav Ganguly - The man had been dropped already. He played selfishly in the WC. He is playing slowly only to hang on to his place in the team. Plus he antagonises the team. Drop him too please.

6. VVS Laxman - So what if he has class and still is consistent? We don’t like him and demand he be dropped. He too scored a 50 only to retain his place in the side - didn’t he?

7. MS Dhoni - The man is a goalkeeper and a clueless batsman in England. It was the rains who saved us and not his fighting knock. Our team and players really cant do anything on their own - its only luck which saves us. So there lets get rid of him.

Whew. Thats the entire Indian batting order dropped! Bring on the new guys - the vultures are still hungry!