New Delhi, April 05: 28 years is a pretty long time. During this time one generation grows up and another grows old. And if you go by the current census figures more than half of India was not even born when we won the cup for the first time in 1983. I am of those lucky ones who have witnessed both our triumphs, one as a kid and one as a grown up or a well grown up, if you wish. On both occasions the nation was filled with euphoria of triumph and nationalism though it is more visible now with the media being omnipresent. And why not? As Kapil’s devils did us proud in 1983 Dhoni’s team has repeated the feat now. Mind you, for more than half of this cricket crazy nation this is the first time they’ve witnessed it first hand. In fact to be candid about it, most of them were getting sick of watching whatever little footage was available of our 1983 victory while at the same time seeing all the subsequent world cups go to other countries. It was like- Hamara number kab ayega? And therefore, well done Dhoni and team! You’ve really taught most of us how to feel truly triumphant. For many of us, this kind of feeling may well be a once in a life time experience, at least thus far. Once again, well done Dhoni, Sachin, Yuvraj, Gambhir, Sehwag, Zaheer, Raina, Kohli, Bhajji, Munaf, Sreesanth(?), Ashwin and the rest!!!
Coming to the match proper, it began on a controversial note with the chaos which happened at the toss. Jeff Crowe said he didn’t hear the call and both Dhoni and Sangakara felt they’d won it. Many people including former England Captain Michael Vaughan later said that Sangakara seems to have cheated. They say that Sangakara changed his choice as he realized that neither Dhoni nor Crowe had heard him properly. May be or may be not. Who knows? But what we do know is that it was ICC Match Referee Jeff Crowe’s job to know. That’s the reason why he was there in the first place. Otherwise, the TV commentator, Ravi Shastri in this case, would’ve sufficed. Crowe should’ve asked for clarification from Sangakara BEFORE Shastri announced which way the coin turned up. A lot of Indians may say- what the hell and it doesn’t really matter since we won the cup but no, it does matter. The footage needs to be analyzed and guilty should be punished. If you remember both Sangakara and Crowe have a history of unsportsmanlike behavior and incompetence respectively. In Aug 2010 Sangakara had most certainly told Suraj Randiv to bowl a no-ball to deny Sehwag, who was on 99, his well deserved century. And Crowe too had messed up big time four years ago in Barbados, when Australia beat Sri Lanka, he was the match referee who oversaw a mistake that led to the game resuming in farcical scenes amidst near total darkness. And on top if he shrugged off the responsibility for this chaos. Therefore, it is not okay to say that all’s well that ends well.
The match itself was a battle of nerves primarily for the two captains. Both made mistakes but in the end the man who made fewer mistakes won. Apart from the choice of team members Dhoni let Sri Lanka off the hook by not attacking when Lankans were at 122 for three in the 28th over. Knowing fully well that Lankan middle order was fickle, in my opinion, Dhoni should’ve brought Zaheer and/or Harbhajan immediately when Sangakara was out and Samarweera came in. He didn’t and as we saw later these batsmen were able to settle down rather easily and thrashed even Zaheer so badly that after having bowled three maiden overs initially he ended up with figures of two for 60 in ten overs. Having said this, pertinent to mention that Mahela Jaywardene played like a true champion that he is, irrespective of what the final result was.
Sangakara, on his part too committed the same mistakes as Dhoni. Apart from team selection, he too let India off by not attacking enough when we were down 31 for two in the seventh over. Had he tightened the noose enough at that time it’d have become pretty difficult for us to reach the target. A simple pointer to this fact is that he did not fully use Murali’s quota of ten overs especially since he knew very well that dew would be a factor later on he should’ve attacked with Murali much earlier than he did.
Pertinent to mention that when we were 31 for two most of us had given hope. Actually, anyone would. With Sehwag and Tendulkar back in pavilion with just 31 on the score board and with more than 240 runs still to get it seemed like a no hoper. So much so that on twitter people were tweeting ALL IZ WELL ALL IZ WELL.
And then our great middle order came to the party and the way they batted was truly commendable. Most of all, unlike Afridi in the previous match, it was Dhoni’s decision to come up the order that was a mark of a true leader who demonstrated that when the chips are down he’ll take the challenge head on. And along with Gambhir and later with Yuvraj he went on to create history. He sure was the true winner of the man of the match award.
Having said this, it’d be pertinent to take note of the difference in this team vis-a-vis the team of 2007. It was more or less the same team though it was Dravid who was the captain in 2007. So what was different this time around? Well, apart from Dhoni’s captaincy, again in my opinion, it was Gary Kirsten who has made a huge difference in the way this team has shaped up. It is because of him that our team is a physically fit well knit unit. Mind you, our fielding had at least saved 20-30 runs if not more. Also, the way he was carried around the field on shoulders by the team members after the match showed how much faith our players have in him.
Sadly, he’s leaving us. And going forward I very sincerely feel that this is going to be a big factor in our future endeavors. BCCI needs to keep him involved in some capacity or the other with our team at all costs. Be it once a month or once in two months Kirsten needs to be with our players to carry on the good work that he has done so far.
Yet another factor which will have an immense impact on our team in the immediate future is our lack of seam bowlers. Simply speaking, Nehra, Munaf, Sreesanth and for that matter Ishant Sharma too, are just not good enough. And I do not count Praween Kumar as a seam bowler at all. With Zaheer Khan now on the verge of retirement from one day cricket it is all the more crucial that we quickly find suitable replacements otherwise it won’t be long before we get thrashed not just abroad but even at home. Also, I refuse to believe that India with a population of 1.2 billion cannot produce youngsters who can consistently bowl at 145-150 kph. I am therefore quite sure that our regional or may be even our national team selection process is to be blamed for this mess. Pertinent to mention that it widely believed that only those people get in the teams who either have clout or have the money to pay agents/selectors. And I’ve no reason to believe otherwise, especially at the regional level, from where they’re legible to graduate to the national level.
While there is no harm in celebrating our win for the next few days, it’d be quite worthwhile for us to keep our feet firmly on the ground and address these issues pragmatically. But for the moment, once again, well boys and all the best!!!
–Agencies