Like the Caribbeans themselves in the early & mid - 80s . Like the Aussies under Mark Taylor in the mid & late 90s. When we beat them, we used to rejoice like mad.. But deep inside everyone knew it was a victory alright, but they are far superior.
If I look back at afternoons 30 years back, I see us, kids touching early teens, demanding answers to questions like :
Why does the consistency of the set of Taylor -- Marsh, then Gilchrist -- Ponting - Slater -- the Waughs(any three of them always fired big time) elude the Indian team. Why doesn't Kumble turn the ball? Why doesn't Venkatesh Prasad, being 6'2" + bowl faster than the friendly 130k? We never came to a level where we could say -- we won! The feeling used to be -- Australia lost -- no matter how badly. We talked in India but never raised our voice against the blandness of an article of Ian Chappell or Peter Roebuck which mentioned Tendulkar's 65, or a rare spell of seam by Srinath..
Did we know that an entire generation of kids felt fighting like tigers in front of the TV sets. They were not afraid to be aggressive even in the gully-cricket, or make those sliding saves when the ball threatened to outrun them towards the boundary line.
We asked us and each other every time India choked, in England or South Africa or New Zealand. These little gentlemen planned and discussed what India could have done, and what they would have done if they were in the team. They would slide their bats along the pitch cross the crease, and put their front feet upfront in 'The zone' to drive the cherry through covers or mid-offs. They refused to offer catching practice to a ring of seven from slip to gully. They wanted to bowl the "smell the leather" to tail-enders, and stare at the batsmen for an extra couple of seconds..and yes, talk back! They refused to play like gentlemen if their opponents threw courtesy to the wind.
They were proud and they wanted to win.
Through the first decade of the 3rd millenium, they got together slowly, gradually forming the 'best band'. Ganguly rubbed it on to Flintoff bare-chested, and these players looked like gladiators, fencers no more. Inch by inch the "core" was formed, and destiny gave them the leader when the team was ready. Dhoni spoke a gleefully unaccented English while talking to Greg Chapell or Tony Cozier in a post-match presentation, no Yorkshire or Yankee drawls anywhere , and with a relief, no more "well the boys, ball doin a bit" stuff! He spoke what he felt, oblivious to awesome personalities and cricket grounds.
And the entire team did that in tandem. Sehwag smiled as he hit a Brett Lee yorker for a six right to the dressing room, as he proceeded to murder Lee and co to help himself a triple-hundred. Laxman tickled the Aussies scoring runs with a supple wrists that looked like a wand conducting a symphony. Yuvraj drove Stuart Broad towards para-suicide because he was angry, and wanted to teach poor Broad a lesson the desi way.
By 2011 the team had a bench strength full of 'Mr.Cricket's. Raina, Kohli, Rohit -- who scored whenever required, fielded like tigers, and 'chucked the occasional pie' too to break ominous partnerships. We still heard we didn't justify occupying #No 1 for a prolonged period.
These guys are serious, thinkers, responsible, and yes winners. They don't like to lose anymore. They didn't today as well.. Kingston conquered Maan .. Amen.
Sent from my BlackBerry®Smartphone
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Dr.Anirban Chaudhuri M.B.B.S
Consultant Physician (special interest in
Cardiology&Critical Care)
Mumbai, India
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"It is important to just listen for a while instead of speaking." -- My teacher
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