Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
That phone call was more than just a customary buzz. When chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar received a tinkle from Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, I am sure he was more than just astonished. Rahul Dravid told him that the three elderly gentlemen (3 G, anyone?)of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and himself had jointly decided that they would like to skip the September 20:20 World Cup tournament in South Africa.
Reason? Clearly, it was time to give the youngsters a chance. Fair enough. Continue reading below
What was perhaps more important than the decision of Sachin, Rahul, and Sourav (SRS) to bypass the abbreviated version of ODI cricket was that Dravid spoke on their behalf. Not just as their captain, but as a fellow colleague. A senior. A team member. As three people who were on the same page, so to speak. Who had so much in common. Who thought alike.
The Big 3 looked like one. After a long time. And shall we say, thankfully, at last!
What a different Indian team are we seeing today form the one just about a few months ago. The same Sachin and Sourav who were being mercilessly torn to shreds by all and sundry for every single batting fiasco, accused of playing muddy games for captaincy honours, and creating their own private armies are today one relatively relaxed bunch with Dravid.
Since the World Cup debacle, the Bangladeshis have been remorselessly thrashed in their home turf, a just extraction of saccharine revenge. And despite the numbing cold, the Proteas were convincingly routed for the first time in an ODI contest.
The fact that it happened in a neutral territory overseas is caramelized dressing on the cheesecake. Slowly, steadily and stealthily the Indian team is finding it’s fibre. It is coming back, almost imperceptibly. But the return is happening. It’s real.
There are many who have sniggered that the Big 3 are now too old for the 20:20 circus. I beg to disagree. Sure, this game, which is ICC’s version of WWF of cricket is like a bullfighter’s arena where rippling muscles will count as much as a straight bat, yet the fact is that SRS have tactfully boycotted the underwear invention. When you have the kind of batting achievements and incredible records that SRS have, playing monkey games with rookie muscle-men masquerading as cricketers is an insult to their intelligence. To their own professional standing.
Ricky Ponting will best comprehend where SRS are coming from. He will empathise with their predicament.
The truth is that SRS have it in them to play many more years of Test cricket, and by now ODI cricket has become a mere formality to make quick adjustments to. Ireland was proof the majestic dominance of SRS when it really mattered.
But what is most engaging is the spirit within the team. Far away from madding crowds, intrusive reporters, bullying administrators and gossip mongers, they are a good happy bunch all over again. Cutting cakes, sporting smiles, having fun, and practicing hard without being regimented to a clinical lab test. Without being deliberately kept asunder by political power-play. No unnecessary sound bytes. No headline copy. Just cricket.
I predict India will play its heart-out in England and emerge triumphant. The English summer may well be an unseasonal Indian one. And for those who say it is the beginning of the end of SRS, let me make a slight clarification. It is just the end of the beginning.
