As if Dhoni reads my mind..surely come the ODI series and what do we see? India win three ODIs rather ‘uncharacteristically’, but at a canter and the series with it!! In fact, it’s a thrashing. Even though in One day format, India are ahead of England, on this tour they have shown a rubbery spine; termed so since to turn it around once was kind of ok, but a hat-trick of wins was certainly like being injected with “ice”. Its as if this is not the same India that whimpered along in tests.
Often in the past, a draw used to be a dream for an Indian cricket fan and when achieved on rare occasions, was celebrated with a massive fan fare and temple bells ringing for a few weeks……sometimes even the PM of the country sending congratulatory telegrams to the captain of the team and the elected legislators of the country for a change, thumping the Loksabha benches instead of each other. At the best of the times, Indians do not need much of an invitation to celebrate. When there was a cause to celebrate a draw, a “Haley’s comet” like event, the whole country came together, including a multitude who had neither any interest in cricket nor those who had any understanding of it nor cared for any sport in general! To the uninitiated this may not seem like much but believe you me, it is! We Indians have been veritably described as oranges, for once the peel is taken off, we emerge as distinct units. There was hardly anything to celebrate in the lives of Indian citizens then…..even in 1974, 1947 still remained a prime thing to celebrate! With that kind of mentality, an Indian fan is so much used to defeats that any unexpected win actually becomes more shocking than a loss…Dhoni has to understand this! If you ask me, that is the real generation gap!
Having said that, to win occasionally mostly from loosing, is nothing but an obvious progression. The problem though, is the roller-coaster ride that the fans have to endure; the tigers at home suddenly loose their teeth to become the lambs and whether the opponents expect it or not, gift the games away. I mean I can understand gift of a wine bottle or two for your hosts when you are invited; but to gift away the whole kit and caboodle is far from expected even by the hosts. While Dr Jekyll of Indian cricket is well known for killing the opponent with a surprise, the occasionally appearing Mr Hyde surprises the opponent (and the fans), with a clinical kill. Just when you sigh with a “here we go” after the customary defeats, suddenly the emergence of Mr Hyde shocks the fans more than the opponents. The strange case of Jekyll and Hyde becomes even more strange when Indianized. The evil is good and the good is evil! It can’t be more confusing…
Look at the way in which India has played and won the three ODIs so far. All three have been comprehensive wins and Poms have been totally outplayed. The tracks have suddenly assumed sub-continental hue from the green-green and even Ravindra Jadeja has started spinning the ball! In first two games English start was reasonable; something that flattered to deceive. Bit like an occasional rainbow accompanying the downpour. The first sight of the slow bowlers was the trigger for that rainbow to fade away. Slow bowlers is best how one can describe the group Dhoni uses as a spin bowling option. The famous Indian spin quartet of the past would refuse to call themselves bowlers, let alone spinners, if the current set of Indian bowlers were classified as genuine spinners…ah well, that may be my old bones creaking but really what we see today that Dhoni gets by, not only using as spinners but also to claim wickets, you would wonder why someone would really make any attempt to master the art of spin bowling. I mean for heaven’s sake, Alistair Cook got spun out by Ambati Rayudu!! But that is no fault of Dhoni. If English can not bully the moderate spin options that they are being served by the Indian captain, it’s their loss and points to a deeper malaise in the English system.
I think it is a “Cook” Effect. I think English are SO much hung-up on their captain getting some runs, right through the last Ashes and beyond, that if he scores anything, it’s a win. From that point, they are hardly different from Indians!! Match result doesn’t count. Honestly, the best Poms could do; let me correct myself; the ONLY thing Poms could do is to drop Cook from ODIs for his own good and that of the team. Honestly, he is an apology for an ODI opener…I think Sunny Gavaskar must be praying that Cook carries on in One day cricket for long long time. Two reasons: he is current BCCI boss but more importantly, that is the only way his 36 n.o. of 60 overs can finally be forgotten…I mean it’s bizarre.
English have only one reasonable spinner in Treadwell but they are dishing out slow tracks. Only way it can be explained is that they have decided to challenge their bowlers! I can imagine their cricket development management team’s brain ticking… damn, they are not going to get slow and mildly spinning conditions for a while; definitely not in the upcoming world cup in Australia. This is against the principles of skill development we have planned! That is unacceptable!! Yeah, that must be it. Quite a noble thought really, if you care to think deeply. Results after all are not as important as the processes!! If Dhoni says so, it must be right!! Hah……looks like the Captain Courageous has produced another rabbit form his hat!!
Basically I think both the teams are playing blind…..as you do in a game of Teen Patti; the Indian version of card game, Flush or Poker. When you have a hand containing 2,3,5 a la Raj of Shri 420 fame, the only way to win the pot is by bullying your opponent through blind play and hope he folds out of fear of his own inability! Indians did that in the Lord’s test and Poms obliged. English returned the favour in next and Indians surprised all, most their opponents, by obliging them in not one but next three tests! So now it was the turn of English to be good hosts. Honestly, the cricket I have seen on the tour so far ranks as one from the widest range of skills; extremely skilful to absolute fourth grade rubbish, in all departments of the game. If one catch of Alistair Cook spilled by Jadeja could be so important as to turn the series on its head, surely the level of skills on both sides have to be on very high oscillations between sublime to rubbish. It all depends upon the luck of the draw on a day; not even Nostradamus could have predicted who will turn up next day at the ground from either team. The pity I think is, all concerned know this. Teams know it, their skippers know it, the coaches and the plethora of support staff know it, the management teams know it, the boards know it and now the paying spectators and us the last-to-know loyal fans know it!! That’s why the teams play blind..let us just keep playing and hope we will get one hand better than the opposition. After all a win is just a relative thing! Well, even competition is just a relative thing. I remember one college game I witnessed yonks back on my home ground of MG Science in Ahmedabad, when one team scored 92 runs in their allotted 50 overs and the opponents almost won it……just fell short by a run at the end of 50 overs!! It was one of the slowestly nail biting games I have ever witnessed. The fact that I still remember it after 40 years, is the proof. I know you wonder why I was watching it in the first place; surely I couldn’t see the close finish at half time. Well, a simple answer to that is that I had bunked the class so ended up sitting at the ground watching to avoid reaching home early!! The point is, when we see a game as fans, loyal fans, everything is subjective and relatively compared. Honestly otherwise fans of these both teams have little to celebrate….
It’s about time, as Indian cricket fans we also learn to play blind! Let us hope Dhoni and his troupe keep bringing up one hand better than their opponents. A 2,3,6 against a 2,3,5 is good enough for me; I am a fan of modest ambitions! Let us not hope for all aces, or single suit or a flush every time these guys go out to play. It needs to be just one better than their opponent. And if they can win blind even with a hand of 2,3,5, so be it…….after all, more than likely, the hands dealt to Indian teams are likely to be lower denominations more than anything else. Seems to me that the Indian deck is bereft of all picture cards; a joker once in a while not withstanding!
Disclaimer: Its’ all in the fun. I would SO love to be wrong!! 🙂
Switch Hit 