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SPORTS: CRICKET
Ganguly--A Baffling Figure
The
moment he received the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the series, Ganguly
hoisted it over his head and then handed it over to his mates. Ganguly
remains a baffling figure and his captaincy has gone by without a dull
moment. He has kept Steve Waugh waiting at the toss, not once but twice,
and after winning the series got booed in Chepauk for failing with the
bat again. Sometimes, it looks like he doesn't care what the world thinks,
at other times like he cares too much: ticking off in public ex-players
who criticise his captaincy by writing open letters in the press. "I
don't mind criticism itself, but the amount of criticism we received after
the Mumbai Test was unfair," he said. "We put our heads together
and said that whatever happened, we were going to fight."
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| TOP GUNS: (From left) Tendulkar, Dravid
and especially double centurion Laxman brought a depth and solidity
to Indian batting |
It's not empty talk, because Ganguly does back
his men and will hang on to his opinions on bleeding fingernails if necessary.
To his team he is not "Maharaj" but "Dada". He fought
to have Harbhajan included in his plans for Australia and then some more
to ensure that opener S. Ramesh retained his place for the entire series.
When Das made his debut, Ganguly told him that he would play in at least
three Tests, "whether you get six hundreds or six zeroes". With
Tendulkar and Dravid as his trusted aides, Ganguly's captaincy has become
more secure even though his personal form has struggled. The Aussies have
gone after him in the press (Glenn McGrath writing columns targeting the
Indian captain) and on the field (Steve Waugh stood at silly point and
did the targeting in Chennai). Ganguly laughs it off, "I can only
say he wasn't quiet! But I know it's a ploy. They go after the captain.
They went after Sachin in Australia and after me in Chennai. You have
to deal with it."
India have dealt with the stares, glares and
swears with backchat of their own. It has sometimes been more comic because
some of them have fathomed nothing but a fountain of "f's" from
the opposition and they have been more than ready to dish out some "mental
disintegration" themselves. Peruse then this scene from the Chennai
Test:
Ball One: Batsman (plays with a straight bat):
"One!" (ball stopped, no run possible)
Slip fielder: "You're playing like XYZ
(tailender in the opposition)."
Batsman: "P*** off."
Ball Two: Batsman (straight bat again): "That's
one!" (run choked off again).
Slip fielder: "You wish!"
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NEW FIND: Opener Das showed he had the stuff
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Ball Three: Batsman takes a huge swipe, misses,
wicketkeeper yells, non-striker yells and in the next instant the wicket
is gone. Wicketkeeper and slip fielder are close to rolling about on the
field, tickled to death.
Three weeks ago, everyone would have safely
assumed the batsman was an Indian and the fielders Australian. At the
receiving end in this case, however, was the Australian captain Steve
Waugh and the slip fielder, who, for reasons of confidentiality, must
remain anonymous. "Talk about body language," laughs an Indian
player who, for reasons of his own personal safety, must remain anonymous
too. "In Mumbai, if we said something to any of the batsmen, they
would lift their heads and try to stare us down. After Kolkata, they just
put their heads down and walk away. Chabaa diya unko (chewed them up)."
What is the one sign that inside the Indian
dressing room there is a team, not a bunch of individuals? A story from,
not surprisingly, Kolkata. After the Cricket Association of Bengal announced
that it would award Laxman Rs 2 lakh for his double hundred, a younger
member of the side suggested that the players contribute a portion of
their match fees and generate an award of the same amount for Har-bhajan.
Only that way would it be fair.
They may have fought well, but by no way is the
Indian team balanced: its most experienced bowlers are injured, young
spinners are proving hard to find, and a hunt is still on for a wicketkeeper
to replace Nayan Mongia, who, if the grapevine is to be believed, has
done enough to be replaced. But, after a series which has been a baptism
by brimstone for the Indians, the foundations for something better and
bigger at least at the very visible apex of the system, has been put in
place. Wright's way forward is much simpler: "The secret to our development
now is picking players who are tough. You have to perform on the field.
We need to pick players who are hard and can withstand pressure."
The news that the Indian team watched a special
screening of the American football movie Remember the Titans during their
pre-series camp raised a few titters among the cynics. It was suggested
that considering that they were being fed to the lions of international
cricket, they should see Gladiator instead and quietly roll over and die.
Chances are someone in this motley crew which
has discovered togetherness and teeth would have picked up the central
message that comes early on in the film. Emperor Marcus Aurelius looks
across at a smoking battlefield where his legions have just won another
battle and remarks loftily to his general Maximus, "Men should know
when they have been conquered." Maximus, a warrior bloodied and muddied
from the battle asks in turn, "Will I? Will you?" True fighters
-and India has just discovered to its utter disbelief and delight that
its cricket team has more than a few-never do.
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