HAVING written about Steven Waugh the last week, I guess it is only logical to have a look at the performance of the Indian team in that Test series. While it has significance of its own, there is much value added to it now in our context because after years and years it now looks like the Indian team will actually tour Pakistan.
I am sure many would have followed the Australia-India series to have a feel of what the contest would be like when the two South Asian giants will take each other on in the field. I was surely one of them.
The transition of the Indian squad from a one-man unit to a wholesome team in the real sense of the word had started a couple of years ago, and had been gaining gradual momentum all this while. But it will not be far from reality to acknowledge that the transition came to a successful end during the series in Australia.
Tendulkar is no more the lone star in that side. Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virendar Sehwag, they all are now worthy holders of their spots in the team, and so are Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble and Parthiv Patel. Even Akish Chopra and Irfan Pathan turned out to be cool customers at the top of the batting and bowling orders. The energy, or rather the synergy, was so infectious that even Ajit Agarkar, for once, started to deliver with the ball!
While talking of the overall Indian unit, we must not forget Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, who were injured for most part of the series, but are likely to be back in time for the Pakistan outing. The two have certainly been among the leading wicket-takers for the team in recent times, and will pose potent threat in Pakistan.
Suddenly, the focus is no more the exclusive domain of Sachin Tendulkar. If he performs, all right; if he doesn’t, someone else will do it. Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly were always class acts; it is the entire team that now has the confidence which has given them an ability boost. Generally, it works the other way round; you have to have the ability that gives you the confidence to perform. But the Indians had a mental block. For some strange reasons, they always performed below their abilities, especially when on a tour. But in Australia, they almost turned the tables on the world champions. Had it not been for Steve Waugh, they would have surely done it.
Also gone are days when people like Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath had to bowl a few customary overs with the new ball before the spinners had to take over. Now, in Zaheer, Nehra, Agarkar and Pathan, India has a reasonable pace attack. And they are all young, which means they will be around for some time. For an Indian outfit, it is a luxury that it has not tasted before.
Coming to captaincy, Ganguly has a great influence on the side. There have been better players than him in the history of Indian cricket. There have been better strategists before him. And, for sure, there have been much more enthusiastic, energetic souls before him. But none had all the three qualities in equal measures like Ganguly has.
The good thing about him is that even when he is not performing with the bat, he continues to enjoy the success of his teammates and continues to wear his heart on the sleeves. Fortune favours the brave, and Ganguly is both brave and lucky. Under him, the team’s stature has gone up by miles, and the graph doesn’t appear to have hit the plateau just yet. It is on the rise. Pakistanis stand forewarned!
HAVING written about Steven Waugh the last week, I guess it is only logical to have a look at the performance of the Indian team in that Test series. While it has significance of its own, there is much value added to it now in our context because after years and years it now looks like the Indian team will actually tour Pakistan.
