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Journalism of Courage
We were up in Patiala the day Indians were battling it out at Kochi in the opening One-dayer against South Africa. While we were enjoying the royal hospitality, courtesy Captain Amrinder Singh, the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala, the urge to be in touch with the happenings of Indian cricket was not there.
It was this “spirit of cricket” which prompted a group of strugglers from UK, Australia and Africa (about 90 of them) to undertake a tour of India with cricket as their main agenda. It was also the same “spirit” which coaxed my favourite Pakistani cricketer, Mushtaq Mohammad, to accompany me to Patiala. `Mushy’ was reluctant to play so he umpired 40 overs when we fielded.
But then, the royal charm of Amrinder Singh came into play and he cajoled Mushtaq to bat in a borrowed outfit. It took just a while for the champion Pakistani to match young Reetinder Singh Sodhi stroke for stroke. For me, it was nostalgic one moment and morose another.
Our fun and frolic was directly in contrast to the continued misery of the Indian cricket team. The news was the usual story: Five down for nothing and chasing 300-plus. Mushtaq and I were discussing cricket in the sub-continent on our way back to Delhi. We agreed the attitude of the players was not conducive for improvement in performance. But, that of the administrators was appalling.
The fact that only three of the modern players featured in the all-time One-Day XI as was picked by a galaxy of former internationals from all over suggests the past had more to offer.
Take it which ever way you like, when greats like Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Allan Knott, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Dennis Lillee, Desmond Haynes, Brian Lara, Gordon Greenidge, Javed Miandad and a host of others are left out, the selection job becomes a mission impossible. Personally, I was livid that `Knotty’ had to make way for a just-born Adam Gilchrist. That is how the selectorial process went. The meeting was recorded to be shown in the first week of April to coincide with the International Cricket Council’s Cricket Week. It would be interesting to know the views of cricket buffs.
We reached home to the great news that India had won the match. It makes one wonder why Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh cannot make necessary adjustments in Test cricket.
Whenever we are dealing with adversity, we tend to become too uptight and also focus negatively. Frustrations are allowed to creep in comfortably, which, in turn, makes us lose sight of the positive reality. Well, there is a psychologist with the Indian team now. With a bit of luck, the lads would learn to relax.
Saurav Ganguly’s best bet has been to throw in Rahul Dravid as a bowler and discover fresh avenues of enjoyment. Ganguly has begun well. It means the job is already half done. But, we are discussing completion of a job, aren’t we?
