Going beyond Sachin

Just when the fervid pace of World Cup football had almost chased cricket from the mindspace, there was Yuvraj Singh-Mohammad Kaif doing a Rivaldo-Ronaldo for cricket. As their match-winning performances set the adrenaline racing, Indian cricket itself appeared baptised in champagne.

To chase a total of 326 for a final match required guts and a spirit that never acknowledges the possibility of defeat even when it is staring one in the face. But what made that crucial difference during that historic NatWest final at Lord’s on Saturday was partnership, complementarity, two players functioning like a single machine. Later both acknowledged that their familiarity with each other’s game was a major factor in the win. The England captain was probably only recognising this very seamlessness of their performance when he commented that ‘‘they had to come out of their skins to do this’’. And if former English captain, Mike Atherton, was indulging in some hyperbole, when he observed that the innings by Kaif and Yuvraj must rank among the most defiant Indian gesture since Gandhi’s march for salt in 1930, he could almost be forgiven his verbal efflorescence.

While the BCCI mulls over whether the duo should be included in the four-match Test series in England, the more important question is whether we have in this present ODI team a prototype for the one that will play for the World Cup in South Africa come February-March. It would seem that this is indeed the case because this is a team with a rare combination of experience and exuberance, talent and spirit. Of course, it would need to be refined still further — certainly the batting depth would be better served with reinforcements in the bowling department — but there is real potential here and Jagmohan Dalmiya has already acknowledged as much. The point is that even as the nation adores Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricket would need to go beyond him if it has to turn out sustainable, match-winning performances. The blooming of young talent like Mohammad Kaif, who cut his cricketing teeth by notching three half centuries for India in the under-19 World Cup in South Africa, is therefore cause for both celebration and hope.