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Journalism of Courage
Serious aspersions have been cast on the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up. To a nation of cricket-lovers, the anguish and anger is not in the loss itself but in the ignominy of the defeat. The Indian team is not obliged to win every match but it has a duty to put up a fight, to play with pride and commitment.
Everyone knows we possess a talented team. But talent is nothing if not harnessed, controlled, disciplined. And winning is not as important as the will to win; if you don8217;t have the hunger, you can never feast off the opportunities.
The proof of the talent lies in the statistics. Sachin8217;s centuries, the opening stands he8217;s shared with Saurav, Sehwag8217;s record of destroying bowling attacks. The Indian top order has 67 centuries between them; no other team comes anywhere near.
So talent is obviously not the problem.
But statistics 8212; and I lean on them as a drunken man leans on a lamppost, for support, not illumination 8212; can be misleading. Statistics can also be a double-edged sword. For the same batsmen who share all these records have not given their bowlers a total to defend in recent memory, except against Holland. And can anyone remember the last time they played out their 50 overs?
So how, you ask, have they posted all those records, scored all those centuries, won the hearts of their millions of fans? The answer lies in conditions and pitches. The Indians can perform when the ball doesn8217;t swing, the pitch is dead as a dodo. This is true of even the Lord8217;s pitch where they played that memorable NatWest final.
But the moment the ball rises above the waist, they turn turtle. They simply cannot handle fast, aggressive bowling.
That8217;s not so bad, though, as sheer lack of planning. Take that out of sport and the thing falls flat on its face. Remember, soft heads do more harm than soft muscles. And what they displayed against Australia was rank bad planning.
All they had to do was see off the danger bowlers 8212; Lee, McGrath, Gillespie. They knew that Ponting would be forced to use his part-timers and spinners for the remaining 20 overs. Instead of sticking it out, they handed Ponting the advantage so that he didn8217;t have to really use his second line of attack. The damage had been done by then.
But disappointments need to be cremated, not embalmed. The tournament isn8217;t over, and some good planning can help the Indians recover. It8217;s important to note that South Africa, much like India, is a diverse country and the pitches are very different to each other. So the Indians must do their homework, study their pitches before they play on them.
The Zimbabwe pitches, for example, have spongy tracks, and Indians aren8217;t comfortable with spongy tracks. You can8217;t hit through the line here, you have to play yourself in. One point that8217;s pertinent here: why are the Australians so good, not only at home but abroad? Because they have the ability to adapt to whatever conditions they play in, by studying the pitch, the weather, the opposition. Not even world champions take their winning for granted.
So the question arises: Do the Indians have the mental strength to pick themselves up from this abyss? Well, since fault-finding without suggesting ways to improve is a waste of time, I have a one-word solution for India8217;s woes: Application.
Since resources are limited 8212; you can substitute Agarkar for one spinner but that won8217;t solve the problem 8212; it8217;s down to commitment and resolve. The first aim should be to last for 50 overs, to see off the danger bowlers and score runs against the second line of attack.
Secondly, Ganguly has to think, act and look like a leader. Fish start to stink from the head; a team will respond to how its leader motivates them. So he has to have the right body language, send out positive signals. Typically with him, his captaincy has been directly proportionate to his form: when he8217;s among the runs, he8217;s a better captain.
He needs to lift himself beyond his personal form and focus on the team8217;s performance. Once he gets the signals right, and the team responds, as it has in the past, the results are bound to come; few burdens are heavy when everyone lifts.
