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Journalism of Courage
Call them personal beliefs, call them superstition, or whatever. Many in Team India feel they work.
The 175-run second wicket partnership was surely the effort of the two out in the middle at the SCG — VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. But away from the pitch, Team India was putting in the bits and pieces. All stayed put in their respective seats on the balcony, right through the partnership, praying along silently that the two score and that Laxman gets a hundred at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
While Dravid and Laxman stood in the centre, Harbhajan Singh stood on the doorstep of the balcony in the team dressing room right through the three and-a-half hours of play on the second day and when Laxman finally reached his hundred, Harbhajan broke into a bhangra inside the dressing room.
Other teammates were not to be left behind as each marked his designated seat and it was unanimously decided that none would get up from its seat, or change his place while this partnership was in progress.
So from right to left, besides video analyst Dhanajaya, were bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, coach Lalchand Rajput, Chetan Chauhan, Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag. The entire contingent took a little breather during tea, but they all took their designated seats for the third session.
“Yes, sometimes we do get into these little things. Every team has its own little theories, so we decided that we will all sit in the balcony together and watch Laxman and Dravid bat. And then when they started scoring, we decided that all was gong fine and we shouldn’t do anything sitting here that might change the course of events there,” laughs a team member.
It brings alive memories of Sachin Tendulkar admitting during Pakistan’s 2005 tour of staying inside an ice bath during the entire duration when Dhoni was going hammer and tongs in a one-day match.
Well, it might look silly for all the rationalists but it certainly worked for Team India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
And from the looks of it, the team meetings before the match might have a different, and an extra point to discuss.
