No cop-outs at Centurion

The recent history of the World Cup is replete with instances of the triumph of innovation over conventional wisdom, instinct over formula. In India’s win over Pakistan on Saturday lies not just their emphatic response to those who’d written them off in millions of SMS jokes, but also confirmation that the men in blue have liberated themselves from a rigid formula.

When the heavens above finally stop resounding with an orchestra of fireworks, when the dancing on the streets finally subsides, when the burst of jingoism about a four-out-of-four clean slate against Pakistan at the World Cup finally fades — then a spot of sober analysis may offer a pattern in the tea-leaves. March 1 belonged in full measure to Sachin Tendulkar. It took the little genius to retrieve focus to the middle from so many sibling rivalries beyond the boundary. Amidst forecasts of thunderstorms in Centurion could be spotted ominous signs of a game of cricket between arch-rivals fragmenting into a bitter war by other means. But Tendulkar, in exhibiting an array of cricket’s classiest shots, in proving his big-match temperament, rescued the game as much as his team’s fortunes. What had threatened to be a fractious psy-op instead became a celebration of cricket at its very best.

Indeed, Tendulkar’s opening stint finally ended an experiment in inflexibility that began last spring. New India had crafted a recipe for success. Tendulkar would slip down the order — in an inexplicable swap of mental security for immediate destruction of the opposition’s attack. Saurav Ganguly would open, come what may — if a left-right combination were enough to baffle pacers, what a boring game it would be. The team would be stuffed with batters — as if its much-maligned bowlers were a necessary burden. It took a greenwash in New Zealand to debunk that formula. It took a burst of magic from Tendulkar (thankfully, no longer lumbered with ten ducks, but with some great support knocks), expositions in application from Ashish Nehra and pals, a concession by Ganguly that formula must be subordinate to form, to revive India’s spirits.

Hopefully, when India take the field for their first Super Sixes fixture at Centurion on March 7, there will still be a spring in their strides, they’ll be unencumbered with excess baggage.