Silent frenzy marks day before the D-Day

They give you enough time to get a good peep: rain, which has kept an unduly long appointment in Port of Spain, permitting, it will be a sporting one-day track. There’s grass, but as Carl Hooper prophesied, it will probably be shaved off before play commences.

The Indians arrive first at this their happiest hunting ground in the West Indies. After the customary rest decreed by trainer Adrian Le

Roux two days before a fixture, they now zig-zag through a small obstacle course. They have everything, and then some more, to play for this weekend.

Glowing from victory in Bridgetown, having gone up 1-0 in what can at best be a three-match series, they will leave the playing eleven unchanged.

For the uninitiated, practice sessions come as something of a surprise. The coach, miniature bat in hand, gives three guys some catching practice; the bowlers dart in with a few deliveries; and each one had his shot with the bat, gently counting his way through an array of strokes. The Windians follow the same routine. It could be another lazy day in the park, for all you knew.

That’s cricket, would chime the young boys just outside the ground playing their favourite sport, football. Till you consider the empty stands awaiting the hordes on the morrow. The Learie Constantine Stand, the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Stand, the tiny Trini Posse Stand. Till you see Sunil Gavaskar speeding around, in his new avatar as commentator-columnist, yet surely aware that this is the site of his spectacular debut.

Till you consider the stakes for India. Look at them, they squandered their best chance for a victory in an away Test series, and here in the Caribbean the hosts are not even taking that as a miracle.

Cricket columnists, led by Tony Becca, have been quick to point out that India on tour are not exactly in the same class as Australia or South Africa. Point. They have striven to drive home the point that losing to a team not capable of winning abroad would have been an inexcusable shame.

Support they shall have aplenty. It’s India Arrival Day, at the Queen’s Park Savannah preparations are afoot for a second day of celebrations to commemorate the arrival of the first Indians in this verdant island, the first influx of indentured labour who went on to participate fully in Trinidad’s ascent as the Caribbean’s cultural and economic hub.

A little incident, possibly apocryphal, tells it best. A man of Indian origin, passionate follower of West Indies cricket, starts cheering the visiting Indian team. Hey, hollers his neighbour, we are West Indian, who’re you cheering for? Says the local man of Indian origin: well, I get confused when We play against Us.

It would be inaccurate to say there is tension between Trinidadians of Indian and African origin. But politicians seem to be stirring a poisonous cauldron. Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his predecessor, Basdeo Panday, are locked in a furious controversy over Hindu flags.

Manning removed—with the due intervention of a pandit—some religious symbols put up at the prime ministerial residence by Panday. Panday claims that this is indicative of an anti-Hindu bias.

In deference to that accusation, Manning was not invited to a big India Arrival Day celebration on Thursday. He barged in nonetheless and made a passionate appeal of Trini unity, for a reversal from the current tendency to split into Indian and African.

Panday upped the ante on Friday, daring Manning to remove a three-tonne lingam from the first residence.

Talk to the man on the street, to the diplomat tracking local socio-political churnings, the professional boasting about Trinidad’s unique cosmopolitan population, and anxiety is palpable. There is no tension between Indians and Africans, they aver, in any case inter-marriage has made facile delineations impossible. But, they worry, these two politicians—interestingly, with almost equal support in Parliament—are playing with fire.

However, spectators at the most commodious cricket stadium in the Caribbean will be focussing on yet another Trinidadian. Brian Lara. Tourist guides declare that any stroll around Port of Spain must begin at a promenade named after him. Locals will be praying that any match report on Saturday would begin with eulogies about his exploits.

Through it all, a sadness will be inescapable. An Indian who arrived and took residence in this most hospitable all islands has passed away. Subhash Gupte’s absence will be noticed beyond these shores.

It ain’t over till it’s over

Carl Hooper once again grinned through his favourite sport these two months: psychological games. There will be changes in the West Indian batting line-up, there could be changed in the playing eleven beyond the inclusion of the now recovered Pedro Collins, he said on the eve of the first onedayer at Queen’s Park Oval. But I can’t tell you, he shrugged, we want to surprise the Indians.

The only surprise India could spring is the non-inclusion of Sachin Tendulkar. Coach John Wright said the Little Master had niggling shoulder trouble, but should most probably be fine by Saturday morning.

“We will try to finish it off tomorrow,” added Saurav Ganguly for his part, visibly aching to go back home with a win in the ODI series. But, he conceded, the Windies are playing at home, and that is always an advantage.

Unlike the Kensington Oval ODI, Hooper expects the clash at the Queen’s Park Oval to be between Windies bowlers and India batsmen. “Against this India side,” he said, “you must take control, you must hold the batting.”

And India, as both skippers agreed, bat practically all the way down.