Team spirit can work wonders

Those like the peerless Sachin Tendulkar, the classy Rahul Dravid, the brilliant Saurav Ganguly, the experienced Mohammed Azharuddin, the bubbling Ajay Jadeja, the dangerous Javagal Srinath, the crafty Venkatesh Prasad, the proven Anil Kumble and the exciting Ajit Agarkar are all players of outstanding ability.

This group of talented individuals needs just the right spark to transform its undisputed potential into matchless performance. Teamwork, leadership and hype could be just the spark to bridge the gap between promise and performance. Who knows World Cup 99 could well usher in a new era inIndian cricket.

There are pointers that the worst could be over for the team. For one, the return to the side of master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is sure to pep up the side like nothing else. He could be to the Indian cricket team what Deigo Maradona was to the Argentine football team in 1986. The explosive skills, brilliance and total domination of both are very similar even if they are in remarkably different sport.

ELUSIVE LUCK: Earlier this year, maestro Tendulkar might well have piloted India to a 3-0 series victory over Pakistan (yes it was a three Test series, the hype about the Asian Test Championship notwithstanding) with just the right kind of luck. But for that ghastly run out at Calcutta and the poor shot in Chennai the whole world might have been singing a different tune about Pakistan. No wonder the pragmatic London bookies term India, rather than Pakistan, the dark horses!

This apart, the Indian Board’s move to send the team to England 24 days before their first World Cup match iscommendable. The team is being put through its paces by the cricket consultant Bobby Simpson and coach Anshuman Gaekwad well away from the media glare. This certainly would be a boon for the team, for in India, with journalists and hangers-on hovering around, each player took a larger then life form. It did nothing at all for team spirit.

But with a no-nonsense administrative manager in Brijesh Patel, who is also an astute thinker of the game, trying to forge team spirit far from prying eyes, and Simpson working on theories and strategies, the Indian team might have just the shot in the arm to make a bid for the title.

TEAM SPIRIT: “I have to try and ensure that there is team spirit,” said Patel before departure to England. “The 20-odd days we get to ourselves in England will be invaluable for this and for acclimatisation.”

Patel, like so many others, believed that team spirit could work wonders for the Indians. “We have lost so many matches by close margins that if the unit was forgedtogether we could so easily have reversed the results,” Patel stated then.

Of course strategy is another region in which India has been found wanting. This is where the presence of Simpson could prove invaluable. Having been in charge of the Australian team for more than a decade and made them the world champions, he will certainly bring the Indian team face to face with modern theories and methods to plot the downfall of the opponents. If Simpson finds willing listeners in the Indian squad, his job would be half done.

Simpson would, without doubt, encourage more enthusiasm in running between the wickets and fielding, two areas that are problematic for the Indians. Once these are sorted out, as indeed they would be with 24 days of nets in England and five warm-up matches before the crucial game against South Africa, the Indian team would be a potent force. The bowling, in the hands of Srinath, Prasad, Agarkar and Kumble would be as good as any attack. The support, in the form of Ganguly, Robin Singh,Tendulkar and Jadeja, is a highly experienced one.

If Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Azharuddin, Jadeja, Robin Singh, Nayan Mongia and the others put up the required runs on the board, the bowlers would surely live up to their promise.Now, a sweet sixteen years after their sensational World Cup victory, India return to the scene of their historic triumph for yet another World Cup. Is an encore in store for these dark horses?