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Journalism of Courage
On Boxing Day, December 26, India starts its last and tenth test match of the year. Against Australia; so we should not hope for much, but no one would deny that this has been an extraordinary year for Indian cricket. It was all there: invaluable cask-aged experience and the daredevilry copyrighted by youth, the flamboyance of small-towners who never saw enough of the world to be inhibited, and lantern-jawed grit. It was a good year. But more importantly, it has led up inexorably to a cusp and transition of great significance, a year that alerted us plainly and clearly and unambiguously to an uncertain 8212; but not necessarily bleak 8212; future.
The year 2007 started with the horror of the World Cup, and let8217;s not talk about that. Or about a certain Australian skulking around in Rajasthan with what looks suspiciously like a sinecure job bequeathed him so that he makes no more trouble than he already has. In all, this year, the Indian team has played nine test matches, of which it won three, lost one and drew the rest. It won three test series 8212; against Bangladesh, England and Pakistan. As for one-dayers, it played 37 matches, won 20 and lost 15. And of course, India became the first world champion in the Twenty20 version of the game. But if you had to give a Man of the Year award for Indian cricket, it has to be shared by two men: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly. And this is fitting and just: the last proud hurrah of the past shares the present with the bold promise of the years to come.
Ganguly8217;s comeback, of course, has been spectacular. He has scored more than 1000 test runs in the year, including a double century and his first century at his beloved Eden Gardens. In the first few matches after his return to the team, he seemed bent on doggedly accumulating runs for runs8217; sake, rather than in the best interests of the team; but as he gained in confidence, one saw all the flourishes coming back: the cover drives postmarked in Paradise, those lofted golf shots on a one-way ticket to the stands. He even seemed to have, to a large extent, got over his notorious overnight record: staying unbeaten at the end of the day and invariably giving his wicket up in the first few overs the next morning. Oops, maybe not. When I started writing this piece, Ganguly was not out on 51 against Victoria at stumps, leading a recovery after the Indian XI collapsed to 38 for 3. But next morning, when I resumed writing, Ganguly was already gone, having faced just nine more deliveries, and adding eight runs to his score. Dravid, who opened the innings, remains not out, having grafted 38 runs off 147 deliveries yes, 147, and remember, this is a game against a state side with two yes, two boundaries.
He has had a rough year, Dravid, resigning from captaincy and then getting dropped from the one-day team, but he is too gifted a player and too strong a man to be written off, ever. However, the truth remains that his captaincy was a dour reign: his refusal to enforce the follow-on on England at the Oval, with India one game up and 319 runs ahead in the first innings, was astonishing and dispiriting. And now, for the Australian tour, he has been handed a job he may not relish: opening the batting. But Dravid is no stranger to tough 8212; even thankless 8212; tasks. His career is a catalogue of them: keeping wickets, seeing off the new ball because the openers fell cheaply, countless doomed rearguard actions. He should gain some solace from the knowledge that every Indian cricket lover will want him to succeed in his new role. But he needs to tell himself that it8217;s a game.
As Dhoni knows. As Yuvraj Singh seems to know, a man who has been on fire through this year. Around these two cheerful warriors will be built the Indian cricket team of the future. And when we look back years later, we will know that the first draft of that team was written in 2007.
The writer is editor, The Financial Express sandipan.debexpressindia.com
