Best supporting actors in World Cup 2015

But hidden in the heap of runs and wickets are some heart-warming frames that the fans will carry into the final fortnight of the showpiece event. These are the moments that are responsible for supporters bunking office, buying tickets from touts and begging for passes, all with the conviction that their team will win the three matches that matter the most. Here’s listing those less obvious reasons for teams to think they will take the victory lap in front of 100,000 fans at MCG on March 29:

India
Dhoni is on the giant screen moving his lips singing “Jaya, jaya, jaya, jaya hai”. He has joined thousands in the stands as the national anthem reaches its crescendo. Once the music stops, the day’s first big roar echoes around the stadium. Against South Africa at MCG, about 80,000 were in chorus.

Against Bangladesh, about 10,000 more might turn up. Most will be Indian fans. In case you are a rival opener about to walk out, you are sure to feel intimidated, may be weak in the knees, or even the bladder. Things don’t improve when Mohammed Shami or Umesh Yadav start running in with the new ball. They roar again and the pacers think they are tigers. They bowl short, you duck, the boos make you feel inadequate. It’s tough out there if you are not an Indian.

Though it’s not scientifically proven, oral traditions of cricket story telling has it that decibels from the stands have a co-relation to the reading on the speed gun. When Virat Kohli is on the fence, he would ask the fans to keep the claps coming.

The Indians, veterans of filled stands at IPLs and ODIs, relish the atmosphere. Kohli has said it brings out the best in him. Today at the press conference, Shakib al Hasan was asked about the crowd. First he said he was used to it playing at a packed Eden Gardens, the home ground of his IPL franchise. Little later a Bangladesh journalist asked a follow up.

“But at Eden Garden, they support you since you play for KKR. Here the crowd will be against you, so how you and your team will cope with it?” Shakib would sheepishly say, “Since I have never experienced, how can I say.” On Thursday, he will know the strength of India’s 12th men, women and children.

Pakistan

Sarfraz, Umar keep the faith

Sarfraz Ahmed and Umar Akmal have a lot in common to become the best of friends, but they also have enough reasons to not get along. Wonder kids, promising juniors and now in mid-20s, they are seen as future leaders. The hope of them turning into Sangakkara and Jayawardene is quite endearing but the intrigue around them is far more interesting.

The Akmals have owned the square behind the stumps for years now. For Kamran, Adnan and, even Umar, Pakistan wicket-keeping gloves are family jewels. Sarfraz’s international entry was delayed as the Akmals took turns minding the stumps. Four years after making his Test debut, Sarfraz cemented his place in 2014 as he scored 3 Test hundreds. Umar, a specialist batsman who wore the Test cap before Sarfraz, has just 1. The wicket-keeper had ticked the ‘fulfilling the potential’ box, Umar hadn’t.

Come World Cup, Umar would reclaim the Akmal plot mysteriously and Sarfraz would be in the dugout. Early losses for Pakistan would see a swap, Umar would hand over the gloves to the specialist, who would be an instant hit, winning the man of the match in the first game. In the next against Ireland, Sarfraz was in the 90s and Pakistan close to the win. Umar walks in and hits a couple of boundaries. Sarfraz gets restless. He wants the ton, Pakistan wants the ton — the last World Cup century for the Men in Green was in 2007. Umar obliges, shuts shop. Sarfraz reaches his hundred and reciprocates with a thoughtful gesture. Sarfraz defends, Umar hits the winning run. Pakistan rises in hope. Young, restless but united.

Australia

Senior high

Before the game against Afghanistan, Shane Watson entered the WACA muttering. His World Cup had started with a first-ball duck and against New Zealand he had made an insignificant 23.

Maybe, he had seen it coming. The next day he was dropped. Getting dropped at age 33 can be discomforting. Every team has its share of sulking seniors in the playing XI but to have one in the dressing room is very damaging. In the just-released book, Whitewash to Whitewash, journalist Daniel Brettig exposes Cricket Australia’s ill-conceived decision to appoint Watson as Clarke’s deputy.
The two men with different ideas on cricket and conduct of Aussies could never forge a working relationship. Now, in the middle of the World Cup, Watson was dropped. Amid speculations of a divided dressing room and Watson’s retirement, the all-rounder would return for the Sri Lanka game.

Steve Smith would be the new No.3 while Watson was demoted to No.6. Glenn Maxwell, the new all-rounder on the block would be No.5. And when you would think that a new senior-junior rivalry was shaping up, Maxwell would give Watson, the non-striker a weepy, thankful hug when he reached his first ODI hundred.

“He stood with me through thick and thin,” he would say. Watson scored a precious 67 that day but got something that’s priceless — respect from a dressing room to an aging senior.

West Indies

Holder keeps it together

West Indies lost to Ireland but still made it to the last eight ahead of them. Both teams had same number of wins but Windies had a better run rate. For a while now, to find a frame of hope in West Indies cricket is mentally taxing or futile. Stars continue to be inconsistent; legends of the game in the coaches’ corner keep shaking their heads and the team just about keeps itself above water. In this sea of casualness, there is the young captain Jason Holder trying to bring in discipline. He takes wickets and also has the best batting average. He is a hope, if not at this World Cup, maybe, later.

South Africa

Finding mystery

Back in the day, before an England tour, Imran Khan had asked leg-spinner Abdul Qadir to grow a beard. He wanted his lead bowler to exude the mystic of a magician. Imran Tahir came to the World Cup with a thick new beard and his wicket-purse has been consistently swelling. He was the most effective South African bowler against India, and is the Proteas’ second highest wicket-taker but still he doesn’t have an intimidating reputation. He might not be a Qadir but he certainly is the missing jigsaw piece that South Africa had been searching for. The team with express pacers, disciplined seam bowlers and stroke-makers now have a spinner too. Before the World Cup, Tahir had played 3 ODIs in Australia, taken one wicket at an average of 131. With his new look, he has a five wicket haul against the West Indies and troubled the spin-masters from India and Pakistan.

New Zealand

Left-arm, over extra cover

It was bad poetry in motion. Daniel Vettori took two ungainly steps, just about reached the ball but still went ahead with the bat swing. Perfect contact would mean the ball would sail over extra cover and into the stands. The old fox’s giant stride would prove decisive as New Zealand would out-run Bangladesh. That Vettori six on the final ball of the 48th over helped the Kiwis win a tight game and retain their all-win record. The forgotten left-arm spinner had returned to the World Cup as an all-rounder.

Not many teams have a No.8 with more than 8000 international runs. Not many players can be the most-successful spinner, the most-economical bowler at the end of the league stage and hit that all-important winning runs. Last year in December, Vettori was part of New Zealand ‘A’ and a surprise late inclusion in the Test squad. He was all set to announce his Test retirement but the news of Phil Hughes death made him delay the announcement. In that ‘last’ Test that he was playing after two-and-a-half years, Vettori took just 2 wickets. They would no longer talk about his tweak, drift, loop and control but he did get mentioned in reports speculating that he could be the next Indian coach. But before the RCB coach becomes India coach, or loses out to Stephen Fleming, the spinner has a chance to change the international image of his under-achieving nation at World Cup.

Bangladesh

Mashrafe limps, Tigers prowl

After the England win, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza’s award-function talk with the TV anchor deserved an award. It was straight from the heart, honest, extempore, almost Tendulkaresque in its unprepared articulation. He remembered the nation’s freedom fighters, team mates and fans who never lose hope and keep supporting them. Understandably, he was emotional. This was Bangladesh cricket’s perennial trier who finally got an audience and occasion to talk about the tough times and those who stood by his team.  At 31, he has had multiple knee surgeries; he wobbles around on the field and suffers pain. He isn’t fast but he is smart. Against England, he took two wickets, including that of Joe Root.

This World Cup high means a lot to Mortaza and others who have been around since the 2007 World Cup. It’s Bangladesh cricket’s golden generation — Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan – looking out for each other and for that one last high. “My knee is okay but the calf is a bit tight and hopefully it will be fine. I think Tamim felt really bad (dropping Woakes). Because he knows he is one of the best fielders for us. It happens in cricket,” he said defending his old mate.

Sri Lanka

Dil-scope for the Islanders

Early evening a couple of Sundays back, you wanted to be a Sri Lanka fan. They were waving flags, playing music and tossing stuffed tigers. On the central square, Sangakkara and Dilshan too were doing something similar, waving bats, playing strokes and tossing stuffed kangaroos. Yes, that’s what the Australian pacers were reduced to. The game will always be remembered for Sangakkara’s 4th straight hundred but Dilshan’s 4,4,4,4,4,4 against Mitchell Johnson was heady. In the next over when Watson was Dilscooped by the man who fashioned the innovation, every Islander at SCG would have believed that they could conquer the world. Six sixes are brutal, those mind-numbing sledgehammer blows. Six fours are torturous multiple knife wounds.

The sixth four of the sequence showed Dilshan’s class, poise and temperament. Johnson hoping to avoid embarrassment of conceding 24 in an over, bowled a slower ball. Dilshan waited and punched the ball through covers. It’s a lesser-known fact that Dilshan has a better ODI average than Mahela Jayawardene and superior strike rate than Sangakkara. In this World Cup he has two centuries. If he can hit Johnson for 24 at SCG, he certainly has the potential to be on the podium at MCG later this month.