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The
end of the Baroda ODI marked the end of an astonishing
series between two teams at arguably opposite ends of the
cricketing spectrum. Sri Lanka, who had repeatedly mauled
the Indians just two months ago at the Premadasa stadium,
besides other venues on home turf, arrived in India ranked
#2 in the ICC ODI rankings. India, on the other hand, had
continued the plummet (27 wins from 66 encounters) since
their 2003 World Cup heroics, to a lowly #7 ranking and
noticeably above the minnows. One month on, and a 6-1
drubbing at the hands of the Indians have left the two
teams feeling like opposite numbers.
There
is much on the table to discuss and analyze behind this
incredible resurgence by the Men in Blue, but for the
scope of this analysis, I shall focus on three aspects
that I feel have contributed most to this return of form.
Firstly, the installment of new coach Greg Chappell is now
beginning to bear fruit. During his lengthy interview with
the selection panel when he was only one of several
candidates (Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, himself a
candidate), Chappell outlined an elaborate “Vision of
the Future” plan stressing the need to make sacrifices
now to build strength for later. His coaching notions are
simple, in fact, and a quick glance through his website is
testament to that. For at the end of the day, Chappell has
probably understood cricket as well as any coach should:
keep it simple! Cricket, like many professional
competitive sports, is all about adhering to the basics.
Roger Federer may not have the fastest serve in the world,
or the most devastating forehand, but he plays every
single shot in the book well, and that suffices.
Similarly, given the raw talent already, as long as one
sticks to the basics of a sport, the talent automatically
expresses itself and a champion is born. And Chappell has
extended that theory by just one notch in asking of his
players to contribute in two of the three facets of the
game – bowling, batting, or fielding. Therefore
Dhoni’s increased consistency with the bat (supplemented
by improved glove-work), Irfan Pathan’s expression with
the bat (supplemented by his spearhead bowling), Harbhajan
Singh’s catching at square leg and effecting run-outs
(same can be said of Ajit Agarkar), both supplemented by
their consistent bowling performances. Not only does this
make obvious common sense that a player who contributes
doubly is a more valuable player, but from the standpoint
of each individual’s psychology, it presents an
additional challenge and provides further stimulation to
each cricketer to take the opportunity to assimilate and
then enjoy another facet of the game that he is already
devoted to. No longer would Javagal Srinath bowl his six
balls, don his cap at the end of the over, and retire to
third man and relax. “Okay, my job’s done, over to you
guys now until my next over.” Now, Bhajji whispers to
himself, “That was a good over, I just gave 3 runs. But
now to enjoy the exhilarating feeling of swooping in on
the ball and aiming for the stumps like I was doing during
practice yesterday.” This avoids boredom, for any person
who has been asked to do the same thing (bowl off-breaks
in the middle overs, open the batting, etc.) for several
years, and nothing else, is bound to get bored of that
too. With a second trump-card there is added interest in
the game, added self-confidence and feeling of
responsibility and self-worth. As captain Dravid summed it
up in an interview that he was more pleased with the
effort and hard work being put in by each team member before
each game, than the actual performances during
the game themselves! That shows a healthy mindset of
cricketers who are more interested in the process of
cricket for the sheer joy of playing it, than only in
making sure they do their job on the day of a match to
win.
The
second noticeable contribution has come from the captain
himself, Rahul Dravid. Leaders come in two forms – those
that lead by example, and those that lead by command. If
one were to draw parallels, Sourav Ganguly, especially
towards the last year or two had lost his ability to lead
by example due to his own drop in form. So far, Dravid has
not allowed captaincy to affect his form, and while these
are very early days still, it is difficult to see him
being overly affected given his demeanor. But even more to
his strength is, in fact, his ability to do both –
amalgamate exemplary and commanding leadership. Besides
scoring heavily almost each time (Dravid averaged a
jaw-dropping 156 in the 7-match series – partly because
of several not-outs), he has led his team with a
commanding decisive tone that was missing of late. He is
sure of his decisions; to bat first or field first at the
toss, who to place at slip and long-on, which bowler to
introduce at which time, and how to counter when the chips
are down. A classic example of this has been his own
omission from the #3 position to bat later down the order.
Not only does this show confidence in younger members of
the squad to perform earlier, but also serves a
hammer-blow to the opposition who know that no matter how
many wickets they take, that man Rahul Dravid is yet to
come. A perfect example of this was in this final ODI at
Baroda, where even after Sehwag and Tendulkar’s
dismissals, Pathan, Dhoni and Kaif were sent in at #3, 4,
and 5 respectively, before Dravid came out at #6! This is
good thinking by the team camp for the future, when Dravid
(and Tendulkar) will long have retired.
And
finally, perhaps more as a by-product of the first two,
the contribution of each of the individual team members in
response to the calls made by their coach and captain has
been stellar. India are now playing cricket as it should
be played - a team game. This notion was first instilled
in the psyche of the players when John Wright arrived on
the shores. But somewhere along the way it faded. Greg
Chappell has re-instilled that all-important reality of
the sport. Seldom does one man win a cricket match, no
matter what. For if Dhoni had struck 183* only to have the
Indian bowlers bowl extras galore, his efforts would be in
vain, etc. Thus each player has taken up Chappell’s call
to contribute in at least two ways. For even if one fails
on the day, that player can seek solace from his other
strength. To me, most noteworthy were Dhoni’s marked
improvement in consistency with the bat (and improved
glove-work), Kaif and Yuvraj’s fourth 100-run
partnership (with several 50+ ones already), and Irfan
Pathan’s increased confidence and responsibility with
the bat (as India search for that Wasim Akram-like
demolition man). Such feats can only further bolster each
of their self-confidence levels, and automatically feed
back into the general team mood. Also worth mention,
despite constant concerns from some journalists, has been
Sehwag’s astute stand-in captaincy (despite his
inability to convert consistent starts), and the
Turbanator’s consistently low economy rate (despite his
ability to terminate wickets).
So
Team India is on the upward trend again. But these are
early days of course, and the true test will begin in the
coming months when their #3 ranking in Test cricket will
be tested by the Sri Lankans who are bound to return with
a vengeance. Over the past few years, as India ascended
the Test rankings, they slipped in the ODI rankings, and
one will have to wait and see how Greg Chappell can manage
both. Will Dhoni’s electrifying batting displays be
necessary in the longer version of the game? Will Irfan
Pathan still bat at #3 after having bowled for two full
days prior to that? Won’t Rudra Pratap Singh’s
medium-pacers slow down even more so by the fourth and
fifth days? And will Sehwag’s starts be tolerated any
more? But even on the ODI front, can India sustain such
levels in unfriendly conditions, say England’s cool and
windy gounds, where Flintoff, Harmison, Jones and Hoggard
can batter any lineup into submission? Furthermore, if
India were to immediately to fly to Colombo tomorrow,
would they continue to win in such one-sided fashion
against the Lankans on their home turf now? Therefore,
these are still early times and one must buffer against
excessive euphoria. Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid, and each
member of the current team, have all started working
towards a vision for the future, but now only the future
can tell us whether it will actually pay off. As for the
immediate future, it may be déjà vu for the Indians all
over again, as the now newly crowned #2 team in the ODI
rankings, South Africa, arrive for a 5-match series
starting Nov. 16. Incidentally, India is still #7,
although having gained many valuable points. As Rahul
Dravid said, it would be nice if India can do some
“giant-killing” again. But the Proteas have been
equally impressive, with 16 consecutive ODI wins, second
only to Australia’s contemporary record of 22
consecutive ODI wins. Now that good form has returned, let
us hope the Men in Blue can maintain it.
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