(Image courtesy: New Indian Express)L Suresh profiles a battle where the loser has no place to flee to – least of all home.
“In terms of the number of people following it, think of an Ashes series and multiply it by 100.” That coming from a man who has fought the battle for the urn seven times indicates the kind of pressure cooker situation that 22 men shall be finding themselves in for 44 days as they get under a large microscope, with two nations coming to a grinding halt and watching their every move. To add to what Greg Chappell said, just think of the hands that applaud each run, the voice that lustily cheers the fall of a wicket, the eyes that light up with each win and the anger that manifests itself into a burnt effigy or a broken glass pane – and multiply each by a billion. That’s possibly the closest one can get to describing what an India-Pakistan series is all about.
As the series gets underway, one man will be looking up at the heavens, thinking of a story that he possibly read as a kid, and wondering lay in store for him. He would now understand the plight of Trishanku, the King of the Solar Dynasty who wasn't allowed to enter the gates of heaven because he was, well, cursed to become an outcast. Through his penance, he beseeched Sage Vishwamitra who gave him a special place in the skies and created a heaven around him. This came to be known as Trishanku's Heaven - a metaphor for a situation in which one is neither happy nor sad.
Sourav Ganguly could well empathize with this story as he finds himself in no-man's land. Out of the team because of power play and back into the team thanks to Pawar play, the man who was once lucky for India now considers himself lucky even to be in the team, forget the playing eleven. With Laxman, Dravid and Sachin sealing their places, the Prince of Kolkata will be seen vying for a place with another prince - another southpaw, a younger, more stylish and currently-in-better-form Yuvraj - unless yet another piece of experimentation sees one of them open the innings. The Pakistani cricketers, present and past, are already into mind games, banking on the fact that it would suit their purpose to see him in the team and then psyche him out, innings after innings. And the fact that the whole of West Bengal has forced itself into the selection committee will not help his cause any. Decades ago, Hollywood promoted Greta Garbo's Ninotchka with the tag line 'Garbo laughs', it being her first comedy. One will not be surprised if, on hearing the news of Sourav’s inclusion in the eleven, posters spring up all across Kolkata, screaming, 'Ganguly plays'.
Another old warrior who will find himself weighed down with great expectations is Anil Kumble. They said he couldn't win matches outside India, that he was past his prime and that he needed an SG ball and crumbling pitches. He proved them all wrong. SG or Kookaburra, Kumble holds the key to India's bowling performance and possibly a series win. While Pathan shall be at his fire and brimstone best, drawing customary first blood, the team will depend on Kumble to orchestrate that phenomenon made popular by teams in the sub-continent - a batting collapse.
India has long been advocating the blend of youth and experience - to the point of reducing the phrase to a cliché. But with experience leading the way and youthful exuberance conjuring delightful magical acts, we seem to have a winning combination - and about time! But so does Pakistan, answering to that very description that fits India like a glove. Both teams have plenty of batting and bowling options - and both have seen merit in turning their finest one day specialists into test players - Yuvraj and Dhoni for India and Razzaq and Afridi for Pakistan. While the last two series between the two sides always had one team with a slight edge over the other, this series will be a battle amongst equals. A strong middle order, a wagging tail, a good wicket-keeper batsman, a destructive pace attack, wily spinners... and two captains who never seem to lose form with the bat.
If one has to nitpick, one could point to the fact that Pakistan will have the home advantage. And that they've just pulled off a convincing test and one day series win against a more powerful opponent - England. Moreover, their pace attack of Shoaib Akthar, Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul is decidedly better than our own combination of Pathan, Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and R P Singh. But then, if Pathan and Balaji could do it for us once, there’s no reason why the current crop can’t repeat the 'yank the rug from under their feet' act all over again.
But one thing that goes in India's favour is that we have played against a quality spin and pace attack in two successive series - we took our blows, we went down, but we beat the count as we stood up to deliver. And in the end, we not only performed creditably, but also discovered talent that would otherwise have remained hidden in the dressing room - Pathan's allround abilities, Dhoni's Gilchrist hangover, Yuvraj’s coming of age, and Kumble and Harbhajan's latest spin twin act.
All is not hunky dory, however, with the Indian batting line-up. While on one end, there is this toss-up between Gambhir and Jaffer, with neither of them able to convince us that they would handle Shoaib Akthar and co. confidently, at the other waits Sehwag, for resurgence and for rank long hops that can be dispatched to the fence with ease. Runs have not been easy to come by and the occasional early mistake has now degenerated into an assured early break for the opening bowlers. And while the planet Saturn seems to avoid positions 3, 4 and 5, it settles back to haunt us in position 6, where it will be either Yuvraj or Ganguly. This uncertainty surely won't do any good for both batsmen and at the end of three tests, Kaif could well be licking his lips, waiting for his turn at that spot.
Having said that, recent performances indicate that Yuvraj holds the key to converting India's 200 plus scores to respectable 300 plus and match-winning 400 plus totals. A healthy average of over 69 in the one-dayers against South Africa and an average of over 50 in the test series against Sri Lanka not only indicate a man in form, it also indicates the potential of a player who excels equally in both versions of the game – and against both pace and spin. The ability to score off Pollock, Ntini and Nel, and play Muralitharan on spinning tracks reaffirms Chappell's faith in him. But if there's one thing that'll please Yuvraj, it's his vindication from the ignominy of being a spinner's bunny. Murali and Bandara will testify to that.
However, the comfort levels against pace and spin aren't the same for a few other star players. A fact that went largely unnoticed was that Dhoni couldn't play his usual hammer-and-tongs innings against the South African quicks. An average of around 14 from three innings at a strike rate that just managed to cross 50 indicates a player who's clearly uncomfortable against genuine pace. Compare this to an average of well over 115 just a couple of weeks before against the friendly medium pace and part-time spin attack of the Lankans and there's no room for speculation about the kind of attack he prefers. Let's just hope, for our own good, that he bats in a Lankan frame of mind.
On the other side of the border, Pakistan shall continue to resemble a bunch of extremely talented youngsters expertly led by their big brother into a series of adventures. Much as Inzamam denies it, he is the central force, the avuncular figure and the calming influence who gets the best out of his hot-headed teammates. India can safely assume that with him out of the way, the rest of Pakistan will be easier to deal with, despite the presence of veterans like Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan. That perhaps will be the Achilles heel of Pakistan – their Indian counterparts show far greater maturity and application during a tight situation – one can assume that a Pathan or a Yuvraj will be a safer bet than an Akthar or an Afridi to get their team out of a mess.
And like India, it is the emergence of the fringe players that is making Pakistan a force to reckon with. Like Dhoni, Kamran Akmal has shown great potential with the bat. The top order, starting with Inzamam, Mohammed Yousuf and Salman Butt blunted the fantastic pace attack of Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff. But it was the bowlers who won the series for Pakistan – led by Shoaib and Kaneria who, between them, grabbed 28 wickets in the series. (The fact that there was just one five-wicket haul in the whole series also indicates how well the other bowlers pitched in. Compare that with India’s three 5-wicket and two 10-wicket hauls – Kumble and Harbhajan netted 34 wickets between them, with Pathan and Agarkar managing just 10.)
While the teams slug it out on the field, to the two coaches Woolmer and Chappell, however, it shall be a larger-than-life game of chess – with the squares and the coins in blue and green. Each has tasted success and faced criticism – now comes the moment of reckoning. Both know that a win here can wipe out any subsequent loss – even that of the World Cup 2007.
It is said that the next dreadful thing to a battle lost is a battle won. Just think of the war of the willows as an exception.
“In terms of the number of people following it, think of an Ashes series and multiply it by 100.” That coming from a man who has fought the battle for the urn seven times indicates the kind of pressure cooker situation that 22 men shall be finding themselves in for 44 days as they get under a large microscope, with two nations coming to a grinding halt and watching their every move. To add to what Greg Chappell said, just think of the hands that applaud each run, the voice that lustily cheers the fall of a wicket, the eyes that light up with each win and the anger that manifests itself into a burnt effigy or a broken glass pane – and multiply each by a billion. That’s possibly the closest one can get to describing what an India-Pakistan series is all about.
As the series gets underway, one man will be looking up at the heavens, thinking of a story that he possibly read as a kid, and wondering lay in store for him. He would now understand the plight of Trishanku, the King of the Solar Dynasty who wasn't allowed to enter the gates of heaven because he was, well, cursed to become an outcast. Through his penance, he beseeched Sage Vishwamitra who gave him a special place in the skies and created a heaven around him. This came to be known as Trishanku's Heaven - a metaphor for a situation in which one is neither happy nor sad.
Sourav Ganguly could well empathize with this story as he finds himself in no-man's land. Out of the team because of power play and back into the team thanks to Pawar play, the man who was once lucky for India now considers himself lucky even to be in the team, forget the playing eleven. With Laxman, Dravid and Sachin sealing their places, the Prince of Kolkata will be seen vying for a place with another prince - another southpaw, a younger, more stylish and currently-in-better-form Yuvraj - unless yet another piece of experimentation sees one of them open the innings. The Pakistani cricketers, present and past, are already into mind games, banking on the fact that it would suit their purpose to see him in the team and then psyche him out, innings after innings. And the fact that the whole of West Bengal has forced itself into the selection committee will not help his cause any. Decades ago, Hollywood promoted Greta Garbo's Ninotchka with the tag line 'Garbo laughs', it being her first comedy. One will not be surprised if, on hearing the news of Sourav’s inclusion in the eleven, posters spring up all across Kolkata, screaming, 'Ganguly plays'.
Another old warrior who will find himself weighed down with great expectations is Anil Kumble. They said he couldn't win matches outside India, that he was past his prime and that he needed an SG ball and crumbling pitches. He proved them all wrong. SG or Kookaburra, Kumble holds the key to India's bowling performance and possibly a series win. While Pathan shall be at his fire and brimstone best, drawing customary first blood, the team will depend on Kumble to orchestrate that phenomenon made popular by teams in the sub-continent - a batting collapse.
India has long been advocating the blend of youth and experience - to the point of reducing the phrase to a cliché. But with experience leading the way and youthful exuberance conjuring delightful magical acts, we seem to have a winning combination - and about time! But so does Pakistan, answering to that very description that fits India like a glove. Both teams have plenty of batting and bowling options - and both have seen merit in turning their finest one day specialists into test players - Yuvraj and Dhoni for India and Razzaq and Afridi for Pakistan. While the last two series between the two sides always had one team with a slight edge over the other, this series will be a battle amongst equals. A strong middle order, a wagging tail, a good wicket-keeper batsman, a destructive pace attack, wily spinners... and two captains who never seem to lose form with the bat.
If one has to nitpick, one could point to the fact that Pakistan will have the home advantage. And that they've just pulled off a convincing test and one day series win against a more powerful opponent - England. Moreover, their pace attack of Shoaib Akthar, Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul is decidedly better than our own combination of Pathan, Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and R P Singh. But then, if Pathan and Balaji could do it for us once, there’s no reason why the current crop can’t repeat the 'yank the rug from under their feet' act all over again.
But one thing that goes in India's favour is that we have played against a quality spin and pace attack in two successive series - we took our blows, we went down, but we beat the count as we stood up to deliver. And in the end, we not only performed creditably, but also discovered talent that would otherwise have remained hidden in the dressing room - Pathan's allround abilities, Dhoni's Gilchrist hangover, Yuvraj’s coming of age, and Kumble and Harbhajan's latest spin twin act.
All is not hunky dory, however, with the Indian batting line-up. While on one end, there is this toss-up between Gambhir and Jaffer, with neither of them able to convince us that they would handle Shoaib Akthar and co. confidently, at the other waits Sehwag, for resurgence and for rank long hops that can be dispatched to the fence with ease. Runs have not been easy to come by and the occasional early mistake has now degenerated into an assured early break for the opening bowlers. And while the planet Saturn seems to avoid positions 3, 4 and 5, it settles back to haunt us in position 6, where it will be either Yuvraj or Ganguly. This uncertainty surely won't do any good for both batsmen and at the end of three tests, Kaif could well be licking his lips, waiting for his turn at that spot.
Having said that, recent performances indicate that Yuvraj holds the key to converting India's 200 plus scores to respectable 300 plus and match-winning 400 plus totals. A healthy average of over 69 in the one-dayers against South Africa and an average of over 50 in the test series against Sri Lanka not only indicate a man in form, it also indicates the potential of a player who excels equally in both versions of the game – and against both pace and spin. The ability to score off Pollock, Ntini and Nel, and play Muralitharan on spinning tracks reaffirms Chappell's faith in him. But if there's one thing that'll please Yuvraj, it's his vindication from the ignominy of being a spinner's bunny. Murali and Bandara will testify to that.
However, the comfort levels against pace and spin aren't the same for a few other star players. A fact that went largely unnoticed was that Dhoni couldn't play his usual hammer-and-tongs innings against the South African quicks. An average of around 14 from three innings at a strike rate that just managed to cross 50 indicates a player who's clearly uncomfortable against genuine pace. Compare this to an average of well over 115 just a couple of weeks before against the friendly medium pace and part-time spin attack of the Lankans and there's no room for speculation about the kind of attack he prefers. Let's just hope, for our own good, that he bats in a Lankan frame of mind.
On the other side of the border, Pakistan shall continue to resemble a bunch of extremely talented youngsters expertly led by their big brother into a series of adventures. Much as Inzamam denies it, he is the central force, the avuncular figure and the calming influence who gets the best out of his hot-headed teammates. India can safely assume that with him out of the way, the rest of Pakistan will be easier to deal with, despite the presence of veterans like Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan. That perhaps will be the Achilles heel of Pakistan – their Indian counterparts show far greater maturity and application during a tight situation – one can assume that a Pathan or a Yuvraj will be a safer bet than an Akthar or an Afridi to get their team out of a mess.
And like India, it is the emergence of the fringe players that is making Pakistan a force to reckon with. Like Dhoni, Kamran Akmal has shown great potential with the bat. The top order, starting with Inzamam, Mohammed Yousuf and Salman Butt blunted the fantastic pace attack of Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff. But it was the bowlers who won the series for Pakistan – led by Shoaib and Kaneria who, between them, grabbed 28 wickets in the series. (The fact that there was just one five-wicket haul in the whole series also indicates how well the other bowlers pitched in. Compare that with India’s three 5-wicket and two 10-wicket hauls – Kumble and Harbhajan netted 34 wickets between them, with Pathan and Agarkar managing just 10.)
While the teams slug it out on the field, to the two coaches Woolmer and Chappell, however, it shall be a larger-than-life game of chess – with the squares and the coins in blue and green. Each has tasted success and faced criticism – now comes the moment of reckoning. Both know that a win here can wipe out any subsequent loss – even that of the World Cup 2007.
It is said that the next dreadful thing to a battle lost is a battle won. Just think of the war of the willows as an exception.
(Appeared in the New Indian Express Sunday Supplement as 'The wind in the willows' on 08 January, 2006)
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