After almost 2 months away from Doctoring the Balls, I am back because I have something to blog. There hardly was anything to blog home about for me in that long hiatus.
There is a sinister similarity when it comes to how India went on to win the ODI World Cup and then how their test match form dwindled like the credibility of the UPA government. From 1983, Cricket Crazy Indians had a long wait of 28 years before the summit was attained again on 2 April 2011. As I progress with this post, we will understand what are the similarities between 1983 and 2011.
The similarities begin with this photograph.
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| The Record-kars ! |
So here is what I mean by similarities.
What happened in 1983 and after that ?
Soon after the World Cup win on 25 June 1983, India huffed and puffed to draw a home test series against Pakistan. The only thing the team, the country and even the Parliament were interested in was Sunil Gavaskar scoring his 28th century in a dead as a dodo Bangalore test.
The subsequent Test series against West Indies was a disaster as the revenge of the Calypso Kings resulted in a royal 3-0 home series hiding for India. But what was the public reaction ? Indians were happy, extremely satisfied because Sunny Gavaskar managed to score his 29th and 30th test centuries at Delhi and Madras respectively. Nobody was bothered or disappointed except for the rowdy crowd at Calcutta.
Subsequently India were beaten at home by a second string England team and could not press for a win down under in 1986. They should have won both Melbourne and Sydney easily, but drew both.
In the intervening period, India won the World Championship down under in 1985, some totally inconsequential ODI series, the Asia Cups and some sundry tea cups. And then Chetan Sharma lost the last ball battle to Javed Miyandad in Sharjah to open a new chapter in Indian Cricket that lead to a total psychological domination of India by Pakistan.
All through this ODI hype and hoopla, only noteworthy test win was the 1986 conquering of the Old Blighty under Kapil Dev. But for this win, India were Tigers at home and kittens away. Like Poonam Pandey said, "They were like faithful husbands who perform only at home".
All through the 1983 to 1987 period, only thing that mattered to Indian Cricket was Sunil Gavaskar and his records. It was about 8000 Test runs, then Gary Sobers, then Boycott, then it was 29th century and then the 30th. Then he became the first batsman to scale 9000 and then the 10K mark in test Cricket described in his own language as '10 times magnificent'.
Sunil Gavaskar finally ended his batathon in 1987 with a tragic 96 at Bangalore as Pakistan managed to win their first ever test series on Indian soil. People again kept talking about how Sunny stood tall amongst ruins and conveniently forgot how another test was lost after being in a winning position for most of first 3 days.
Raj Singh Dungarpur had a brainwave and he thus disbanded the over thirty [OT] team to build the Team of the 90s. The team of 90s must be rated the most lopsided team ever. They were almost always invincible at home, and as a rule were invariably humbled abroad. They could not even beat Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.
So what kept the interest of people in the 90s ?
Answer: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar !
Circa 2011:
For over two decades now, I have witnessed thousands and thousands of people who rejoice when SRT scores a century even if India lose the match. I personally know many who pray for a century from their God, but not for an Indian win. Some of the Sachinists actually derive masochistic pleasure when 'He' scores and the team loses.
This isn't one bit to blame Sachin Tendulkar, the Man or the Hunk who sold his Ferrari. This is about 'Our' mentality. The mentality unique to us Indians. We claim to have invented 'Zero' and we do have a serious fetish for that entity. We love to add Zeros to our numbers and watch them swell. We just can't have enough of landmarks, records and bloody statistics.
During the entire World Cup Campaign, the print and visual media was more concerned about Sachin Tendulkar scoring a century than an Indian win. History tells us the story was the same when Sunil Gavaskar batted and today 'He-story' repeats itself.
We admire, applaud and hail Michael Clarke when he declares on the verge of a personal milestone. But when Rahul Dravid declared with Sachin on 194, Sachin, Sachinists and the entire nation went to town about how unfair it was to deny him a landmark. That same Rahul Dravid played an uncharacteristic reverse sweep to get out with a triple century in sight. He played that shot only to up the ante as Ravi Shastri would like to say. Nobody appreciated it, people just blamed him for playing a stupid shot.
Sunil Gavaskar's dislike for adventurism by batsmen when they reach 80s or 90s is legendary. We can see him seething if an Indian batsman plays a rash shot in nervous nineties. Saurav Ganguly once wanted Rahul Dravid to slow down because Ganguly was closing in on a century. RD got out immediately and neither did Saurav get his century.
Ever since he debuted as the youngest Indian to play test Cricket, SRT has created so many records, it is difficult to keep a tab on that. I think we can better count the records which he doesn't own. Gavaskar once was described as Record-kar. Well, we have a Record-kar version 2.0 today walking into the twilight of his career.
So what matters today for the average Indian ? The land mark of 100 International Centuries for SRT and nothing else. Every time India bat in a test innings, people want India to be 2 down as quickly as possible so that Sachin can come and score the hundredth ton. It is another thing that our openers have obliged the expecting fans more often than not. It appears as if even our openers and other team-mates want the Century No. 100 to be out of their system.
Today, more people were disappointed when SRT fell for 80 than when India finally lost by innings and 68 runs. Very few people are bothered by six successive massive test defeats abroad because most of them are busy worrying about the 'celestial event' of the 100th 100. This exactly is why Cricket will never lose its importance in India.
It was Sunil Gavaskar then, it is Sachin Tendulkar today and it probably will be about Virat Kohli tomorrow. What will happen to Team India ? We will continue to collapse to new lows in Tests abroad, continue to thrive in ODI Cricket and slowly but steadily return to the 90s; Tigers at home and kittens away !
And with other teams increasingly catching up with playing conditions in India, soon we might lose on our home stretch too. Even a lowly placed West Indies ran India close in the recently concluded series. South Africa have more than once shown India can be beaten at home.
So what will happen to India then ?
Well, IPL will be our Savior ! Only an Indian Team will win IPL and we can rejoice with more and more records ! Long live 'Faithful Husbands' !
SPun Doctor
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