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RANCHI: I had planned to watch a possible India-New Zealand final from my comfortable base in Ranchi, not necessarily for the sake of compatriot MS Dhoni, but, as they say, hard-luck and an off-day against Australia eventually stopped the Indian juggernaut.
My support for the Indian campaign was based on rational cricketing analysis and not blind cultural nationalism of the swamy-army kind, nor of the ignorant rowdies who almost deitify cricketers when they succeed and ransack their houses when they fail. I will certainly not be found in CCTV footages gheraoing Dhoni’s house in Harmu Colony yesterday!
True, once Dhoni lost the toss, he went into a defensive mode, which has never helped him as we all know. For a change, Mohammad Shami did not fire in his opening spell and was also blasted away in the death. Like earlier matches, his early strikes would have created a good platform for Ravichandaran Ashwin to come and strangle the Aussies further. Umesh Yadav did strike early on, but his eventual four wickets were not enough to stop the Aussies to walk away with a comfortable target they set.
Still, 329 was only slightly above par, a score a formidable Indian batting line-up should chase down in a routine ODI encounter without much fuss, but this was a World Cup semi-final match against quarrelsome Aussies in their own backyard. Like soccer rules, there should be a provision for fouls and red cards in cricket also, especially when we see the kind of behaviour the belligerent Aussies get away with.
Also, some cynical Bangladeshis might have got sadistic pleasure in watching a couple of decisions which went against India, but so long as the match officials are not prejudiced in committing errors in umpiring decisions no one should complain; when cricketers look back at their careers, they know that errors committed against them or which go in their favour are eventually levelled-out.
In the final analysis, when the top order comprising six of the finest batsmen around fails collectively, there is nothing much a captain can do, nor should the lower order batsmen, with or without the skills of an all-rounder, should be expected to deliver in a situation like this. Thrice in the tournament, Dhoni had to bat out of his skin to save India from embarrassing situations and, looking at his determination, he could have done it yesterday as well. For the die-hard fan there was hope till he was around. There was no way the Aussies could have bowled him out, but that wicked throw, which an ordinary cricketer would miss nine out of ten times, ended the match in a whimper.
One cannot say anything about Virat Kohli these days, but even generally reliable batsmen of the caliber of Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rehane were a let down, much to the distraught of the veteran Sunil Gavaskar, doing the commentary in India’s jersey and lamenting how even basic batting skills are forgotten by even the most talented players when they are required to deliver in crunch situations.
In the final on Sunday, despite all the disadvantages of playing away from favourable home conditions and against a hostile team of poor losers on a big ground and big stage, one would like Brendon McCullums to blast one more time to create a new history in World cricket!
Looking back on the competition, especially the previous seven India games which I saw, the team played paisa-wasool cricket and had it in it to go the distance. It is difficult to say this in these times of aggressive vegetarianism, but I had promised some of my non-veg friends of happy hours tanduri chicken if India were able to retain the World cup. The offer stands if New Zealand make it its own this time!
Happily, more cricket is coming up this summer and it will be a different ball game altogether to play in front of the capacity T20 crowd in those cauldrons called Eden, Chepauk and Kotla! And, as Dhoni warned, T20 World Cup 2016 is not very far either.
I have followed all levels of cricket worldwide and played gully-cricket in Ranchi at a time when players of the kind of background Dhoni and his team come from could not imagine getting opportunities to play for the country, when many national and International careers of some of the finest local cricketers could not take off, as the system was not democratic enough until a decade or so. Many more talents are now raring to go in India’s small towns, villages as well as tribal settlements! Like Kolkata maidans of 1980s, grounds in Ranchi are now full of coaching institutes training future cricketers and one is just hoping that the coaches who go by the manuals will not prevent the kids from improvising on the helicopter shot or a dilscoop for that matter!
(Raziuddin Aquil teaches history in Delhi University.)
