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It is so uncharacteristic of the Indian team. Till not
so long ago, it was almost a given that Indians would
always make any given rubber interesting by going down
to the last match in the series to decide the eventual
winners. Similarly, in any given match, and more so
when it comes to chasing, the Indian team would let
the decision go down to the wire, at the cost of
rising blood pressures of the witnessing audience,
before they seal the victory off with only a few balls
to spare and only a few wickets at disposal.
It was
incomprehensible why the team couldn't be more
decisive and ruthless when delivering the 'Coup
d'e tat's, and why it has to boil everything down to
intimidating equations and improbable victories. From
that situation, it has certainly come a long way.
It
is certainly heartening to see an Indian fan laze
around in the stands, without worrying about the
result of the game that he paid good money for,
enjoying the game just for the spirit of it and for
the fun of it, only because the rubber has been
declared dead a few days ago in a previous game.
The
cushion of comfort that has so long eluded the Indian
team, and one that has long been the most envied about
dominating teams as Australia and South Africa,
finally made India its home. A 6-1 against the
Lankans, a 4-1 against the North West neighbors and
another 4-0 against the erstwhile masters...
Granted that it is probably an exercise in gloating,
reading too much into the victories against a much
depleted England side, which could not avail the
services of its frontline batsmen or bowlers. And
granted that most of the crushing series victories in
the past couple of years have been achieved on
sub-continental wickets, tailor made to the strenghts
of the home team (similar to ones in Pakistan, but
without the home crowd support).
However these
discounting factors should not take away the one
important ingredient that the current team is brimming
with - enormous confidence in its abilities to play
both sides of the equation equally well - ability to
restrict and ability to make up. If the bowling side
drops the balls and lets the flood gates open for
record scores, the batting unit makes up for more than
its share, knocking down a few records along the way.
And likewise, if the batting side succumbs to the
occasional collapse, courtesy the law of averages, the
bowling side pulls the side by the bootstraps,
promptly returning the favor. A coach/captain, or for
that matter anybody related to Indian cricket even in
the most remote way possible, could not ask more of a
team, that started make the contest completely
in-house - whether it is the bowling unit that would
emerge on the top or the batting force that would rise
to the occasion, on a given day. And the audience
isn't complaining either...
16 victories out of last 20 played, a record 15 wins
while chasing down targets, a red-hot winning streak
of 8 successive victories, bowling out the opposition
in the last 4 - these statistics seems right out of
the leaves of either Australian or at least South
African record books. They do not seem human or
probable for anybody of Indian descent.
Such
consecutive victories happened before a few years ago
- when Ganguly's effigies were burned down in the
streets of Calcutta and Sachin personally assured a
better performance to put down the passionate flames
of one billion people in the previous world cup
outing, and kept his word. When it almost looked like
the team that went into that World Cup final was the
best Indian team that was ever fronted, rivalling even
the ones that won World Cups and World series before,
the current team went even a step further to claim the
title and trophy all for itself. The difference
between the team that played in the World Cup and the
current one is not somuchas in witnessing a team where
all the cylinders fire and all the strategies click,
but is more about the resilience of the group to come
back from trying situations and claim victories in the
face of certain defeats - and doing that consistently,
while at it. And as the team down under showed it
before, it is this ability that would propel the team
to greater heights than individual crowning
achievements.
Tail - Attitude before was such, that 5 or 6
specialist batsmen, leaning on the wicketkeeper to
belt a few balls around, an allrounder, and 4
specialist bowlers, were aboslute necessities for a
well balanced team.
Here came Harbhajan in one of the
matches swatting the ball around for a top score of 37
and picking up a few wickets on the other end. And
there was promoted Pathan promptly, either for skying
the balls over in field within the mandatory period,
or stabilizing the effort in case of a wobble....and
yeah... he can bowl too. Dhoni can not only keep the
fielders on a constant leather hunt, he can also bat
sensibly in delicate situations and shepherd the team
home to safety....and this is all tail that is in
discussion.
Knock off Sachin and the team would
crumble like a pack of cards was the mantra a few
years ago. The team has since turned into a virtual
centepede, that a loss of a leg here or the
malfunction of a leg there would in no way upset the
applecart.
While a captain's performance can be
evaluated as the sum total of his individual runs and
wickets combined with his ability to motivate the team
in trying situations, a coach's output is as faceless,
as thankless and as intangible as it comes. Ever since
Chappell's take over, one could clearly see a strategy
evolving - one that involves changing the mindset of
the players from being slotted as specialist this or a
specialist that, into somebody who could don more than
one hat at a time, as the situation demands.
As
history (and Australia) has shown, this, more than
anything, is required to achieve consistency and as
the current record of the Indian team shows, it is
well on its way.
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More Views by Srinivas Kanchibhotla
