Breathing cricket again

Krishna Kumar

We'd grown tired of the betting scandal. Our cricketing responses had been dulled. We knew England had beaten West Indies in a thriller at Lord's. Pakistan, with a rejuvenated Wasim Akram, had looked as exciting as ever in Sri Lanka. Yet, Indian cricket fans, behind a superficially interested exterior were numb. The diehards were still watching cricket on TV, looking up scoreboards, but the thrill, the pure, unadulterated magic had gone. Friends reminded each other of the good old days. Some resorted to watching old videos. We were all, secretly, subconsciously, searching for a part of us that we couldn't feel anymore.

The Sahara Cup was off. We were all glad that was a non-event. We were still in shock.

The ICC tourney in Kenya seemed a bit more interesting. Maybe it was the passage of time. But, yet, we weren't fully into it. When India beat Kenya, there were the usual cynical remarks about news of wins over Kenya being looked upon as happy tidings these days. Zaheer Khan's sharpish pace excited a few excitable minds. A left-arm bowler who was pretty quick and bowled a few yorkers is obviously a rarity in Indian cricketing circles. Maybe we were onto something after all. There was something to look forward to.

Maybe, he would bowl a few more yorkers, maybe we would see some early breakthroughs. Things that we'd come to almost not expect from an Indian bowling attack since the departure of Kapil. Srinath's infuriating inability to catch the edge had had us all tearing at our hair in frustration for quite a while now. We were all looking forward to Zaheer's opening spell against Australia to see how good he really was. But, beyond that, there wasn't much else to look forward to. We feared a repeat of that World Cup match. We were pretty sure in our minds that McGrath, Brett Lee and Gillespie would slice through the top order, which in our case was exactly four batsmen.

There was some talk amongst some of us in Ottawa about getting a dish antenna to maybe catch some of the matches. But, some kind of weariness made us abandon the idea. Some of us were up at 2 in the morning however to listen to Cricinfo's audio coverage.

When India lost the toss, most of us lost hope. This was a dampish pitch and McGrath and Brett Lee would most certainly exploit any early life. Everything was horribly against us. When Tendulkar got hit on his arm trying to pull, visions of the Australian tour were raised. His timing was not on song during the Kenya match, he's bound to follow one outside off, we thought. Then, suddenly, he slashed at one outside off. Ralph Dellor seemed to think he'd be out caught on the third man boundary. But, no, Gillespie had misjudged the flight of the ball and taken a few steps inward from the fence. The ball went a few yards back of it. And, then Tendulkar went berserk. For the next few overs, it was almost as if there were only McGrath and him on the field. The rest of them seemingly just made up the numbers.

He took a few steps down the track, and smashed McGrath over long off. And then, proceeded to flat bat one through long off. McGrath responded with a few beauties outside off. And a few earfuls of the usual McGrath aggro. Tendulkar for the first time possibly in his cricketing career, returned some in kind. McGrath then pitched one a trifle short. Sachin was back in a flash, and played the most dismissive hook he has, in some time. A towering six over square leg. There was a couple more of sumptuous fours to come. But, this was where the match was given a definite direction. Our wounds had begun to heal. We didn't totally mind who'd emerge the winner, we'd seen enough to feel all was not lost.

When Tendulkar got out flashing at Brett Lee, we did think the match was going to go the familiar way. But, there had been some rediscovery of pride, of excitement. The thrill was back. And, then there was Yuvraj. When so many young bats from across the border in Pakistan stood up and hooked and pulled and looked the opponent in the eye, we used to wonder when a young man from India would do the same. Some of us had given up. These are early days yet, but there is a certain confidence in the teenager that if tapped with care will lead to greater things.

From those first three scoring strokes till he got out playing that impetuous pull, he was confidence personified. Our belief had been restored, temporarily at least. And, then when Prasad and Kumble and Zaheer stuck it out to eke out a further twenty odd, we knew we were in with a chance.

Gilchrist and Mark Waugh started out as if they wanted to finish off the match in a hurry. Zaheer was bowling pretty well and when he got Gilchrist to hurry into a pull, after Waugh had fallen prey to Agarkar's waywardness, there were vague signs of victory. And then, Harvey and Ponting seemed to take the match away. It was time again though for young Yuvraj to step in. Prasad produced that kind of a wide half volley that makes batsmen try that extra bit hard to flog it through cover. Harvey swung into a forceful cover drive, but Yuvraj albeit a bit needlessly went, into a spectacular dive at cover and pouched it.

I say a bit because although it was probably needless from a purely catching point of view, it did probably serve the purpose of denting Australia's collective pride. They were almost seeing themselves in the young man, the same exuberant self-assuredness, the same hubris, as it were. They were seeing cheek in a young man and I don't think they liked it a bit. But, then in another twist to the tale, the experienced Bevan and Ponting seemed to regain composure and were almost toying with the Indian attack. Our minds were drifting a bit, the interest was back, but the match seemed heading Australia's way.

At 3-159, Australia was coasting toward victory. If India had made only 240-odd which was when Yuvraj got out, the match would have been totally within Australia's grasp. But that crucial bit added by the tail, gave India some room to manoeuvre still. Tendulkar bowled a Bothamesque long hop, and Ponting swung into it down the leg side. Robin Singh, belying his age, flung himself to his left at square leg and brought off a spectacular catch. This was where the match took a definitive turn India's way.

Moments later, Yuvraj in a smooth pick up, and throw from midoff found Bevan short at the non-striker's end. There was a tigerishness in India's fielding that we haven't seen in some little while. And, when a gentle offcutter from Robin went through a hesitant Martyn's defences, we were recognising definite signs of victory. Cricket was beginning to feel good again.

When Zaheer returned to produce first a short rising ball that glanced off Steve Waugh's forearm to Dahiya and then the full pitcher to skid into his stumps, we were feeling great once again to be living in cricketing present. And then finally when Robin Singh snaffled Gillespie after Brett Lee had sent our hearts aflutter for a bit, we were punching the air in delight. We didn't have to rely anymore on the good old days.

A new dawn had been sighted, we could look forward to it. Regardless of whether we shall do well in the coming matches, we had seen some spirit, some fight and some teenaged promise. We can afford to breathe cricket again.

A tad sentimental this might all seem, but I think I will go look for that dish.

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