The Asia Cup, an admittedly frivolous championship with two once-great teams standing around and mercilessly thrashing a bunch of minnows, finds Ganguly's team poised in a precarious position - that of 'Favourites'.
Perpetually wearing the Unlikely Underdog tags, spurred on by a nation with undying, fanatical hope, India have suddenly emerged as a nation of Winners - a young, dynamic team which believes in itself, and goes abroad and comes back laden with trophies. It's something we are, admittedly, not used to. Growing up on a diet of almost-wins, we have always found it simpler to be condescending to a never-victorious team. Now we suddenly have expectations, and a Team larger than superstars. Which brings us back to our skipper.
Captain Da has essentially moulded India into this successful, well-run unit of young professionals with absolutely no job-security [ask a certain Mr. Agarkar] hungry for victory at every turn, simply by following a simple, ruthless dictum: he has brought his arrogant dissatisfaction to the forefront, turned it into an asset, and has backed his young guns to deliver, simply by throwing them into the jaws of insane pressure, and trusted in them to slug it out - which they admirably have. All this is true, and commendable. But what he has done more than most Indian captains is encapsulated in one word: Innovate.
Looking back at his career over the years, though, one can virtually see his terrific skipper-hood owing a lot to one of his major influences, and it is a safe enough bet to second-guess his oft-followed mantra: What Would Steve Do? Of course, there is no shame in following the best in the world, especially when you have proved yourself successful, and even managed to best him at his own game. Inspirational stuff, the kind Hollywood makes Baseball movies (complete with Charlie Sheen) about. So now, after a decidedly unimpressive start to the Asia Cup, with detractors howling by the million, our erstwhile captain asks himself the WWSD question yet again.
It is rather easy to see what Australia would have done in this kind of an outing after a tremendously successful season. In their first game against the UAE, they would have played a half-strength squad, and hammered them mercilessly. That awesome opener who keeps wickets magnificently would have flexed his twelve-run an over muscles, treating the crowds to a magnificent run feast. The flaxen-haired young bowler would tear boorishly through the line-up, and the game would be over, and the tone for the series well set.
What happened for India did not quite follow the same script. Playing a lukewarm side is never an option for India because of selection 'issues' and woeful bench-strength, and so everyone took the field, wanting to warm-up. But the intimidation intent was the same, especially with the opener from Najafgarh making huge claims of a double-hundred. Tsk. He, as we all know, fell two-hundred runs short of that target, and nothing really worked. India won, inevitably, but looked embarrassingly squeaky -lots of wasted talent on show. The captain shuffled uneasily to a fifty, and deputy - God bless him! - dragged on yet another fine bit of work.
What one needs to remember is that the team's three-month sabbatical from cricket wasn't just about dangling weary toes out of hammocks and self-indulgent sips of chilled refreshment. India was suddenly a team capable of world-beating, and there was much chest-thumping - with internationally accredited claims of being the team tipped to topple Australia itself. Our Corporates, with much war-whooping, descended upon the New India team with the accuracy of starving buzzards. Successful rookies weighed down by advert contracts calculated to make their heads spin hard; old reliables perched on by illicit parakeets and made to peddle even more. Rest and recuperation? Perish the thought.
Which is why the Asia Cup campaign began with a whimper, not a bang. After the UAE debacle, Sourav decided to suddenly innovate like mad [rather literally, in this case] for the second encounter against the hosts. WWSD. At first, the bowling changes made some sense - Irfan deserves the new ball, and the confidence that comes with it, and the slower-ball bowlers were indeed a better bet to keep the run rate relatively low - but to persist with himself when the most capped player in Indian history had emerged with the best bowling figures in the last game, was a decision cryptic at best.
Field changes were unconventional and hasty, most times, and he kept Sehwag on too long nearing the death. Still, all can be chalked up to gameplan thwarted by a solid Sri Lankan batting performance, a team effort catapulting them to the status of favourites, at least while home. We were then treated to the bizarre spectacle of Tendulkar opening the batting, chasing 283 runs in a high-pressure situation, with Parthiv Patel. It is all very well to defend Captain Da by saying we'd have applauded had this decision worked - but it is rather difficult to see how. Even if, by some miracle of nature only Sourav is privy to, Parthiv spent the summer gorging exclusively on Boost, blossomed into a fantastic opener, he is still a player who got a game just because Laxman was injured. Supposing, El Capitan, he had clicked well, would that have solved the Opener issue or just fractured it into further confusion? With the obvious return of VVS?
But pray leave the Captain his space, for he truly does not have much choice. With the exception of the flawless Rahul, his batsmen look like pale shadows of their on-paper selves. That one, the best in the world, is really letting him down. Zaheer Khan claims to be fully fit, but looks rather reluctant to push himself. And, as mentioned, expectations of Indian worshippers have been heightened by the ridiculously addictive celebratory habit.
As we supporters clamber on and hope his inexplicable decisions are proven correctly more often than not, we can only pray that we chant 'What Will Sourav Do?' With the appropriate mix of awe and starry-eyes, rather than a disconsolate 'What Was Sourav Thinking?'
Captain Da, here's wishing you luck.
