Oh! West Indies

Can this team `short of brains` leverage the same desperation to turn the corner in the longer formats? With three world cup wins back-to-back – Under-19, Women's T20 and Men's T20 – it seems nature is conspiring to present the famous Calypso Dance on the cricket field far more often than seen in the past two decades or so. Cricket lovers around the world await this turnaround.

You want West Indies to win more often on the cricket field, simply to watch them celebrate. Their celebration is one of a kind, unmatched in world cricket. While every team, after a major win, gathers around one another, jumps on each other and shouts away to glory, the West Indians bring in a rhythm to the joyous chaos. It was a sight to see them celebrate both the semi final and final in the just concluded T20 World Cup in Mumbai and Kolkata respectively. After the initial disappointment of the Indian team losing in the semi finals, the country rallied around the West Indians, which lifted the World Cup for a second time in this format.

India and West Indies share a bond of sorts. If Viv Richards is a hero in India, Gavaskar is worshipped there. The original Little Master handled the feared West Indies pace battery as if he was born to carry out a mission, whereas Richards massacred bowling attacks as if they did not deserve to bowl to him. As kids, we adored Richards and looked up to Gavaskar. We, the gully cricket exponents, tried to bring to our play the audacity of Richards and the technique and resilience of Gavaskar. While Richards feasted on the hapless Indian attack, Gavaskar relished the challenge of standing up to the West Indians as if he was an army general thrown in to battle marauding invaders. If there was one batsman the West Indians hated bowling to, it was Gavaskar, and if there was one batsman Indian bowlers – and others around the world too - feared, it was Richards.

A defining moment in India-West Indies contests - for the most part, at their peak, the West Indies' bowlers ensured no-contests – was Kapil Dev running backwards to catch a Richards pull off Madan Lal in the final of the 1983 World Cup. Viv was in a hurry to take home the cup, but Kapil's extraordinary catch altered the fortunes of Indian cricket itself. Before that catch, Viv was toying with the bowling. An overconfident West Indies however fell prey to a determined India.

The dominant West Indies of the 70s' and 80s' is part of cricketing folklore. Teams would buckle by simply looking at the lineup of batsmen and bowlers. The lineup made up of the likes of Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Roberts, Marshall, Holding and Garner created a sense of awe within opposition teams. In a talent and skill contest, the West Indians were way ahead. They dictated terms from start to end.

The greatest tragedy for world cricket came from the decline of the West Indies in the '90s. Australia, with its systems orientation and professionalism, took the cricketing world by storm. The West Indies never recovered from the retirement of the greats. Australia though kept bouncing back even when it hit a low. West Indies cricket however kept going from bad to worse. It stopped producing legends barring the iconic Brian Lara, who waged a lonely battle with the bat for his team. In both Test and one day cricket, Australia rose head and shoulders above other teams as a hapless West Indies became a mere shadow of its glorious past. A mix of factors - maybe bad administration, a natural process of degeneration after being at the top, etc – took away the shine from the way West Indies played their cricket.

The T20 World Cup win also comes in the backdrop of conflict between the board and its players. While a world cup win would normally send players and the country into joyous hysteria, the win is more a statement of sorts than merely the best team in the competition winning the cup. There is joy of a different kind which goes beyond mere cricketing achievement – that of having proved a point. There is no doubt West Indies have made the T20 format their own – they simply belong.

For a cricketing connoisseur, the best piece of news would be West Indies improving their performances in the game's 50-over and Test formats too. That will not just do competition a world of good, but it will also revive the joy of watching a spectacle that comes straight form the heart.

The great West Indies tradition has been about playing the sport with passion. At their peak, opposition teams tore their hair off in exasperation, just as the England team may now be doing after the Brathwaite spectacle in the last over in the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup. The four sixes reflected the vengeance with which they approached the tournament. They were desperate to win this one. Just as in the Socrates story, with 19 runs required from 6 deliveries, Brathwaite, finding the team under water at the start of the over, simply wanted the team to breathe – and the only way to do that was by winning.

Can this team `short of brains` leverage the same desperation to turn the corner in the longer formats? With three world cup wins back-to-back – Under-19, Women's T20 and Men's T20 – it seems nature is conspiring to present the famous Calypso Dance on the cricket field far more often than seen in the past two decades or so. Cricket lovers around the world await this turnaround. 

Inimitable Sehwag And The Inevitable Runs

Inimitable Sehwag And The Inevitable Runs

Sehwag was not what a cricket connoisseur prescribed, he was what a crazy fan imagined. He did not change his game as per the format. No adaptation issues for him. He played the same way, irrespective of formats and conditions. If the ball was in his zone, he went for it; if it was not, he still went for it. His test match strike rate of 82 plus sustained over 100 tests at an average of almost 50 is mind-blowing.

The purpose of the bat is to score runs and that of the ball is to get hit. No one other than Virender Sehwag perhaps ever had such an uncomplicated view of the game of cricket. While opening batsmen traditionally were fed with the viewpoint that they had to take the shine off the new ball so that they were better placed to score runs and set up the game for batters to follow, Sehwag believed in taking the seam off. Give the first hour to the bowlers and the remaining are yours is what the world's greatest opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar said, but Sehwag simply reversed the rules and took the match away from the opposition in the first hour itself. If the ball was in his zone, he went for it; if it was not, he still went for it. He was the anti-thesis of Gavaskar, yet is counted as a co-great.

Opening batsmen before Sehwag became one were taught to defend well and rotate the strike. They were conditioned to play long innings and score a century over a day's play. Sehwag however believed in hitting the highway the moment he arrived at the crease. If he batted through the day in a test match, a double hundred was on cards. Against Sri Lanka in a test match in Mumbai (2009), he scored 284 runs in a day and missed out the next day to become the only batsman to score three triple hundreds in tests.

The philosophy of when you see the ball, hit the ball helped India beat Sri Lanka in a test match on their soil in 2008 only because while other batsmen succumbed to the magic of Ajanta Mendis in that series, Sehwag took him on to score a famous double century. He carried his bat through the innings, only the second one to do after the great Gavaskar. It is incredible that such a `high risk` batsman carried his bat while the `safer, technically sound` players found the Sri Lankan attack too hot to handle. While traditionally opening batsmen were trained to build an innings and set up a game, Sehwag set the game up upfront for his team with a blistering positive approach. If he scored, India were well and truly on the way. If he did not, there were always the greats like Dravid, Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Ganguly to follow. It is incredible that a middle order batsman asked to open the innings by his captain Saurav Ganguly for the first time in England in 2002 went on to become one of world cricket's most celebrated opening batsmen.

Sehwag inspired cricketers as well as cricket writers. One of the world's greatest cricket writers the late Peter Roebuck described Sehwag as `impudent but rarely imprudent`. Former England cricketer Dereck Pringle described Sehwag as somebody who bats as if needing to catch the last plane out of Kabul. Harsha Bhogle quotes John Wright as saying "Sehwag didn't redefine his game because of his batting position. He redefined the position with his batting."

The uncomplicated nature of Sehwag's mindset can be gauged from the fact that he looked at the ball, not at the bowler's reputation. None of the traditional orientation typically dished out to openers – watch the ball carefully, settle down, defend well, build an innings, respect the bowler's reputation. Viru simply came, saw and attacked. He did not take pressure, he put the pressure on the bowlers.

Sehwag losing his place in the Test side and subsequent retirement has robbed world cricket of a batsman who was both audacious and skillful. He was a wonder of sorts as pundits of the game would not have imagined a player with such less footwork and abhorrence for technique going on to become the Wisden Cricketer Of The Year for two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009 purely on his achievements as an opening batsman. Sehwag simply backed himself and his abilities. He had a technique of his own. He lived by the willow and preferred to fall aside by the willow. Till the end of his career, barring perhaps a pretentious attempt, he did not really reinvent himself. If he had, that would not have been Sehwag. While at the crease, he kept you on the edge of your seat. The moment he got out, you took a deep breath to extend your lifespan, at the same time feeling a void as the other batsmen would now bring you down to reality. Sehwag in full flow made you incorrectly believe run-making was as simple as gulping down a glass of water. As he walked back to the pavilion after yet another blitzkreig, the new batsman had the unenvious task of exposing his mortality as a batsman.

Sehwag was not what a cricket connoisseur prescribed, he was what a crazy fan imagined. He did not change his game as per the format. No adaptation issues for him. He played the same way, irrespective of formats and conditions. His test match strike rate of 82 plus sustained over 100 tests at an average of almost 50 is mind-blowing.

He was a true great of the game and the tributes that immediately followed his retirement announcement were testimony to the inspiration he provided to critics, experts, fans and cricketers alike. Here's saluting India's greatest match winner ever. Virender Sehwag, you will be missed in the battle between bat and ball which, at your peak, you won it easily and formidably.

Why Geniuses Don't Make Great Leaders: Lessons From Cricket

Why Geniuses Don't Make Great Leaders: Lessons From Cricket

Geniuses like Sachin and Kohli perhaps unconsciously expect the same levels of ability from the people they lead. They cannot easily fathom why people cannot match up to their standards as it seems to come to them so naturally. As a leader, they tend to lose sight of the fact that while their less able colleagues can probably match up to their attitude, they cannot measure up to their skill. Bravado is not just attitude, it is also skill.

I am prompted to write this blog inspired by the result and leadership discussions surrounding the recently concluded Adelaide test between India and Australia. Virat Kohli, leading from the front in every sense of the term, engineered a brave chase on a fifth day pitch that eventually left Indian fans sobbing and Australia smiling.

Kohli, who made his debut as test captain, scored hundreds in both the innings and set up the possibility of a famous win, until he got out. The rest of the batsmen followed him to the pavilion in a hurry, reminiscent of the Sunil Gavaskar days and first half of Sachin Tendulkar's career..

Opinion is divided on whether Kohli did the right thing by instructing the team to go for a win, even though a more prudent course could have been to shut shop and play for a draw. In the quest to win a battle, India may now lose the war, with every likelihood of another 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Aussies. My own take is that while the decision to go for a win was the mark of a true genius, who believes in his ability and in the habit of winning, it does not account for the technical as well as temperamental flaws in the other batsmen, especially when playing overseas.

This is typical of great individuals who become leaders. They excel as individuals, but fail to galvanise the team into a winning combination. This is not to write off Kohli as a leader – it is far too early to judge. The idea is to share a critical perspective concerning the art and science of leadership.

In cricket or in corporate life, geniuses hardly make inspiring leaders. In cricket, the country's greatest sporting icon Sachin Tendulkar failed as a captain. Sir Ian Botham, an iconic all rounder from England, failed as cricket captain. In our country, we remember Sunil Gavaskar more as a cricketing genius than as a great captain. Kapil Dev, though he won India the 1983 World Cup, was not seen as a great test match captain.

India's greatest cricket captain, notwithstanding MS Dhoni's record as skipper, is Saurav Ganguly, who himself was not an iconic batsman. One of cricket's most celebrated captains is Mike Brearley of England, who was more in the side for his leadership qualities than for his scoring ability. Just as Ganguly brought out best in Sehwag, Brearley brought the best out of Botham. Brearley also wrote a classic on leadership titled `The Art of Captaincy`. An exception was Imran Khan, who was both an iconic player as well as a terrific captain.

This phenomenon can be seen in corporates too. A great salesperson often does not make a great sales leader. Companies with charismatic CEOs hardly fail to sustain their performance either when the CEO's CQ (Charisma Quotient) goes down or he leaves the company.

There is a key reason why this happens. Kohli's hunger to win is admirable, but geniuses like him can lose sight of the fact that their colleagues carry less ability than them. Geniuses like Sachin and Kohli perhaps unconsciously expect the same levels of ability from the people they lead. They cannot easily fathom why people cannot match up to their standards as it seems to come to them so naturally. As a leader, they tend to lose sight of the fact that while their less able colleagues can probably match up to their attitude, they cannot measure up to their skill. Bravado is not just attitude, it is also skill.

Geniuses who become leaders tend to judge their team members wearing a lens which is more attuned to their abilities than their team's. But a captain who has leadership qualities, but himself is not an iconic player, is likely to be more empathetic towards his team members' limitations. A quality of success as well as leadership is to be aware of one's and others' limitations.

Iconic figures like Tendulkar, Botham or Gavaskar may also create an approachability issue for the team members they lead. It is not that these icons deliberately create a barrier – it is just that their team members are too much in awe of them. In the case of a non-iconic captain, he creates the approachability. Depending on his people management skills, he provides enough mental space for the iconic players also to perform at their peak. Thus, the trio of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman flourished under Ganguly's captaincy, and so did the great Anil Kumble.

MS Dhoni offers an interesting paradigm. He took over captaincy as a person with potentially good leadership skills and on the back of successes rose to become an icon. Since the 2011 World Cup win – when his iconic status got well and truly established -- his leadership in tests is not just uninspiring, but the overseas losses have become embarrassing.

Young Kohli has a lot to learn from all these people. Success is not just about knowing what others did right, but also learning from their mistakes or limitations. He is most likely to take over the mantle from Dhoni when the time comes. He therefore has the time to observe, introspect and finetune his leadership strategies. In fact, from Kohli's perspective, it is probably not such a bad thing that India lost the Adelaide test, as that may have pushed some serious limitations under the carpet, only to resurface in a more damaging form later.

Meanwhile, it might be a good idea for Kohli to have a tete-a-tete with Ganguly on leadership and call up Imran Khan to understand how to create a fusion between being an iconic player and a great leader.

Sachin Tendulkar – A Blazing Start And A Carnival Finish

Sachin Tendulkar – A Blazing Start And A Carnival Finish

At the start of his career, the `man` in him conquered the `boy` who was bleeding from his nose, and almost two-and-a-half decades later, Sachin left the field with millions of fans bleeding in their hearts and holding on to their tears.

Few sportspersons, if any, in the world would have been handed a script that Sachin Tendulakr received. It all started twenty four years ago in Pakistan, where he suffered an almost career damaging blow on his nose as a tender sixteen-year-old. However, the `man` in him conquered the `boy` who was bleeding from his nose, and almost two-and-a-half decades later, Sachin left the field with millions of fans bleeding in their hearts and holding on to their tears.

Every brick of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 16, 2013, would have recorded for posterity the emotional words that Sachin uttered during his farewell speech. The speech too was delivered with the same passion, precision and spontaneity as the runs that flowed from his bat. Communication skills and Public Speaking trainers from around the world would have noted and stored the speech as part of their training architecture.

In my lifetime I have seen extraordinary cricketers from around the world come and go – Gavaskar, Richards, Imran, Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee – to just name a few. But cannot remember any one of them being given such a sendoff by a nation. It was as if Sachin was to be the last of the legends to serenade the cricket field. It almost seemed like the country wanted to celebrate his achievements by creating a carnival atmosphere which would last in their memories for at least another twenty five years, whereby they can continue to retain the Sachin magic deep within them and cherish his `guiding` presence in their lives.

Of course, Sachin benefited from the media exposure which retiring legends before him did not have an advantage of. Yet, to see an entire country being consumed by as routine an event as sporting retirement was incredible to say the least. It is unfathomable that such a gala finish to a career can be achieved simply through human orchestrations. You can surely influence but a few hearts through marketing gimmicks, but such a spontaneous outpouring of emotions for a man whose role modeling abilities are incomparable can be manifested only through divine will. That Sachin is Destiny's Child was always known, and substantially proven in the last few weeks of his colossal career.

To top it all, the government, under fire on many issues, for a change got a Thumbs Up from the entire nation by its timing of the Bharat Ratna announcement. If at all there was any missing link in his career – the statistics are mind boggling: 200 tests, 450+ ODIs, 100 international hundreds, over 30,000 international runs – the Bharat Ratna fulfilled it. If at any moment in the last few weeks Sachin felt really sad at moving out of the game that he so dearly loves, the Bharat Ratna announcement would have put those feelings to rest, as nothing at all in our country gets bigger than this in terms of recognition.

The fact that Sachin redefined the benchmarks set for individual excellence in the game of cricket, and in the process created and sustained mass frenzy for such a long period of time -- even though there was a period when a fickle minded nation questioned his abilities post the 2007 World Cup disaster – is itself a wonder and testimony to the vast reservoir of Genius as well as Resilience that lies within him.

As this blog is intended as a celebration of his career, I have refrained from deriving the various lessons that Sachin's batsmanship and cricketing genius offer to far lesser mortals like us. I surely intend to share my perspectives from that angle another day. But suffice it to say that every bit of what Sachin achieved and the manner in which he achieved them has long standing lessons not just for our country but humanity.

It is said – and rightly so – that no individual is ever greater than the game. Sachin was the only one who came close to upsetting that theory. But thankfully – and I say thankfully because the Universal Principles of life cannot be tampered with or tweaked around – Sachin left the game, to my mind, as a Supreme Mortal, and not as God, by elevating the human cricketing excellence consciousness to a level none before him had ever done.

The game for a while will feel a deep void as another aspirant inherits the hallowed Number 4 position in test matches, but the game has a way of eeking out geniuses from the masses, and surely another Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will present himself to the world. Hopefully, this time too, it will happen in India.

For the moment, for one more time, Thank You Sachin. We Will Miss Your Presence On The Cricket Field!

Gavaskar And Tendulkar

Gavaskar And Tendulkar

What Gavaskar left behind in terms of cricketing excellence, Sachin simply expanded and reinvented. While Gavaskar was a product of the pre-economic liberalisation era, Tendulkar arrived at the cusp of a new dawn in the socio-economic-political context of India.

As Sachin Tendulkar's epic career draws to a close, it is worthwhile reflecting on what the legacies of the sporting superstar before him Sunil Gavaskar and his mean to Indian cricket. An immediate point of course is that both for long carried the vast expectations of the nation – of course Sachin had to shoulder a MUCH LARGER share – and for a substantial part of their careers were seen as lone warhorses of their teams.

When Gavaskar retired, many asked, `who next?` A couple of years into his retirement, and a young Sachin Tendulkar, whom you could easily have mistaken as a spectator trespassing on to the cricket field if you were a cricket novice, strode on to the ground with appropriate cricket gear but at an `inappropriate` age to take on the might of bowlers like Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. Over close to a quarter century, Sachin fulfilled both promise and expectations, which is incredible to say the least.

What Gavaskar left behind in terms of cricketing excellence, Sachin simply expanded and reinvented. While Gavaskar was a product of the pre-economic liberalisation era, Tendulkar arrived at the cusp of a new dawn in the socio-economic-political context of India. While Gavaskar had already shown many cricketers the way forward in terms of leading a post-retirement life, Sachin simply grabbed at the opportunities a liberalised India threw at him through the sheer weight of his performances. If Gavaskar associated with brands, Tendulkar bacame a brand himself.

Gavaskar fundamentally brought pride to the Indian psyche, which Tendulkar elevated and internalised at a level which few could match. Gavaskar's legacy lay in the way he positioned India to the world not only through his cricketing exploits, but also by the way he projected his pride of being an Indian. Gavaskar carried the self belief torch as an ambassador of `self doubting` Indians by simply putting up the runs at a pace which was appropriate for the times and on his own terms. But just around the time he hung his boots to become the `Voice of India`, in which role too for over two decades now he has kept the Indian pride at a high, the country needed a role model who could represent the very new and virbrant India that was being shaped.

Sachin in a way simply snatched the baton from Gavaskar, as there was hardly any time to pass it on as such, and created a colossus which the world will forever cherish and also look back and wonder. If Gavaskar in a way pioneered the Indian craze for records by creating one milestone after the other – Sachin redefined `records` and continuously kept setting new benchmarks. He ultimately reached a peak of a hundred international 100s, which is astounding for the human mind to comprehend, even after it has been achieved.

In this respect too, Gavaskar showed the way, as he was the first ever to score 10,000 runs in test match cricket. While many great players later joined the 10,000 club, he set the world's second best cricketing benchmark after the Don's batting average. To term the achievements of these two gentlemen as simply `Excellent` would be a huge understatement, and a reflection of the limitations of a language to fully comprehend the saga of such accomplishments.

While Tendulkar cannot exactly be termed as a protege of Gavaskar, but he imbibed the technique and balance of the original Little Master. Tendulkar in a way answered the imaginations of cricket connoisseurs who fantasised about a player who could have the balance of Gavaskar, the audacity of Richards and the all round ability of a Sobers. Incredibly, as if to say, nature bestows you with what you ask for, all three legends of their craft, found expression in one man – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Though Sachin cannot be termed as an all rounder like Sobers, he carried all-round ability, and could turn the ball square apart from hitting perfectly good balls square.

The inter-connection between Gavaskar and Tendulkar also has infinite worth in terms of their comparison with Don Bradman. While in terms of batting exploits, both could never come even remotely close to the average the Don had at the end of his career, there were other benchmarks set by the Don to be breached. While Gavaskar was the first to go past the Don in terms of number of test centuries, Sachin became the all time highest test century maker, and incredibly even attained the magical figure of 50 centuries. The Don felt Sachin played like him, a tribute lesser mortals can only dream of getting.

In terms of poignant test match batting too, they both played their epic innings in a losing cause against arch rivals Pakistan. While Gavaskar played his last test match innings on a very difficult pitch against Pakistan at Bangalore, in which he scored 96, Tendulkar scored a memorable 100 in Chennai. While the Bangalore test handed Pakistan a historic series win in India, the Chennai loss created a pain which was as close to the one inflicted by Javed Miandad when he hit Chetan Sharma for a last ball six in the 1986 one day tournament final at Sharjah.

Both Gavaskar and Tendulkar in their careers were also part of World Cup winning teams. Interestingly, India won a World Cup title long, long after Gavaskar had retired. It took a Tendulkar to break the jinx after India won the 1983 World Cup. It is significant to note the change in context that while the 1983 team `shocked` the nation by winning the world cup, the 2011 team would have `shocked` if it had not won the title. So, while Gavaskar and his teammates in 1983 engineered the beginning of a cricketing revolution in the country, Sachin and his teammates elevated the craze and cash associated with cricket to dizzying levels.

As the Sun sets on Sachin's career, it can be said that he perhaps fulfilled the unfulfilled potential of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, who, people of my generation will recollect, had started emerging as a powerful one day batsman too towards the end of his career. Tendulkar went on to become the world's best one day batsman, and probably simply built on an idea that Gavaskar had embraced towards the fag end of his career.

There is also a geographical synergy of course. Both lived and played in Mumbai and for Mumbai, and rose to become cricketing icons of the nation.

Who is going to take their legacies forward now? The script is still being written. So, we will wait and watch.

Cricket And The Art Of Adaptability

Cricket And The Art Of Adaptability

When co-related with the game of life, people in our country, in the face of rapid technological innovations, are facing challenges of adaptability never experienced before. It is visible in all departments of life – in professional areas, in parenting, in relationships. 

Few days back I finished reading this masterpiece of a book `TheWinning Way` by Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle. The book essentially draws management lessons from sport, with cricket of course forming a major part of it. The authors touch upon various aspects with great incisiveness as well as in an interesting manner. A must read!

We are a cricket crazy country, with the mood and performance of our cricket team determining the happiness quotient of the nation. Nothing perhaps best captures the intrinsic nature of our countrymen better than the behaviours that get reflected post a significant victory or defeat of our cricketers. The emotional volatility that the nation goes through in a matter of weeks, or sometimes even minutes, depending on the performances on the cricket field, presents an interesting facet about our people and life here. A much questioned cricketer can in a matter of just an innings or a bowling performance raise his value stakes to a level which is both illogical and irrational. The reverse also happens with equal speed, where yesterday's hero could find himself at the wrong end of a stick for one poor performance. Why this happens is a queer phenomenon and will reserve its analysis for another day.

But beyond the thrills of a victory or the morose feelings of a defeat lies one of cricket's greatest lessons on life and management – and that is adaptability. This presents a scientific side to both the sport as well as life. India, after having climbed to the No. 1 spot in test cricket came crashing down, losing back-to-back test series – whitewashed actually -- in both England and Australia, primarily because they could not adapt to the different conditions that prevail there in terms of pitch, nature of bounce, swing, etc. Sometime back when England toured India, they upfront got a taste of conditions here as they lost the first test quite badly, but bounced back to win the series because they remarkably adapted to conditions here. Australia, who are currently touring India, too are struggling to adapt to the conditions here.

While cricket as a sport offers many lessons, adaptability is at the heart of it. Players who built a reputation by performing in certain conditions tend to lose it all as soon as they are faced with challenges in an unfamiliar territory. The greatness of players like Tendulkar, or Dravid, or Ricky Ponting, or Jacque Kallis lies in their ability to adapt to different conditions by modifying their temperament, game and technique. This applies to great bowlers too like Glen McGrath, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble, and Zaheer Khan, whose ability to bowl differently in different conditions to produce the desired results for their team brought them richly deserved laurels.

Adaptability requires two critical elements: an ability to rise above the mere fruits of talent and be ready to reinvent oneself from time to time. Never has reinvention been more critical than in the last few years with the burst of 20-20 cricket, as cricketers now have to constantly juggle between not just different conditions, but also different formats.

When co-related with the game of life, people in our country, in the face of rapid technological innovations, are facing challenges of adaptability never experienced before. It is visible in all departments of life – in professional areas, in parenting, in relationships. The world in the last twenty years has incredibly changed, and India, in the post-liberalisation period, looks and behaves as if it has had a DNA transplant. Both success and failure are shortlived. The threat of redundancy and challenges to existing skillsets are incredibly intimidating. A world, driven by information and knowledge, is challenging yesterday's paradigms and questioning established cultures like never before.

The living-on-the-edge syndrome now has a new partner in `walking on your toes`, for the moment you feel it's time to settle down, conditions change unrecognizably. The rewards of talent too are fast paced, making the reasons for today's success irrelevant in the march forward, thereby calling for immediate reinvention and re-adaptability. This can be seen in the surfeit of success stories that get created constantly through reality shows, only for many of the participants to disappear into oblivion.

But amidst the constantly changing context of life, one thing has not changed, and that is, success, still comes and stays with those who are in it for the long haul, and are not carried away by the glamour of instantaneous achievements. Just as in cricket, where the true worth of a cricketer is still measured by his performances in test matches, life will always shower the highest reward to those who are ready play the game of life like a test match, but imbue it with the spirit of the 50 and 20-20 formats.

So, always be in anything for the long term, for success may or may not be as grand as a multi-storey building, but it is for sure a multi-storey journey. Contexts may change, but this fundamental truth will never change.  

Why Tendulkar's Retirement Is Not `His Concern` Alone

Why Tendulkar's Retirement Is Not `His Concern` Alone

Just as every day of his cricketing exploits has not been his business alone, his retirement too – perhaps unfortunately for Sachin the individual – is not his concern alone, for Tendulkar is not just a great cricketer, he is a CONTEXT unto himself.

As a writer, one of the things I am conscious of is not to join in in a debate with a herd psychology. Therefore, I was reluctant to participate actively in the Tendulkar retirement debate, for who am I, a mere mortal amongst humans, with only aspirations of becoming extraordinary, to say when a legend like Tendulkar should retire? But I have still dared to step in, for as a writer, I am interested in analysing the pyschology that pervades our society from time to time, with the express intent to add to the profoundness of discussion. So, here is my take on the `Great Tendulkar Retirement Debate`.

Public life comes with a price, and that price is being subject to massive attention and scrutiny. But for Sachin Tendulkar, it is not just about handling attention and pressure of expectations, it is living up to the God-like image in the hearts and minds of people.

Yes, Indians can be pretty fickle minded. When the going is good, they can make Gods out of mere mortals and when the God fails, they can denigrate him with as much swiftness, which comes as a total surprise to the person in question. But I suspect in the case of Tendulkar, it is a little different. He is not just another public figure, he is the symbol of a resurgent post-liberalisation India. He is what every middle class Indian aspired for. He is not a rags to riches story – a typically pre-liberalisation `success romanticism`; he is what a cross section of talented middle class Indians sought for themselves – expression and dominance over limiting forces.

If Amitabh Bachchan provided relief in the '70s and '80s to tired masses through his angry young man roles on reel, Tendulkar, in real life, heralded the era of self belief in the country. He broke the first rule that you need to be of a certain age to go after success. He liberated the middle class from the guilt of earning lots of money and leading the good life. He taught his countrymen that if you perform, you can stay ahead of everyone else, and that the only way to answer your critics is to perform better.

He for over two decades has symbolised what India has been aspiring to be – a predominant force on the global platform. While cricket has very limited global reach, his performances and career longevity have helped struggling masses take hope and stretch the limits of their imagination in terms of what is possible. They take inspiration from him in various quarters of their life, as he is a role model for sustained performance. There is no one who has taught them better how to adapt and reinvent in an information-driven world where validity of yesterday's competencies are questioned today.

For India, Tendulkar is not just a great sportsman. He is a teacher and a role model student. The impact of his persona and achievements cannot be cocooned merely within a statistical framework. The nation looks up to him for answers when stuck in a rut, or when its people run out of ideas in their day-to-day dealings with life. They cannot afford him to fail, for then they lose faith in their own inner fabric. He is a part of their daily consciousness.

Therefore, as the debate about Tendulkar's retirement heats up, on the back of a run of poor performances, it unfortunately is not his business alone. Yes, he is not God, he is merely an extraordinary human being, who has been tutoring the world for over two decades with his cricketing exploits how to become extraordinary, through inch by inch addition of that little extra to their repertoire.

But for the masses, he is the `God Of Cricket` encased in a human body, whose failures are hurting their morale and self confidence. They cannot afford to see him leave the arena after being dealt a knockout punch. He has lived life on his own terms for the past so many years, mirroring millions' desire to do the same. But in a country, which is hooked on to relief as a concept, it is quite satisfying for them to see one man spearhead the mission of leading life on his terms, from which they derive an irrational but very real sense of satisfaction and retribution.

So, the problem with Tendulkar's form is not just about his contribution to the Indian cricket team. It has a deeper resonance in the very character of Indian society. The question before the nation is whether he will be able to call it a day on his own terms or not? A failure to do so will not affect people's respect for him, but it carries the extremely uncomfortable threat of denting their own self confidence, at a time when life in India, given its social-political complexities, is becoming difficult to handle.

For the nation, it is important Tendulkar goes out on a high – on his terms, with people asking why now, rather than why not now? They want to give him a hero's sendoff, deserving of a legend who set benchmarks which would not only require more than extraordinary skill and will power, but also a width and stretch of imagination that is conferred only on a select few in the world.

Yes, as an individual, he has every right to be the only one to decide when to hang up his cricketing boots, but given that he has been such a phenomenon, Sachin cannot be isolated from the consciousness, pressures and unreasonable expectations from people. In this respect alone, it makes him the most towering social personality in post-liberalisation India.

Therefore, just as every day of his cricketing exploits has not been his business alone – literally speaking, businesses for long have been looking to thrive on the kind of performance he delivers on the cricket field by roping him in for brand endorsements – his retirement too – perhaps unfortunately for Sachin the individual – is not his concern alone, for Sachin Tendulkar is not just a great cricketer, he is a CONTEXT unto himself.

VVS: Where The Bat Was A Brush, And The Cricket Field A Canvas

Laxman was not just one of his kind, he was the only ONE

VVS Laxman got it all wrong. He thought the cricket field was a large canvas, the bat a brush and the ball a solidified form of paint. Instead of dogged defence, he presented a light touch, instead of hitting the ball hard, he caressed it, as if not to cause pain, and instead of placing the delivery in the area of its arrival, like an artist does with a paint brush, he simply changed direction and placed the ball where it could find greater relevance to the divine cause of expression.

Laxman was more of an artist, and less of a batsman. He simply expanded the vision of being a painter to a dimension which required a vast space like a cricket field. The artist in him needed a much larger canvas to pour out the genius within. Fans like me did not watch Laxman bat just to see him score runs or bail India out of one more tight situation. We watched him bat because in the pretext of a willow in hand, with his artistic strokes, he provided perspectives about life which only a person with artistry in his soul could. He maneuvered the cricket field as an artist maneuvers through various creative ideas.

Just as you thought the delivery was now going to be inevitably delivered to the cover fence with a copybook swirl of the bat, with the left foot in tandem, the TV camera suddenly shifted towards the midwicket fence, focusing on a hapless and bewildered fielder fetching the ball. Just as an artist gets an instant inspiration to change the direction of his brush, Laxman often suddenly used to bring the wrist into play and dismiss the delivery to another corner of the large canvas called the cricket field. This aspect of his game was so unique that it can never ever be replicated on the cricket field. New batsmen taking his place in the middle order can replace the name in the batting order, but cannot replicate his talent, for he was not just one of his kind, he was the only ONE.

In terms of pure cricketing contribution, Laxman gave Indian cricket and India self belief. His 281 at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in the 2001 series against Australia was not just an extraordinary or unbelievable innings, it was an example of poetical destruction. Pace or spin met with a treatment which sunk the opposition into a `despair of admiration`. It was an example of grabbing the opportunity to etch his name amongst the immortals of the game. It is not that the innings manufactured Laxman, he manufactured the innings.

Whatever Laxman did or did not after that innings is purely a matter of academic discussion. In that innings he had scripted the future of Indian cricket. He started the journey of India years later being anointed as the world's No.1 test playing nation. To my mind, his innings in Kolkata and his mammoth partnership with Rahul Dravid (is it any coincidence that the two shared many great partnerships!) in that test is one of the great events in post-independence history of India. Though purely a great sporting event, it had ramifications for the entire nation's psyche, as India draws so much of its joys and sorrows from the happenings on the cricket field.

Laxman's retirement from the cricketing canvas marks the end of artistry in a game which is based so much on technique and temperament. Laxman battled hard all through his career to balance his inner urge for creativity as well as the situation he found the team in when he went into bat. But in the past few months, the artistry seemed to be deserting him; perhaps, the bat refused to be treated as a brush any more. Maybe, the bat could not reinvent itself any further. Maybe, Laxman finally had to accept that cricket is a game between bat and ball, the cricket field is not a canvas, and that he now needs to paint his future on a different pitch of life.

Artists change their canvas often, and maybe VVS, after sixteen long years, has done just that!    

Sunil Gavaskar – Playing It As Straight As Ever

Sunil Gavaskar – Playing It As Straight As Ever
In every way, he set the tone for the threads to be picked up and built upon by others.

My idol Sunil Gavaskar turns 63 today, and there is none of the drop in guard that you would associate with an ageing person. It is remarkable that even twenty five years after he retired from international cricket, his passion for the game and his engagement with the sport is as infectious as ever. From an opening batsman, post retirement, he has flowered as a commentator and columnist. In both these roles what has not changed from the days when he held his bat in an elegant stance is the `straight drive`. Even now, he plays it as straight as ever and says it as it is.

My brother and I grew up in a generation which worshipped Gavaskar as India's first true sporting icon. He was also India's first commercial sporting superstar, who showed the way to cricketers how to leverage themselves as a brand and create financial security while still playing. In every way, he set the tone for the threads to be picked up and built upon by others.

It was only in the latter part of his career that we could watch him bat ball by ball, as much of cricket before the TV boom in the early '80s was followed through radio commentary. Avid cricket players in our society compound, we picked up the nuances of Gavaskar's batting through the description meted out by radio commentators. While the commentary was good, the commentators too seemed to get inspired by the way in which he met the fearsome rising ball in front of his nose, or ducked a bouncer, or left a ball alone outside the off stump.

More than the runs that Gavaskar scored, what he brought to the table with his attitude, technique, temperament and class was a pride of being an Indian. He was India's first truly global sporting personality – even though he represented a sport which only few countries indulged in -- and guarded his wicket not just for the hunger of runs, but also for ensuring a fledgling India -- with a weak sporting philosophy and evolving democratic framework -- held its head high on the international stage.

Gavaskar, through his sporting achievements, made Indians believe in themselves. He was the first to go past Don Bradman's 29 test centuries and the first to scale the incredible 10,000-run peak, which is now an accepted benchmark to be recognised as a top batsman. He played in an era when the West Indian fast bowlers brayed for `blood` and not just wickets, and he faced them more with his mind as a protective gear than with a helmet. Concentration formed the cornerstone of his efforts at the crease. Though more talented as a batsman than what he allowed the world to see, he etched out risky strokes so that his team, which depended heavily on him at the top of the order, did not have to suffer.

The importance of the legend and legacy of Sunil Gavaskar can be understood from the fact that it took India a number of years to find a stable opening test batting pair. The value he brought to the art of batting is a legacy in itself, which was later mirrored more by Rahul Dravid than anybody else. The classical nature of Gavaskar's batsmanship is sorely missed by connoisseurs of cricket, and by those who learnt the fineprint of batting from the way the legend operated at the crease.

The greatest aspect of Gavaskar's craft was that batting became synonymous with him and he became synonymous with the word copybook. The copybook nature of batsmanship is what will put India back on top of the test rankings, and nobody knows this better than Gavaskar himself.

Happy Birthday Sir! And wish you many, many more years of health, wealth and prosperity, as well as service to Indian cricket.

Thank You Mr Gavaskar.

Rahul Dravid – A Legacy Of Classical Batsmanship

Rahul Dravid – A Legacy Of Classical Batsmanship

`The Wall` has left behind a legacy of batsmanship where he taught the world,
well left is also well played!

 

Rahul Dravid’s exit has not created a vacuum just at the No 3 position, it is also a vacuum of classical batsmanship. Dravid based his entire game around the twin foundations of technique and temperament. In that sense, he emerged as the true batting successor to Sunil Gavaskar. The talent was there, but it was asked to flower under the stewardship of technique. While technique is a means to an end, for Gavaskar and Dravid, the means were also critical, for they had based their ability to score runs entirely on the way their feet moved, the way the bat met the ball, the way the body swayed to a short delivery, etc. 

For Dravid, spending time at the crease and scoring runs were equally important – that was his game and he stuck to that even as he saw a certain Tendulkar and a certain Sehwag maul the opposition with audacious strokeplay on their day. Dravid’s soul lay in just the joy of executing his craft on the 22 yards for long hours. 

I suspect Dravid called it quits not just because he perhaps felt he may not be able score runs heavily and consistently anymore, but maybe also because he felt he would no longer be able to romance the cricket pitch for as many hours as he could at the peak of his prowess. The smell of the cricket pitch and the red cherry when he met it close to his body must be the elixir he looked forward to while participating in the drama of a cricket match.  

Yes, Dravid was not just in love with the game of cricket, but also equally intensely with his craft – the Dravidian art of batting. Right from the time he took guard, the technician in him took over. Everything -- his stance, the tap of the bat as the bowler ran into bowl, the shuffle, the movement of his hands and legs, hand-eye coordination, timing, ability to leave the ball and duck, the classical cover drive and straight drive, the flick through midwicket, and many more -- had a technical base and batting education attached. It was almost like while many of his colleagues chose to play the game the commercial cinema way, Dravid seemed to have come out of the National School of Drama to practice his craft not in the song and dance way, but in the `boring` but meaningful arena of parallel cinema.

While he shared the same 22 yards with his team-mates, he seemed to be batting on a different wicket, sometimes almost giving a feeling that he did not belong, as his piercing drives would find the fielder, whereas some of the other batsmen would simply hit through the line or even over the top. When they got it right, Dravid looked less talented and unexciting, but when they got out and Dravid pulled the team out of yet another crisis, his copybook style and classical batsmanship got vindicated. 

Others often inspired, but Dravid mostly educated. He belonged to a genre of batsmen who survived the rigours of long years of test cricket ultimately not just because of their talent and reflexes, but because of the school of batsmanship they represented. Reflex players will always be more exciting to watch, but due to lack of a game based on technique, they may be found wanting when their reflexes slow down. Technique is an insurance against a longish period of decline, which every sportsman and every human being in life goes through. If you are technically correct, you can limit the damage and even bounce back with greater competence.

Dravid has left cricket, but has left behind a legacy of batsmanship where he taught the world, well left is also well played!

Take a bow, Rahul Dravid.    

Sachin Tendulkar -- History, Historic, Hysteric

Sachin Tendulkar  -- History, Historic, Hysteric

On the day of the Union Budget, Sachin resolves one of the biggest contemporary national problems – his 100^th 100 

None of the pumped up reactions after reaching a sport’s greatest milestone. Just a grateful look at the bat that scored that all important 100^th run, an intense look towards the heaven, and the customary but very important acknowledgements to his team-mates and spectators. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was as dignified in glory as he was when under intense pressure for the last twelve months to satiate the appetite of a record crazy nation.

What is it about great people that they can come back ever so strongly to answer back critics or doubters in the same manner in which they built their credibility in the first place – through professional excellence? Sachin belongs to a nation which has a poor ability to handle failure. A typical Indian reaction to failure is apathy, a sense of resignation, and bitterness towards self and others who let them down on their expectations. Sachin, over 22 years of his international career has seen it all – the highs, the lows, extreme adulation and extreme criticism. We are a country which can create an incredible aura around people, and incredibly, even before they figure out the reason behind the exaggerated sense of adulation, `put them in their place`. So, no wonder that Sachin’s external demeanor was one of quiet acceptance, though internally, he would have been relieved and happy like perhaps never before in his life. 

In the past year, Sachin had `failed` not just by his standards, but more by the standards the nation’s media and people had set for him when he scored his 99^th international hundred in the 2011 World Cup. There ensued a raging debate regarding whether the nation’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, should be conferred on him. The whole nation got talking on the 100th 100 as well as the Bharat Ratna, except one man – Tendulkar himself. He had seen it all. He perhaps knew he was just a few failures away from being demonized, and that’s what happened; he failed over twelve months – not given as a sanction to people like Tendulkar who feed the nation with success way beyond their own expectations. But ironically, Sachin, through his achievements seemed to have constructed a `demon of success`, which he himself found difficult to deal with in the past year. 

But there is no denying that the longish wait for the 100^th 100 had the nation breathing uneasy. It had become a problem of monumental proportions. There seemed something seriously missing in the daily life of India. In terms of daily life, which is full of struggle in our country for lakhs of people, Sachin’s 100^th ton is a tonic which is all three -- history, historic, and hysteric. He has just added himself to the list of immortals who rule the consciousness of the country. He was already an institution, but he has now perhaps placed himself in a league of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan who reached a summit in life where no man may ever reach.  

But if you think the nation is finished expecting things from Sachin, wait a minute! He still has unfinished business. Today, he scored his 49^th One Day International (ODI) hundred. Waiting for his 50^th, which will make it 50 in test matches and 50 in ODIs. A perfect icing on the cake I suppose! 

Congrats Sachin, Congrats India.

Will India Catapult, Or Capitulate?

Will India Catapult, Or Capitulate?

This piece is a reflection on the India-Australia test series, which has started on Boxing Day.

The much awaited and talked about India-Australia test series is well and truly on at the MCG. India, slow starters in test matches, especially in away series, are hoping to upset the applecart of the Aussies in their backyard. It is a tribute to the team and captains of the past decade that pundits and cricket lovers in India are actually expecting the team to win their first ever series  in Australia. This, despite the 4-0 drubbing at the hands of England in England recently.

After the drubbing in England, the `tigers-at-home-lambs abroad` tag has resurfaced in more than just hushed tones. But people are still willing to believe that it was an aberration, and things are going to be just fine in Australia. There are reasons to believe that this could happen. 

Firstly, they will play for pride – for the loss in England and also for Sydney-gate. If not for Sydney-gate in 2008, India may well have ended the series with honours even. Secondly, the legends -- Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman -- are most likely on their last tour to Australia, and, if so, destiny will not grant them another opportunity to win a series Down Under. Thirdly, MS Dhoni, who has been hailed as India’s best captain, stands his true test as skipper. The loss in England highlighted yet again the timeless theory that a captain is only as good as his team. To make matters worse, key players in the side suffered injuries, and two of the legends – Tendulkar and Laxman – were off form. However, amidst all the ruin in all three formats of the game, Dhoni showed character and kept navigating a sinking ship to the best of this ability. But not winning the series in Australia will only raise questions over his ability to raise the stakes for his team abroad. 

There is no doubt that perhaps after a period in the ‘80s, this is the weakest Australian team to face India, and if it is not plagued by injuries, this is the strongest Indian contingent Down Under. India’s brief surge to top of the test rankings however had a glaring hole – no series win in South Africa and Australia, without which some pundits maintained, and rightly so, India did not deserve to be called the best test playing nation. Of course, the ranking is now gone, and so India can just concentrate on winning in Australia. If they win the series, as they should, at least given their strengths on paper, they are likely to create enormous self confidence for themselves, and awe and respect from people around the world. 

There is no doubt that the team is aware of both the expectations as well as the opportunity. If India win the series, for Tendulkar, if he scores his 100^th ton too, this would be the climax of a dream career – longest test career spanning over two decades, 100 international hundreds, test series victories in Pakistan, England, West Indies, New Zealand, and Australia, and a World Cup win. I don’t know whether Tendulkar should be compared with Bradman, but surely, there will not be another Tendulkar, and that is what colossal institutions are all about – there cannot be another one like them. For Dhoni, it would mark the culmination of what Saurav Ganguly started – the habit of winning test matches abroad. A series win in Australia will also mark a new beginning for Dhoni, as he would now be more on cue to create his own legacy as a Indian cricket captain.

But as they say, cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. After all the analysis, what really matters at the end of the day is what happens between the 22 yards. While there is great anticipation about India going to the next level as a test playing nation, for all you know, Australia are planning a revival which could mark the beginning of another dominant era for them.
At the end of it all, we will know, whether India really catapulted, or capitulated, yet again!