sachin, saurav,rahul

After the heady Headingley victory, the Old Trafford loss must have hurt the Indians no end. What should have been India 3, England 2 in the seven-match limited-overs cricket series, it reads the other way around. However, the notional feeling of being on top in three of the five games should keep the Indians upbeat for the remaining two London games. Of course, they will have to win the Oval match to go to Lord’s for the decider with the rubber alive at three-all.


The series has yet again proved beyond doubt that it is the batting that has to click if India have to win. No disrespect meant to the bowlers who have to operate against heavy odds, the poor fielding being the most glaring, even in the helpful conditions overseas.

If the batting has to come good it has to revolve around the three most prolific batsmen in contemporary cricket --- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. At least two of them have to score big to inspire someone like Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to demolish the opposition. The beauty of this England tour, perhaps their last, is that all three distinguished elder statesmen are playing their best cricket for the team. A state of their minds and moods!


There is something that cannot easily be explained about the way Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly go about playing their cricket these days just as no-one has a clue as to how Dravid is smashing the ball to all corners of the park, coming up with astounding strokes like slashing the ball over point for a six.

Tendulkar and Ganguly have curious explanations on how they motivate themselves to keep going, making minor modifications to their styles of play.


The little man has admitted in an interview to The Times that 1995-2004 as his best years and that he had to make adjustments in his grip in the aftermath of the tennis elbow that needed a surgical correction. During that transition his batting suffered somewhat and that was the time when the media wrote finis to his cricket career.

Tendulkar has naturally been irritated with the constant needling about his future and has atypically stated he knows how to bat, having done so for 18 years and also his body knows when to call it a day. To tell the media to stop speculating about his cricketing demise, he has said he is still young at heart and is enjoying every moment on the field.



He has, however, reiterated that his body today needs a longer time to recoup, particularly after a limited-overs game which takes a heavy toll on his body. He has qualified it by saying that at 22-23 the recovery times is much less than at 34 he is. In fact, he had told me five years ago after a couple of niggles that the players should ideally have at least three weeks of rest between two series. Ever since, as luck would have it, he has been forced to take rest for some reason or the other.


Maybe, that explains why there is some disconnect between his recent knocks, some of them being stunning and some others unbelievably unrecognizable from the great batsman. He wants it to make clear that his failures are not for want of effort which in any case has seldom been questioned. Not for nothing Shane Warne has put him down at the top of his best fifty cricketers’ list.

Sourav is a more pragmatic when he says he is enjoying his cricket after being relieved of captaincy. He has worked hard for his comeback and is relaxed now. He seems to be at peace with himself and it radiate when he is out in the middle. There has been a marked change in his approach to batting and he is certainly a lot more focused these days. He does not want to think of long-term, he wants to take a series at a time.


He is, perhaps, batting at his most elegant best and when his offside strokes flow he also gets under the ball to dispatch them over long-on and midwicket. To talk about his fielding and running between the wickets at this late stage of his career has no meaning, make use of what he is best at. If only he gets as much joy while bowling in every match as he got at Headingley the other day.


Rahul Dravid’s new avatar is again a revelation, not that he has not indulges in a run-a-ball dash before. Even for a careful planner like him this batting stratagem is breathtaking. In the process, he is also debunking the theory that his best batting position is at No. 3 which whether he likes it or not is.

His message is clear and loud: He would not like to bat in a dare-devil manner at one drop whereas he can easily jump into a situation where he can get important runs for the side. It seems to be working for him and the team. He is also hinting that he is prepared to make experiments with his own batting slot without disturbing or annoying others. He is also promoting and encouraging a young batsman to grab the opportunities by batting at number three.


Interestingly, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid have chosen to open their hearts and minds to the English journos. Does that convey something? Not to be left out, the wise old cricket manager Chandu Borde has also provided some pearls of wisdom to the Indian media.

Borde has tried to make a distinction between Sourav and Rahul’s captaincy, though he has not thrown any new light despite watching them from close quarters as chairman of selection committee and manager. Everyone who has played with or against him has stated how instinctive and impulsive Sourav was as captain. Borde says that Dravid is more a strategist and goes into the field with meticulous planning. At the end of the day the results and record matter and much can be said for both.


From
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