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Captain Courageous
 Over
the years, I have generally refrained from playing cricket
pundit—wisely in retrospect. On the few occasions when I
have opened my big mouth, I have managed to put my foot in
it. And, more than once, the Indian cricket captain has
managed to be the player to cut me down to size. It happened
once in Sri Lanka, when I, like many other critics of Sourav
Ganguly, was virtually demanding his head, and he came up
with a match winning knock.
His recent
rescue act was the stuff of fiction, straight out of P G
Wodehouse’s cricket stories of yore featuring Mike Jackson
of Wrykyn. With the burden of history heavily loaded against
him, he walks to the middle at 62 for 3, after Tendulkar and
Dravid depart with one run between them. What follows is
magical stuff, the Prince of Calcutta and the Nawab of
Hyderabad unfurling an array of strokes that leave the crowd
gasping in wonder. ‘Grace under pressure’ one critic
called Ganguly’s innings and that about sums it up.
I have
always believed that Ganguly’s batting problems at the
highest level have had more to do with temperament than
technique, though he does struggle against short-pitched
bowling. With the help of psychologist Sandy Gordon, batting
coach Greg Chappell and his own determination to succeed
where it matters most—in the heat of battle in the
toughest arena in the world—the Indian captain has earned
the whole cricket world’s respect and admiration, giving
Indian cricket the morale booster it has desperately needed
all these years.
 Though
his runs came in the second innings, Rahul Dravid must have
gained in self-assurance from the freedom with which he was
able to score, once he decided to be positive. Much of how
India will fare in the remaining Tests will depend on the
playing surface and the return of Glen McGrath and Brett
Lee, but Ganguly’s men will go into them with their heads
held high. However, the bowling worries will persist,
despite the bonus of Ajit Agarkar’s wicket taking ability
complementing Zaheer Khan’s lead act.. The Australians
have decided to get after Harbhajan Singh, with considerable
success so far, and Ashish Nehra is struggling to find his
best rhythm. It may be time to bring Kumble back into the
attack.
What India
has achieved at the Gabba is easily its best performance in
recent years, certainly better than anything any team
touring Australia in the Steve Waugh era has managed to do—with
the possible exception of New Zealand. If India can hold
their own at Melbourne, they can put their rivals under
pressure at Sydney, if not Adelaide, especially with two
spinners in the line-up. Still dismissing Australia twice
seems at present a distant prospect. Of course, there is no
chance of Murali Kartik, getting an SOS call from the tour
management, is there?
V
Ramnarayan
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