All the players jumped and hugged and shouted, and then, finally, donning the odd-for-the-occasion white coats grabbed the trophy and posed for the Championship photo. It was exactly THAT precise moment a feeling spread all over my senses, however delightful this victory may be, this is not MY team. I felt like being at a distance from almost all these team members. There’s almost no-one there from the team that I grew up with. I suddenly felt old – much older than I actually am. So much so that I could start uttering a beloved phrase by an oldie, "Things were different then"
One by one everyone’s gone. With Laxman, Ganguly , Dravid
long gone, Sachin’s departure last year, Zaheer’s ever-unfit body having a final
say over his desire to play again, Sehwag and Bhajji almost certainly on the
no-return-back road, only Yuvraj and Gambhir having an outside chance of coming
back, given Selectors and Dhoni allow them to. I feel harder to connect with
the current Indian players. This is not to say that I don’t like them or I don’t
want to watch their matches – it will only happen after my last breath. But
it’s something like admiring a hot new ultra sleek Audi but not wanting to ride
it.
Often, at most
satisfying moment in a man’s twilight of life, his memories just flood
with all the moments of hope from his past life. Similarly for a scholar
conquering every hurdle of exam, moments from first few exams - mixture of anxiety,
will, faltering and succeeding - always hold a special space in heart. They
might not be all perfect success moments but those have given a cause, a reason
to live for. Exactly such was the case here. Dhoni is most successful and most-intelligent-on-field
captain for India. Not a single feather is missing from his cap. Yet I feel
Ganguli bound the team together like never before. Disputes between players,
groupism based on regional influences were almost gone under his captaincy.
When Dhoni was an undefeated captain for first two years, it was often said, and
rightly so, that "Ganguly was a good captain of a team and Dhoni is a captain of a good
team". (Though, after this Champ Trophy
triumph, I must admit that Dhoni has built a very good team of not-yet-great
players… just like Ganguly did).
Time and again, I can’t stop thinking of Romantic Era of
first decade of this millennium. Until then victories on foreign soils were as
alien as acting is to Arjun Rampal. The Golden Gang changed that. Laxman- Dravid
were the pioneers of it in Kolkata with Ganguly and John Wright accompanying as
guardians. The captain-coach duo pushed Bhajji, Yuvi, Zaheer and Sehwag to greatness. Foreign tours began to become fruitful. On the
tour Downunder in 2003-04, they were supposed to run for shelters against
the mighty Australians. Ganguly was considered to be most prone to failure on fast
pitches. Instead, at The Gabba he turned the table with the probably the best
series-defining century on fthe oreign soil. This led Indians to draw the series 1-1
with mighty Aussies. (If only Parthiv Sloppy Patel hadn’t missed the opportunity of
dismissing Steve Waugh and Gillespie). With the Fab Five (Viru, Sachin, Dravid,
Laxman and Kumble) - which any team in any time period will die for - Ganguly
composed such a tune and everyone contributed with such a perfect lyrics
of their own style, that an unforgettable beautiful song was born. And that will
certainly be remembered like a SD Burman classic.
Interestingly this success story was written with
not-so-great fast bowling stock. Barring Zaheer, no one was consistent enough
to get a long run. Yet Multan, Rawalpindi, Headingly, Galle, Jo’burg, Durban,
Perth, Jamaica, Napier, Trent Bridge happened. Many of the seamers played cameos. Many times, whenever the team needed to punch
above the head, someone stood up. Zaheer succumbed to injury at the start of
the series v/s Aus in 2003-04 but Agarkar bowled the spell of his life in Adelaide
to make sure Dravid’s efforts weren’t going in vain 2007. Again in when Zaheer
had another injury RP Singh and Ishant Sharma carried the burden brilliantly.
Sreesanth did it twice in two tours of South Africa. Even Munaf bowled superbly
to get rid of Lara to give decisive blow to Windies in 2006 series. In the
meantime they were almost unbeatable at home. Kumble and Harbhajan were enough
to destroy every team that toured India. Ohh dear God, So much stories to tell,
so little time. Afterall you just can’t get enough of fairy tales.
Everything was not so sweet each time though. Shameful loss
against England in Mumbai where the Indians were 100 all out, dust biting downfall
from 100/1 at lunch to 200-odd all out by the evening against Pak at Bangalore, the Guru-Greig saga, Gone-in-60-secondesque
exit from 2007 World Cup (which completely
spoiled my B’day on the next day), surrender against the duo of
Murali-Mendis were absolutely disheartening. But yet, those were sensing like
punctuation marks in the statement that Team India was making strongly. It was
more of a reminder that they were, afterall , humans climbing the mountain unlike
rude inhumans like Australians, who failed to attract any
kind of love from any corner of the world. After all who loves butcher over a
painter.
The good thing was that even while the baton continued to pass from
Ganguly to Dravid to Kumble to Dhoni the Indians kept on winning. Victories were
accompanied by some best back-against-the-wall displays in Draws. In 2002,
Sachin-Dravid-Ganguly , Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh of Indian Cricket, secured the improbable
draw against England at Trent Bridge. In 2008-09 at Napier, at the end of the third day
the Indians were batting second with 300-odd run deficit. But then came the marathons
by Gambhir and Laxman along with almost everyone's contribution and this
test was saved miraculously. In Last test on the SA tour in 2011 the Indians had whole
day to survive against devils like Steyn and Morkel, and they did it by losing
just 3 wickets. Given India’s some previous record, last day collapse was
always at a stone’s throw away. Yet they saved it. Comprehensively.
All through the decade the core of Team India in was same. Fab
Five, plus Harbhajan, Yuvraj, Zaheer and Gambhir. It was an interesting blend of personalities.
On one side, there were thorough gentlemen like Sachin, Kumble, Dravid, Laxman
and on the other hand, there were fire brands like Bhajji, Yuvraj and Zaheer who
would refuse to wince when they looked into eyes of the opposition. This brand of controlled
aggression was pioneered by their T-Shirt Twirling, Toss Delaying captain 'Dada'. He transformed a team from 'home tigers' to 'warrior
travelers'. The ODI performances were somewhere between very good and great.
They kept entering every single tournament-final but kept losing all but one of
them (That glorious exception was Yuvraj-Kaif fame Natwest Trophy Final in 2002).
And then suddenly, out of nowhere, wheels came off. The
train not just derailed but crashed so heavily that the passengers like Dravid and
Laxman (who were actually drivers, until then) had to depart to the point of no
return. Sehwag and Gambhir - the best test opening pair of India - were pushed
from the train, fairly so because they were travelling with expired tickets.
Yuvraj was already travelling standing because he never had confirmed
reservation for Tests, so no efforts were needed to push him. Only The God is
remaining now. That too in tests, not in ODI. The enitire 0-8 thing outside India and 1-2 loss
in home conditions against England were blow beyond tolerance. I sensed
the beginning of the end when Dravid retired. Until then I had saved my tears for
Sachin’s retirement. I even managed to hold them back while I read entire
coverage of 'Dravid Dasvidaniya' press conference. But all it took to nudge them to
start rolling was a Harsha Bhogale article on cricinfo. I couldn’t imagine Test
cricket without THE WALL. I was upset for few weeks after that.
Then just before NZ series Very Very Special Batsman waved
towards fans. I was outraged. For all
his heroics and fifties with tail and silky drives and an affair with Aussie
bowling, he deserved a far better farewell. I was cursing Dhoni like never
before, whose lack of approachability was believed to be behind his departure. With
Kumble and Ganguly long gone, remaining soldiers, one-by-one, started to call it
a day. Look of Indian team became raw one, but it did some fabulous things too. New
guys are sprinting between the wicket like a hare, fielding has become jaw-droppingly
sensational and they are not carrying the burden of being gentlemen on the field. If
there was any proof needed of changing guards, I think it was this Champ
Trophy. As a true admirer of cricket, this new team gave me tremendous joy
mixed with absolute thrill, but it's the team between 2001 and 2012 that gave me
Goosebumps actually. I like current Team India
very much but the previous one felt like family I grew up with. It is, you
know, like Love. However much you love your successful married life, you will
have a special place in the heart for your first love affair.
Few weeks ago, while staring at myself in a mirror, I noticed
several gray hair. "It's because of pollution and my carelessness to condition
them. I am not an old guy yet", I consoled myself. But the moment Team Young
India the lifted the trophy and erupted in the midnight, a sudden strong (and
disturbing) feeling told me that hair weren't lying after all.
