One last steep step to scale
Believe me - this Indian cricket team can walk on water
Partab Ramchand
27-Sep-2002
Believe me - this Indian cricket team can walk on water. Believe me -
they can stride across a pit full of burning coal and come out
unscathed. Believe me - if India could win the match against South
Africa on Wednesday, they can win anything.
© CricInfo |
Just think of the scenario as it was, with South Africa at 192 for one
after 37 overs. They needed only 70 runs from 13 overs with nine
wickets intact, which translates into a run-rate fractionally over
five per over. The batsmen did not have to do anything silly or go for
the big hits. Singles and twos would have sufficed for South Africa to
wrap things up.
Surely a comfortable victory was only a matter of time. The bookies
had closed their books, the TV commentators were already looking ahead
to South Africa's opponents in Sunday's final, and who could blame
them? On the field of play, the Indians seemed to have virtually given
up. The body language said it all - the drooping shoulders, the
mournful look, the sad eyes, the slow walk, they were all tell-tale
signs that the Indians had almost thrown in the towel.
And then came the metamorphosis. Not, for a change, through the fall
of a wicket but with a batsman retiring hurt. As Herschelle Gibbs
wended his way back to the pavilion, Jonty Rhodes came out to join
Jacques Kallis. In the dressing room, awaiting their chance to bat if
required, were Boeta Dippennaar, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher and
Shaun Pollock.
© CricInfo |
And then there was Virender Sehwag. The man with the golden bat now
became the man with the golden arm. Sehwag can do nothing wrong at the
moment, and much the same can be said about the team too. Giving
Sehwag the task of bowling the 48th and 50th overs, allotting Zaheer
Khan the 49th, was obviously going to be a gamble. But Ganguly and his
think-tank were willing to take the risk. Such a bold outlook in a
tense situation is to be appreciated.
Astonishingly the South Africans, faced with a similar situation,
played it safe. It might have helped if Pollock had promoted himself
in the batting order, ahead of a Klusener now a pale shadow of the
hero who almost won the 1999 World Cup for South Africa. The supreme
irony was that Pollock finally came to the crease in the last over but
had not yet faced a ball when the match ended.
From the Indian viewpoint, the most encouraging aspect was the ability
to rise from the dead, as it were. Indian cricketers traditionally are
not known to be fighters with the never-say-die attitudes of the
Australians. But Wednesday's performance was something else. It will
not only further raise their confidence already high after the
smooth annihilation of England but will also will help earn much
greater respect from any future opposition.
The same cannot be said about the South Africans, who have lived up to
their dubious reputation of being champion chokers. Remember the Hero
Cup semi-final against India in 1993, the World Cup quarter-final
against the West Indies in 1996, the World Cup Super Six encounter and
the semi-final against Australia in 1999? One has almost lost count of
the number of times South Africa have not been able to convert a
winning position into victory.
But the focus is now on India. They are one steep step from the
summit, and with the way things are shaping up, the team with a muchmaligned bowling line-up and with fielding standards not yet up to
highest international levels - though the youngsters have certainly
helped lift that aspect of the game - could end up winning the ICC
Champions Trophy. First the mini-World Cup and then the World Cup
early next year? It's a heady thought, but first let us emerge
triumphant on Sunday. One last thought. India were semi-finalists in
1998 and finalists in 2000. Will the upward graph now have the perfect
finish?