Return of the huddle

With a dynamic captain and an enterprising coach, a youthful Team India is going great guns, writes Abhijit Chatterjee

This team has become tough, really tough. It’s not easy to recover from a crushing defeat, but the gritty Indians hit back with a vengeance to level the series against South Africa. Slowly but surely, Greg Chappell’s "Vision of excellence" is turning into reality.

In victory, and more important in defeat, the team has developed the resilience to fight back even when the chips are down. There is no more dropping of shoulders (as in the past) even in a situation like that at Kolkata when the South Africans walloped India.

After the miserable showing both in Sri Lanka and in Zimbabwe (where India choked in both one-day finals) the 6-1 series win against Sri Lanka and the 2-2 draw against the South Africans should give the right tonic, and the launching pad Chappell so desperately needs to prove his point that India have enough talent to give any team a run for its money. Chappell has enough time at his disposal to try out new cricketing ploys, new players and new gameplans. He is looking to a group of 20-25 players, each capable of performing on a given day to take the team to victory.

For once, the mandarins who run the board acted with the future of Indian cricket in mind when they offered a long-term contract to Chappell right until the 2007 World Cup. In contrast, former coach John Wright who served Indian cricket for five years was given a year-to-year contract. This will enable the Australian to draw up long-term plans (which he is now doing) without constantly looking over his shoulders. The selectors too have not interfered in his work and have given him the players he wanted.

One reason why Team India is looking good is that the coach, thanks largely to the backing he has received from the board as well as the national selectors, has been able to unearth new and exciting talent. These freshers, all in their early twenties, who have brought about a refreshing change in the atmosphere not only in the dressing room but also on the field. If Irfan Pathan is looking more like an allrounder, then the pace of S. Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar (who has now rediscovered his touch) now looks capable to of running through the opposition even when the team is defending a low total. Chandigarh's own kid in the squad, Yuvraj Singh, has regained his form with the bat and together with Mohammad Kaif (who missed a couple of matches against the Sri Lankans due to injury) has helped the fielding improve by a couple of notches by their own example.

In the series against Sri Lanka, which came at a time when the team was divided into camps and a brand new captain was at the helm of affairs, each of the six games was won (India lost only one game and that too when the Chappell experiment did not click) by different sets of players. While the batting of Dhoni has made everybody in the cricketing world sit up, even the role of players in team India like Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and R.P. Singh cannot be ignored.

When Chappell took over four months ago, the Indian team was in tatters. The team had got the tag of chokers, given the fact that in final after final they tended to let go even in cases where they had the opposition on the mat. The players were divided in groups, they took off whenever they wanted, there were no contingency plans and even nets were not conducted properly. Most of them had one eye on the ball and the other on the bank teller. And then came the famous spat between Chappell and the then captain Sourav Ganguly in Zimbabwe when the coach allegedly asked the captain to step down. To top it all, came the famous e-mail from Chappell to the board President which was leaked and all hell broke lose.

After the win against Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid went on record to say that ‘‘It is important to have the right people in the squad, people who are willing to challenge themselves to raise the bar and become better players.’’

‘‘With a lot of people performing well we were able to move players around without affecting the squad much,’’ the new captain said. The coronation of the Karnataka player was not an easy task, given the fact that the man he replaced had a lot of clout not only on the field but also in the boardroom of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Dravid, who took over the captaincy after a lot of mud-raking and chest-beating on the sidelines of the great Indian cricket tamasha. The supporters of the deposed captain pointed out the services Ganguly had rendered to the cause of Indian cricket (and dump the future if you may), was able to weather the storm with his bat and leadership on the ground doing the talking.

Even after the fantastic series against the Sri Lankans, the coach and the captain were now willing to rest on the laurels. Of course, India have a very strenuous cricketing schedule ahead right up to the World Cup and every series will bring with it new challenges for the team. Chappell went on record to say ‘‘I am very happy with the performance of the youngsters. They played according to my expectations. What was expected of the players at the start of the series was fulfilled. But they would have to continue to work hard.’’

That the selectors were willing to give a free hand to Chappell to mould his Team India for the future was apparent the way the selectors disregarded V.V.S.Laxman for the entire series against Sri Lanka in spite of his excellent display in the Challenger Series in Mohali which formed the basis for selection for the squads for the one-dayers. (In fact, the work of the selectors was rendered easy by ousted captain Ganguly who gave the tournament a go-by citing an injury thereby rendering himself out of the race for a slot in Team India).

For long, people will talk of the Pathan experiment as the Baroda youngster shapes up into an allrounder. Then Punjab's Harbhajan Singh has suddenly returned to his wicket-taking ways while a players like Sehwag, who had lost his touch with the bat, has emerged as a class spinner. The fielding too has climbed quite a few notches. All this augurs well for Indian cricket for the future.

In fact, in the new-look Indian team there is no place for stragglers or half-performers. The exception was probably vice-captain Virender Sehwag who kept his place in the squad in spite of a string of poor scores since Chappell knew that the Delhi player had in him to find his touch at any time. And he did touch form in the course of the seven matches against the islanders, though we all know he is capable of much more. In the meantime he turned his arm, did his job in the field and gave splendid support to his skipper.

Horses for courses

The colts are galloping, and the warhorses are striving to keep pace with them. Young guns like Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have infused fresh energy into the Indian team with their spirited performances. Rookie pacers Rudra Pratap Singh and S. Sreesanth, besides batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina, have also made their presence felt, particularly in the series against Sri Lanka.

The youngsters have made the seasoned campaigners in the side realise that there is no resting on past laurels — you have to perform to justify your place in the team.

Several seniors have risen to the challenge, such as Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Ajit Agarkar. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have been erratic, and no wonder they are under pressure to show some consistency. Here is a round-up of the players’ display in the two series against Sri Lanka and South Africa.

HOME