World Cup
Mind Games
By L.H. Naqvi
WHEN Wisden, the Bible of global
cricket, lambasted International Cricket Council Chairman
Jagmohan Dalmiya for being soft on match-fixers, our
reaction was predictable. We saw in the attack
undercurrents of racism and launched our Patriot missiles
on Wisdens editors for demanding Dalmiyas
resignation. It was not a case of irrational anger.
Dalmiya was sought to be punished for someone elses
trespasses.
If Wisden is biased against
coloured cricket-playing countries, which it is, why must
we jump with joy when it declares India as the best
equipped team to lift the World Cup? Before I share my
views on why Wisden is so lavish in praising India
(incidentally the operative part of the assessment is
"India have everything in their favour to win the
World Cup a second time. Can they deliver?"), I
would like to dispose of some other cricket-related
business which has been bothering me.
No one can take away
from England the status of "Mother of
Parliament" and "Mother of Cricket". Both
parliamentary democracy and the game of cricket are
English gifts to the Commonwealth of Nations. But
parliamentary institutions are not necessarily blind
imitations of the Westminster model and the game of
cricket too has gone beyond their control. They are no
longer the lords and masters of the game and the fact
that it was born on the English village green is of
interest to cricket historians only. It is now played on
the "desert green" of Sharjah and in conditions
which cause cramps and dehydration among players. And
one-day cricket is a genie which cannot be put back in
the bottle for ensuring the survival of conventional
cricket.
Although England lost
its grip over the game, it was still considered the
natural venue for crickets World Cup when it was
introduced in 1975. The tournament may have continued to
be held in Blighty but for the surprise entry of India in
the final in 1983. The then President of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India N.K.P. Salve asked for an
additional pass for his wife.The request was turned down.
That is when the reliable firm of Dalmiya and I.S.Bindra
got into the act of obtaining the hosting rights of the
1987 World Cup jointly for India and Pakistan. Not just
the Englishmen but the white cricket playing countries
were not amused.
There is little they can
do to regain control over the game. In the current
edition of the World Cup eight out of 12 teams represent
coloured countries, including South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Counting Scotland on the side of England, Australia and
New Zealand is not enough to ensure a "white
revolution" in cricket. Wisden is the last straw
which the Englishmen use as a whip to cause confusion in
the ranks of coloured cricketers. Just as its attack on
Dalmiya was unfair, its praise of the potential of the
Indian cricketers is highly suspect.
Wisdens assessment of the
potential of India is part of the mind games which every
major team is playing to mislead the opponents. Wisden is
doing for England because it is in the same pool as India
and was beaten fair and square by Mohammad
Azharuddins team in the Sharjah tournament.
The first dirty trick of
the British media was to play up the leadership qualities
of stand-in captain Ajay Jadeja to divide and destroy the
team. Now Wisden has been let loose to give the Indians a
false sense of superiority. But the tag of underdogs
would serve Indias interests better, as it had done
in 1983 when a far superior West Indies, with the titles
of the first two World Cups already under their belt,
were virtually ambushed by India. And what was "Mr
Divine Wisdens assessment of Kapil Devs team?
Wisdens editor went town declaring that India was
not good enough to merit participation in the World Cup
and that he would eat his hat if India won the title.
Never fly on the wings
of praise of others, for when you fall they will not come
to pick your bones.
It is not that India is
not aware of the advantage of appearing weak and
disorganised to make the enemy lower his guards.
Cricketers are said to be superstitious and Indian
cricketers are likely to be more superstitious. I suspect
their poor performance in recent weeks is crickets
version of putting a small kajal mark as some kind
of a protection against buri nazar waley.
Let me put it this way
No team deliberately wants to lose, but India was
not interested in showing the full range of its fire
power before the crucial World Cup. It drew the two Test
series with Pakistan and ended at the bottom of the table
of the inaugural three-nation Asian Test Championship
between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Mind you, an
injured Sachin Tendulkar played out the Test series
before being rested for the domestic and Sharjah one-day
tournaments.
I am not disputing that
Sachin faked the injury. But please examine the
circumstantial evidence to understand it was played up to
fool the enemy. Remember that the gravity of his back
injury was "discovered" not during the five-day
matches after the Chennai Test but just before the
one-day tournaments in India and Sharjah.
All manner of medical experts
cropped up from the woodwork with offers making the
little genius fit in time for the World Cup. These
planted stories created more doubts about his actual
fitness.
"Unimpeachable
sources" even leaked out to the media the
"news" that extent of Tendulkars back
injury was far too serious than was being acknowledged by
the BCCI. Overenthusiastic sports reporters on the basis
of the "leaks" even dropped subtle hints that
the best batsman in the world may never play again!
One big advantage of
keeping Tendulkar out of the one-day contests in India
and Sharjah is that the spy cameras will not have the
post-injury pictures of his batting.
Mohammad
Azharuddins shoulder injury, I suspect, was
political to allow him some rest and also to test out
Ajay Jadejas temperament in case he was required to
lead. Azhars extended toe injury in Sharjah and
Jadejas "brilliant" handling of the team
as stand-in skipper gave birth to the hare-brained demand
for a change in "leadership" of the World Cup
squad.
On the scale of
expectation from the team of its supporters the fiasco
caused by "experimentation", the controversy
over the captaincy and the calculated exaggeration of
Tendulkars back injury have pulled down
Azhars team way below the under-rated Kapils
Devils. I will still put my money on India not because
Wisden but because it is indeed a very good side on
paper.
The Sri Lankans too have
left no stone unturned to revive my favourite
cliche from my days of unemployment to tell the
cricketing world that they are woefully out of touch and
incapable of defending the title they won in 1996. They
do not mind being told that they were lucky to reach the
final because of the refusal of Australia and the West
Indies to play the league matches in Colombo and Mohammad
Azharuddins decision to field first on a minefield
of a track in the semi-final in Calcutta. Was it a fluke
that Sannath Jayasuriya walked away with the Best Player
of the Tournament trophy?
Where is Jayasuriya,
incidentally? Nursing an injury he sustained during the
teams ill-starred tour of Australia where the
crafty Mutthiah Muralitharan once again got into umpire
Darells "Hair". He too is nursing an
injury. Lack of match practice must have made the two Sri
Lankan superstars a bit rusty. The Sri Lankan skipper
with the temperament of a Buddhist monk, Arjuna
Ranatunga, would be more than delighted if the enemy buys
this line of argument.
My hunch is that
Jayas and Muralis injuries have been
exaggerated not only to make the opponents let down their
guards. Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana had
re-written the first-15-overs script during the last
World Cup. The credit for making a target of 250
indefensible should go to the Sri Lankans who discovered
in Jaya just the player to make the fielders scamper for
cover. But he has since been sorted out. Under the
smoke-screen of injury the team management may have
already re-invented Jayasuriya for the 99 World
Cup. And Murali has been kept out of the firing line for
two reasons. One, to deny the opponents the chance to
figure out how to play his deadly turner. Two, to keep
him out of getting into other peoples
"Hair".
The news about
Jayasuriyas divorce and that the team has sought
the help of a professional psychologist too are meant to
make the enemies feel comfortable.
If most of the teams are
playing mind games to lower the level of expectations
from their fans and to fool the rivals, how does one
explain the dazzling performance of the Pakistani team
under reinstated captain Wasim Akram? Please remember
that when the Pakistanis lose they blame themselves and
when they win they praise Allah. The match-fixing
controversy saw them lose domestic series to Australia
and under-rated Zimbabwe. To cut out all the diplomatic
jargon, India, for an average Pakistani, is the land of kafirs.
In 1996 when the kafirs beat them in Bangalore,
they had to go into hiding on their return to Pakistan to
avoid being lynched by angry supporters. They would have
met the same fate had they lost the two-Test series and
the Asian Test Championship title to India or the one-day
tournaments in India and Sharjah. What helped
Akrams demolition squad to chalk up facile
victories was the lack of hunger for victory among the
Indians and the Sri Lankans. Yesterdays nowhere
team is now beeing seen on the victory podium.
But, no, the Pakistanis
are as superstitious as any other cricketers. To seek
protection from the nazar-e-bud (evil eye) of the
rivals, they planted the story about "serious
differences" between senior players and coach Javed
Miandad. Saeed Anwar even reported him to Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif before the team flew out to England for
pre-tournament acclamatisation. What does not make sense
is the choice of Sarfaraz Nawaz to accompany the team
after Miandads "surprise" resignation.
Akram is supposed to be Imran Khans man. And
Sarfaraz and Imran are sworn enemies. I do not have a
theory on this one.
The West Indians were not under
any kind of pressure to seek protection for themselves
from buri nazar waley. They had already suffered
the consequences of buri nazar during the away
Test and one-day series which they lost to the South
Africans by humiliating margins. When Steve Waugh arrived
in the West Indies for what was to be the last of the
warm-up games before the World Cup, Brian Laras
captiancy and place in the team were on the line. He
raised the level of his game to heights he is familiar
with and suddenly the West Indians as a team too started
clicking. After setting his house in order Lara to
"suffered" an injury which forced him out of
the last few one-day games against Australia. The report
of the "injury" once again saw the value of the
West Indian shares drop sharply in the World Cups
stock market. But Lara is not complaining.
However, Carl
Hoopers surprise retirement from international
cricket immediately after the series against Australia
has surprised me as much as Wasim Akram and Sarfaraz
Nawaz on the same flight to England. Perhaps, his infant
son has not recovered fully and he wants to be with his
family (settled) in Australia.
What mind games are
England, South Africa and Australia playing to fool the
enemy? Nothing serious. Australias strike bowler
Glen MacGrath opted out of the last few one-day games in
the West Indies due to an ankle injury sustained during
fielding. The English players have settled their pay
dispute in the nick of time before the D day. But former
superstar Ian Botham is not happy with the squad members
playing county games instead of "unwinding somewhere
in the Bahamas like the Australians". The news that
Ian Austin, a promising all-rounder, has sustained a
minor injury in a county game was the reason for
Bothams outburst.
South Africas
story is different. It is a tale of so near and yet so
far. On paper it has been rated as the best team since
the 1992 World Cup. The stupid rain rule spoiled its
party when the World Cup was held in Australia. The 1996
format too went against Hansie Cronjes side. After
having won all the league matches it was eliminated after
a solitary defeat in the quarter-finals. The format for
the current tournament will allow the teams to carry with
them the points they earn in the league games. It could
well be a case of third time lucky for the Proteas.
To sow the seeds of
doubts in the minds of the opponents the South Africans
took a slightly aggressive line unlike other teams which
seem to be happy with the tournament-eve negative
publicity. The United Cricket Board reacted sharply to
the decision of Pakistan to hire the services of Richard
Pybus as assistant coach until the World Cup. "He
may reveal our training secrets", was the stated
reason for the protest. If this is not yet another
example of the mind games most teams are playing, what
is?
Those who think that the
conviction of Makhaya Ntini, the first black player in
the team, would make Cronje lose sleep do not know the
real face of the current stock of cricketers representing
South Africa. They started playing cricket when apartheid
was the official policy. Brian MacMillan was reprimanded
for involuntarily letting out a racial invective during a
provincial game. Habits die hard, and racial habits die
even harder. Ntinis conviction is a blessing for
the nearly all-white team which may perform the miracle
of winning the Cup for black South Africa.
If that happens, it
would be a case of teams from coloured countries winning
six of the seven World Cups. Australia is the only white
team to have won the trophy by beating an all-white
English team in 1987 in Calcutta.
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