Published: Jan 19, 2015, 05:37 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 17, 2016, 04:04 PM (IST)
West Indies, once the undisputed kings of world cricket, witnessed AB de Villiers silence Hashim Amla and race to the fastest fifty and hundred before falling for a 44-ball 149 in the second ODI of the series at New Wanderers, Johannesburg. An awestruck Abhishek Mukherjee cautions children from imitating the demon.
Prompt, in-depth reporting is an essential part of being a journalist, more so for an editor. Watching AB de Villiers bat against West Indies at Johannesburg left the entire newsroom awestruck (though they were, er, forced to go at breakneck pace; this is saying something, since he was plundering runs faster than we were typing); to put things into perspective, de Villiers put Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw, both of whom scored centuries at strike rates over a hundred, look like sleep-deprived snails on Monday mornings.
Then, once the euphoria subsided, I thought: is de Villiers a good example for children? He is fantabulous to watch, 16-ball 50, 31-ball 100, and 44-ball 149 all make outrageous reading, but what if they try to imitate him the way they had after they watched Ramayana on TV a few decades back? Should they not have a better role model? So I decided to pen a letter.
***
Dear children:
You have all seen today’s innings. de Villiers is a fantastic batsman. He breaks records and plays outrageous strokes. Some day he will take fewer balls to score a fifty than your age in years. In other words, he is an outrageous creature. He is not good. You should not imitate him.
Why? Let me tell you stories of children of the 1970s and 1980s, of little boys and girls just like you; they watched Superman and thought they could fly, watched Spiderman and thought they could soar from one house to another using just a rope, and watched Ramayana and thought they could imitate Hanuman’s leap across the ocean. Then they actually tried these out at home. They tried to jump from roofs and balconies and paid the price.
You are all upcoming cricketers. You should not try to imitate de Villiers. You should not sweep fast bowlers from outside off-stump, for you will middle only once out of ten times. You should not steer balls when there is a gully and a third man, for nine out of ten times you will find a fielder. You should not loft yorkers over the bowler’s head, for you will be bowled.
Like those Spiderman, Superman, or Ramayana videos, they will probably put a STATUTORY WARNING: THESE ACTIONS HAVE BEEN PERFORMED BY THE ULTIMATE EXPERT AND SHOULD NOT BE IMITATED BY OTHERS tag on the television the moment your de Villiers comes out to bat. Till then, read this letter and be cautioned. This man should not be imitated, for he cannot be imitated. Trying to copy him may end your career.
Follow Sachin Tendulkar instead. Or, if you want to go for someone contemporary, go with Hashim Amla. But not AB de Villiers. He makes men like Chris Gayle seem human in comparison. If you try to adopt his shots, chances are high that you will be left in the midst of nowhere, since de Villiers is inimitable. By the time you realise that I have a point it will be too late, and your carer may never even take off.
Do not say later I did not warn you.
A ranting, ageing well-wisher.
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(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and cn be followed on Twitter here)
