Published: Mar 27, 2014, 10:21 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 27, 2014, 10:24 AM (IST)
As the much-anticipated (and twice-postponed) Supreme Court’s verdict is about to dawn upon a nation, Abhishek Mukherjee salutes a group of men who have been fought themselves against all odds in a neighbouring country.
What could have been going through the minds of the Indians when they boarded the flight to Dhaka? One may never get to know, but one can always guess.
The odds were stacked heavily against them. First, since winning the inaugural version of the tournament in 2007, the Indian cricket team has not managed to reach the knock-out stages of the ICC World Twenty20 in any of the three subsequent editions of the tournament.
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The current form had also been atrocious: since December India have toured South Africa and New Zealand and have come back without a single victory from both countries. Even in the Asia Cup 2014 they had been successful against only Bangladesh and Afghanistan — which have been their only international victories in the past four months.
There was also the Supreme Court verdict that had got postponed till March 25 (which was postponed yet again till the 27th). Before that, however, the Mudgal Committee had submitted its report to The Supreme Court of India. The report had clearly mentioned the involvement of a few India players, “one of whom was a part of the ICC World Cup 2011 squad and was supposedly a part of the current team.”
If we are to believe the Mudgal Committee Report (there is absolutely no reason why we should act otherwise) the cricketer had been on board the flight to Dhaka, and both he and his teammates had been aware of the fact. The teammates may or may not have known who this person was, but as per the report he was one of them.
Let us take a moment out and try to think of cricketers as human beings; there are 15 cricketers in the squad, 14 of whom are innocent; they already know it is one of them; and yet, it may well be possible that they are not aware of the exact identity of the person.
It may have been the person who had given you bits of friendly advice before, during, or after matches; he is your colleague, someone you have trusted; and now, you are suddenly facing the fact that one of the men you have trusted, often blindly, has fixed at least one match.
Let us think of the obvious questions that may come to one’s mind: Who is this teammate? What if the next matches are fixed? What if all matches are fixed?
To their credit they did not flinch. After their dismal show in the Asia Cup nobody had given India a chance against Pakistan; they proved the experts wrong and managed to defeat their foes convincingly. Then came West Indies, the defending World Champions, who were put on a leash by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin, by Amit Mishra and even Suresh Raina. India took their time, but scraped home comfortably. They may have won in the last over, but at no point did it seem that India would lose the match.
They won both matches. Maybe they will lose one or both matches against Australia and Bangladesh; maybe they will win both; what cannot be denied, however, is the fact that they have taken on one of the murkiest phases of Indian cricket in recent past by the collar and have tried to make a battle out of it; and are gaining ground with every passing day.
Winning the World Cup in 2011 was a major feat: it was about defending the best teams in the world. This, however, is a battle against oneself; and it is in the art of winning against oneself day in and day out that real triumph lies.
India had successfully managed to survive the gloom of 2000 with the presence of seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman. Given that they have all retired, the Indian cricket fan had a reason to be scared with the threat of an unprecedented abyss looming.
The current crop, albeit young, have demonstrated that they are not scared. Poor performers overseas? Yes. Lack of strike bowlers? Yes. Technique on bouncy surfaces inadequate? Yes.
Scared of what will happen to them and Team India if one among them is plucked out and dished out a ban? No.
They may not be the best, but they know their way to the staircase if the floor is flooded. After all, they believe that it will all end up in a banquet under a starry sky somewhere.
ICC World T20 2014 Points Table and Team Standings
ICC World T20 2014 Schedule details
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
