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Wonder Boy "Azharuddin' does it again
An insight into Azhar's character
By
S. Zeyaur Rahman
I
wonder what Harsha Bhogle would be thinking about the events of the
last few months. He would be badly tempted to completely revise his
much acclaimed biography of Azharuddin. Or perhaps he will need to
write another one. And this time he will not find it half as enjoyable
as the previous time.
It is quite astonishing to read the book in the light of the match
fixing controversy, which in India revolves around the disgraced
captain. Is it the same Azhar, Bhogle has written so powerfully about?
How could a biographer miss the mark so completely? Perhaps we all
did.
Till very late Bhogle has been portraying Azhar as the 'best role
model India EVER had'. The brightest diamond from the city of
Kohinoor. Jewel in the crown, apple of the eye… seemingly unending
series of choicest of adjectives one could use to describe a
cricketer, a gentleman, a man.
Since then Azharuddin has gone a long way. Long way vertically down,
from dizzying heights to abysmal depths. With every passing day we
find ourselves short of negative adjectives, when we describe the same
person.
Nobody has forgotten the minority card, which this role model chose to
play and an extremely inopportune moment. That was undoubtedly his
ugliest stroke, which left a very bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Gladly for us, there were no takers for this logic and he came under a
good deal of criticism from his own community.
A silence followed. An uneasy one and we thought that Azhar had
reconciled himself to his fate. But the 'comeback' kid was not to be
silenced so easily. Now he is trying to give it a regional colour. He
just stopped short of absolving himself and concentrated on
implicating players from other zones, who are supposedly as bad as
him.
Yet, another ridiculous, despicable and desperate attempt to pass on
the blame. Where is the team spirit and camaraderie that symbolizes
cricket? Fourteen years of involvement with the most refined of all
games have been inadequate in instilling him some virtues of decency
in him. I will not sink alone seems to be his motto.
Gavaskar had been rather sympathetic to Azhar for most of the time
before the ego clash erupted. The foreign-currency-in-the-locker
episode has given Azhar an excuse to point a finger at him. Since
Kapil, Jadeja and Prabhakar are already in the dock, Azhar does not
waste time lotting against them. A poor thing like Kambli has not
escaped his attention.
Very much like the choice of friends, the choice of foes also goes to
show the standard of a person. Kambli is much junior to him and
inconsequential as far as Indian cricket is concerned. Targeting
Kambli goes to show the extent to which Azhar can go. Tomorrow he may
accuse some debutant from Tripura or Goa in a bid to prove that he is
not the lone bad guy.
Hyderabadis take pride in their rich culture and Azhar used to
symbolize all the positive aspects of their mannerism. He had an
incorruptible image after his glorious days in big cricket and
Hyderabadis used to say with pride, 'Yeh ladka kabhi nahin bigdega".
That ladka is throwing mud on everyone's face with his repertoire of
ugly strokes.
To top it all he still nurtures ambitions to play his 100th test. He
has more than ample faith in our forgiving and tolerant character. But
then he has stretched everyone to the limits and even saints will find
it difficult to pardon him for the damage that he has done.
Azhar makes a remarkable study in contrast. The same applies to his
South African counterpart. People with impeccable credentials, who
were beyond the realms of doubt and suspicion. They have ended up
doing unimaginable things.
Azhar had a habit of proving everyone wrong demolishing the
predictions of one and all. Sadly this time it is in a completely
unwanted field. How wrong we all were when we hailed him as 'God's
gift to Indian cricket'. Great innings wonder boy. You have
fooled everyone.
Has Ganguly arrived as a
captain?
The
angry young man of Indian cricket
By Vimal
Kumar
Of
course, the 9-month of captaincy period is not enough to comment
fairly on Sourav Ganguly, as a captain of India, but still there are
plenty of reasons to assess him. The prince of Calcutta has been in
news in recent times for various things. Be it for various things. Be
it for his consistent batting display or for his outspokenness, the
man is hogging the limelight, currently.
During the glorious decade of 80’s in the last century, an angry
young man called Amitabh Bacchan mesmerized a whole generation of
cine-lovers because of his aggressive image. Sourav Ganguly, of
course, is not another Amitabh but the “angry man of Indian
cricket” is trying too hard to make this Indian team as a cohesive
unit of go-getters. Indian cricket has been under-achiever or to be
precise poor-achiever because of the lack of fire under the belly and
lack of pride in most individuals.
But Sourav Ganguly knows very well how important these
qualities are and he is working diligently hard to find tune this
aspect in the present team. Forget about the results under his tenure
of captaincy, the most important gain has been the changed approach of
the team. This team really looks like a unit and everyone is rallying
around his captain.
But in inculcating, the aggression among his team members, Ganguly has
sometimes been fired because of his excessive zeal. To be fair to
Sourav, the man is always prompt, when it comes to accept blame or
constructive criticism. This quality is remarkably outstanding because
it is one of the rarely feature in any Indian cricketer.
When the new season started with the ICC Knock Out Trophy in Kenya,
nobody gave a chance to the Indian team. But the inclusion of fresh
blood and the responsibility shared by seniors in the team almost
lifted the cup for India. Despite their defeat in the final, they were
stilled praised because of an unlikely commendable show. The
performance in Sharjah tournament was a mixed one and so was the show
against debutant Bangladesh in one off test match. While the credit
for winning the Delhi test must be given to the whole team but the
brave declaration by Ganguly surprised everyone. Sourav was highly
praised for the above decision in media and one must say, he would
have been lambasted had the gamble not been paid off.
The sheer courage and penchant for taking risks makes Sourav an
admirable captain. The convinicing one day series was the result of
the no nonsense attitude shown by every member including the new coach
John Wright.
But Sourav is not getting carried away by these facile victories and
he knows the real challenge ahead against the formidable Aussies in
February next year. Hopefully, he will be able to enhance his
reputation of being a finer captain in the coming series.
Five
Dark Circles
The
scandals in the history of cricket
By
Goutam Das
The
recent controversies about match fixing have hit cricket like nothing
so far has. Some maintain, that it has reduced its stature so
drastically that it has seized to be a “gentleman’s game”.
Nothing is further from truth. Perception, as is said, is more real
than reality itself.
History
can be a consolation. It can be frightening too. Our beloved game had
long lost her virginity and her body was violated over and over
again. And even though the dark serpents kept raising their ugly
heads, the game has survived. It has withstood all the ravages of
time, the storms, the floods and the droughts. Today, it has reached a
stage where all disasters are immune. The game cannot loose its
tranquility anymore, her maturity can ward off any ungentlemanly
behavior.
Yet,
she can never wipe of the dark spots on her beautiful face. The first
of them appeared as early as 1932-33. No points for guessing what it
were. English captain Douglas Jardine wanted his bowlers to bowl
short-pitched deliveries, aiming at the batsman’s body. His order
was carried out to perfection. The Australians led by Sir Donald
Bradman had no answer to Harold Larwood’s stuff, which also had a
strong leg side cordon to aid him-two fine legs, a square leg, a
mid-on and a cluster of short legs. Sports stand for peace. Not
barbarism. Many Aussies were hit on the chest and the head. With no
headgears in those days, facing “bodyline” bowling meant an open
invitation to serious injuries, or even death. The repercussions that
the series created had almost terminated the political relations
between the two countries. Thank Heaven’s, it did not happen
actually.
The
second dark circle was of a different nature. And perhaps the more
serious. Basil D’Oliviera, a coloured South African born all
rounder, was prevented from touring the “rainbow country” with the
English team in 1966-67. The evil in the form of Apartheid took its
first toll on cricket. South Africa was expelled from the
international arena and England on that occasion, promptly cancelled
the tour.
In
the 80’s and the 90’s ball tampering, or “doctoring” as it
came to be known, became a serious controversy. Fingers were mainly
pointed at Pakistan, whose bowlers got the ball to reverse swing. But
as many countries followed Pakistan in perfecting the art, the debate
died a slow death. Manoj Prabhakar for India got the ball to reverse
swing considerably. A more recent example would be the young prodigy,
Zaheer Khan.
Thanks
to Darrel Hair, “throwing” made bowlers loose their sleep. Muttiah
Muralitharan was no balled nine times in one match for “chucking”.
Our very own Rajesh Chauhan and Harbhajan Singh were asked to change
their bowling actions. TV cameras with their expert commentators began
to dissect bowlers like Hospital Surgeons. All these created a lot of
accusations and counter accusations and some bad blood between
countries.
The
latest of the dark circles is of course, match fixing which is not
necessarily the youngest. It came to the forefront in 1995 when Salim
Malik was accused by Shane Warne and Mark Waugh of trying to bribe
them into loosing a match during Australia’s tour of Pakistan that
year. In India, it had deeper roots. One Police Commissioner went on
record saying that match fixing was prevalent in Gavaskar’s time,
matured when Kapil was the captain and blossomed fully during
Azharuddin’s era.
One
thing that comes out of all these, is the inter mingling of politics
and sports. It is not politics that depends on sports, but it is the
other way round. The bodyline controversy, the expulsion of South
Africa from international cricket and the betting scandal, all had a
political color attached to it. Sports, in any case has enough of its
own politics. So much so, that one wonders whether it is the
politicization of sports or the sportsisation of politics.
TOP
Perils Of Victory
Reflection
and Retrospection of Indian cricket
By
S. Zeyaur Rahman
Victory is always sweet. It has an encouraging and electrifying effect
on the winning team. It may seem ridiculous to imagine that victory may
not have positive consequences. The first major casualty of success is
reflection and retrospection, a very vital ingredient. One does not find
many a thoughtful faces on a victory lap or deep furrows on the forehead
while lifting a trophy.
India
has had the fortune (or misfortune) of being a victorious side many a
times. It has recorded spectacular results in both the versions of the
game, albeit inconsistently so. It was natural that
nobody ever sat
down to analyze these victories and take steps to make them a
permanent featureIt was only after a thrashing that the post mortem
was conducted and only after a serious malady was diagnosed that a
remedy was suggested.
We
have won yet another series and added yet another feather to our cap
if not another jewel in the crown. This victory is bound to give us a
feeling that everything is fine and we can jolly well continue the way
we are. All the past and recent defeats and humiliations will be
forgiven and forgotten.
A
victory at home. It does have a special meaning for every country. But
not when it is India. The way India has defeated, destroyed and
demolished every single side at home with a monotonous regularity that
the entire exercise appears mundane if not a farce. We could not have
avoided winning even after fixing a couple of them. A decade of
unbeaten record at home. But abroad?
Till date India has won only 14 Test matches abroad and three in the
past fifteen years. We needed a debutant like Bangladesh to record our
first 'overseas' victory in seven years. There were a couple of very
near misses but like all would-have-been, they should be allowed to
rest. The stunning regularity and predictability with which India has
catapulted overseas is shameful.
But we made up for that by breaking all records at home with
series after series of brown wash.
I
would not be solving a mystery, if I say that the ineptness of our
batsmen against fast bowling is the root cause. Every frontline Indian
batsman has performed brilliantly, even abroad, but that was never
enough to provide us with more than 3 victories in the past 15 years.
The spineless displays of these very batsmen comprehensively outnumber
the occasions when they had stood their ground to ensure a draw let
alone a victory.
Not
knowing the cause is one thing and not taking any steps to rectify the
disorder is another. Our cricket system falls in the second category.
For an entire decade it ordered doctored pitches as a tonic for a
defeated team. And the team never disappointed. A tacit quid pro quo.
You give me a doctored pitch and I will give you a victory, to distort
one of our famous national slogans.
All
kinds of suggestions and theories have been floated in order to get
rid of this chronic problem. Ideas ranging from harshly realistic to
absurdly idealistic have been provided but little has been done apart
from setting up of a couple of academies and pace foundations.
A
common suggestion is to prepare sporting pitches for a domestic
series. That will rob us off an opportunity of making up for abroad
losses through home victory and disappoint the fans. We know what has
happened to us at Mohali. The Kiwis scuttled us for less than hundred
and earlier we squandered the golden opportunity to end the unbeaten
record of West Indies. Even the morning dew is enough to account for
our collapses as Donald and Kasprovicz have proved on two occasions.The
second idea is to prepare sporting tracks for our domestic cricket.
Nothing could be more welcome than that except for the risk of running
out of batsmen who can play spin and bowlers who can tweak the ball.
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