A point or two to pick up from the others!!!

By: Venkatachalam. A. Krishnan
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We are barely a week into the ICC World Cup 2003 and we have already witnessed some astonishing Cricket. The Dutch gave a hard time to the famed Indian batting lineup at Paarl. Erstwhile the Canadians beat the Bangladeshis by a huge victory margin and the `Men in Black’ beat the Caribbeans in an all-important encounter which may probably be the defining moment in their quest to progressing in the tournament.

As Saurav Ganguly and his men get into their crucial clash against the tournament-favourite men from down-under, one hopes that they have learn from the Canadians, the Dutch and the New Zealanders.

None of the three teams can boast of Superstars to the level of a Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag or Dravid. But they had one common virtue which resulted in their astonishing performances – COMMITMENT ON THE FIELD.

Considering the fact that they have come into the tournament with virtually no cricket at all for the past 6 months due to below-freezing temperatures in their countries, the Dutch and the Canadians put up an amazing display of fielding. The enthusiasm and the commitment carried them through.

And if there was a difference between the Kiwis and the West Indians, it was again fielding. Carl Hooper admitted that at the end of the match. The Kiwis threw themselves at every ball as if their lives depended on it. Indeed, they could have very easily been out of the tournament had they lost the match as they had lost to Sri Lanka in their first match have already decided to forfeit points in their match against Kenya.

It was an all-round team effort which saw the Kiwis through and it was epitomized by the `Relay-throw’ run-out of Brian Lara. West Indies never really recovered from the shock.

Coming back to the Indians, there have been a lot of calls for Mohammad Kaif to be dropped. Even Saurav Gangauly has gone on record saying that Kaif will `get one more chance’.

The argument against Kaif is that he has scored only 130 runs in his past 13 innings and is woefully out of form.

The point is that the inning prior to the 13, was a Brilliant, unbeaten 111 against Zimbabwe in Colombo when the famed Super stars including Ganguly had returned to the pavilion for next to nothing on the board having been unable to withstand the onslaught of a bowler named Douglas Hondo. Had the Indians lost that match, they could have been out of the tournament.

Let us admit the fact. Mohammad Kaif has played more match-winning innings in the recent past than anyone else but Yuvraj Singh. And this `anyone-else’ includes Saurav Ganguly and Sachin tendulkar.

Also, 7 of the `13 innings’ being talked about were in Newzealand. Does anyone talk about Ganguly’s averages (which is less than Kaif’s) in the recent past and say that he should drop himself?!

And we must add atleast 20 runs per match to Kaif just for his commitment on the field. Everybody will agree that a run saved is more than a run scored. And Kaif certainly saves tens of them every time he is on the field. Can anybody talk about the fielding skills of the other `heavy weights’?!

Let us forget this nonsense and talk about the task on hand. Australia is no mean opposition. Let the Indians `apply’ themselves and show the `commitment’ displayed by some of the lesser sides. After all, every Indian is hoping for an Indian win at the Centurion.

CHALO INDIA!!!


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