Please Don't Hype Rishabh Pant!

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has rewritten the history of another Indian cricket great Yuvraj Singh. No doubt about that, and cricketers and fans now call him the miracle player. While Yuvraj fought and conquered a rare form of cancer and made a brave comeback to cricket, Rishabh fought and conquered a near-fatal car accident in 2022 and made an astounding comeback to cricket in 2024. Not only did he come back but has been playing tremendous cricket in the IPL-2024 and then now in the first Test against Bangladesh with a superlative attacking century, apart from keeping wickets.

Amid the well-deserved international acclaim came the comparison with MS Dhoni--some cricketers saying he has broken Dhoni's record in terms of the number of Test centuries in less than half of the matches Dhoni took to score. Veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has righteously pointed out that comparison with the legend is unwarranted at this stage. We fully endorse his view and request all to desist from hyping this terrific young player and just allow him to go on playing spectacular cricket on the field. Despite his achievements he's still a learner, in view of his tremendous potential for the future of cricket. Breaking a few records doesn't make one great, it's the test through the years that finally puts him/her in the top position. MS was not just a wicketkeeper, he was the Team India captain, establishing Indian cricket in the new aggressive order, the Finisher made India win many matches/Series and those invaluable knocks need not necessarily include tons. To be very specific, Pant will take much more time to match Dhoni's wicketkeeping abilities and reflexes. In short, such comparisons are totally not the need of the hour.

Besides, we have to examine what happened in the past. Rishabh had begun very well in 2017-18, particularly in the away Tests in England, and he was so overhyped that he got selected for Team India in the World Cup-2019 when a blazing Shikhar Dhawan unfortunately got injured, and despite India having the most experienced keeper-batsman-captain in the team. And what happened? The puzzled selectors had to look the other way as Team India happened to accumulate as many as four wicketkeepers in the playing eleven, leading to disastrous consequences.

Shortly afterwards when Dhoni cleared the way for the overhyped, the same began to falter on the field and the search for a wicketkeeper continued unabated. During 2021-22 Rishabh Pant roared back to form with incredible Test performances against Australia in Australia. And he got back to being hyped again in the media. What happened next? He nearly finished his cricket career in a car accident. That he's come back in full bloom, as we said earlier, makes him a great resilient spirited human being, and definitely not a subject for the hype.

Incredible, miraculous, performing human beings do emerge on earth, but their path is always fraught with dangers thanks to fellow beings' envy, jealousy, egos and of course, over-attention amounting to hype, because of all of which misfortunes keep on happening to them.

Therefore, leave Rishabh Pant alone with his aims and dreams, and allow him to go on mesmerizing us with his spectacular antics on the field, thus bringing glory to the country and to the beautiful game of cricket. We wish him a tremendous future ahead!

Test Cricket: Finally India Get a D(e) Jure(l) Wicketkeeper-Batsman!

During this England Tour of India-2023-24 things have really happened in the five-match Test Series. All the matches have produced results within four days each and there was no one-way traffic as both the teams fought tooth and nail to win. The first Test in Hyderabad that England won by 28 runs and the 4^th Test in Ranchi that India won by 5 wickets proved to be nail-biting suspense dramas. In between the Indian debutants shone bright in the Third Test in Rajkot that India won by a record margin. One of the debutants, Dhruv Jurel, went on to shine the brightest in this 4^th Test, his only second. On the second day at stumps of the 4^th test match this writer had left you stating that if India conceded more than 100 runs to England it would most likely prove fatal for the hosts. Dhruv Jurel changed that story in its entirety and scripted a brand-new chapter (in fact, this writer did hint on a coincidental partnership like that of England): with his team reeling at 219/7, still trailing by 134 runs, Jurel resumed on the third day and added 73 precious runs with Kuldeep Yadav, and still didn’t give up, adding more crucial runs with the debutant pacer Akash Deep. Thus he not only reduced the deficit to a number below hundred, but brought it down to below fifty which virtually took the edge off England’s potential lead, leaving the visitors to fight it out anew in the second innings. Jurel was the last wicket out for a tremendous 90 runs in 149 balls which witnessed four sixes and six fours with his team finishing at 307, conceding just a 46-run lead to England.

After Ravichandran Ashwin’s fifer and Kuldeep Yadav’s four wickets destroyed England scuttling them out for just 145 runs with Zak Crawley scoring the highest individual score of 60 followed by the second highest of 30 by Jonny Bairstow, India needed 192 runs to win which looked rather easy, made easier by the way Rohit and Jaiswal began—they finished the third day at 40 without loss and then on the  fourth day carried on the opening partnership to 84 runs at which stage it seemed India was cruising to seal the Series. However, any total of more than 150 runs on the fourth day on a turning pitch is never easy. With England spinners Bashir and Hartley in action from both ends anything could’ve happened. And the India wickets did tumble—from a position of strength they were tottering at 120 for 5 at which stage, again, the match could’ve gone to the English way with their aggressive captain Ben Stokes giving out everything for a win to stay alive in the Series.

Dhruv Jurel changed that, one more time. He found a strong companion in the form of another youngster of promise, Shubman Gill, who got his act together this time. Both of them kept on inching toward the target in a determined way, combining defence with cautious aggression and never delving into the proverbial shells. Nothing worked for England after that, and the duo achieved the win for their team with an invaluable unbeaten partnership of 72 memorable runs—Gill remaining not out on 52 and Jurel not out on 39 runs. India sealed the Test Series taking an unassailable lead of 3-1 with the fifth and the last Test starting from 7^th March in Dharamshala.

Dhruv Jurel was named the Player of the Match—a title only in his second Test. And for India, they have finally found a solid wicketkeeper-batsman of future after searching for one since MS Dhoni retired and then after Rishabh Pant unfortunately had a serious accident that put him out of action for a long time during which the Indian selectors tried on various options: from the likes of Sanju Samson to KS Bharat, not to speak of the sporadic KL Rahul episodes. Dhruv Jurel fits in nicely with all the requirements—his classy keeping and catching behind the stumps, his technically sound batting and a suitably calm temperament with his three innings so far being signs of things to come.  

Dreams that do indeed come true for so many of us human beings thanks to their relentless pursuits: Dhruv Jurel hailing from the modest family of a retired army havildar father and a homemaker mother in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, his mother reportedly selling her jewelries for the fulfilment of her son’s dreams, and Jurel achieving a place in Team India at the age of just 22; very similar to that of Sarfaraz Khan who also has very humble beginnings and who had really to fight hard all the way to find himself in the national team, how can we forget the tearful scenes with his father and his wife in the stadium of Rajkot during the third test! Enliven up your dreams, Young India! Amen!

India Struggling Under England Spinning Spell! Ranchi Test, Day2

England spinners, Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley, have made India struggle, once again after Hyderabad, and put the home team in a precarious position on the second day of the 4^th Test between India and England in Ranchi today. Bashir who replaced Rehan Ahmed is the chief damager, capturing four very important scalps that are Yashasvi Jaiswal (73), Shubman Gill (38), Rajat Patidar (17) and Ravindra Jadeja (12). This was followed up with gusto by the match-winner of the First Test, Tom Hartley who consumed one of the two debutant match-winners of the Third Test, Sarfaraz Khan and then dismissed R Ashwin whom the team dearly depended upon to hang on for the day and thus anchoring a partnership with Jurel, the second successful debutant of the Third Test. The two English spinners took absolute control of the proceedings after James Anderson removed captain Rohit Sharma cheaply and in just the third over of the India reply. Like in the previous outing a partnership was blooming between Jaiswal and Gill, but was cut short by Bashir getting Gill LBW at the team score of 86/2 (partnership restricted to 82 only). After that the Indian wickets started tumbling at regular intervals: 112/3 (Patidar), 130/4 (Jadeja), 161/5 (Jaiswal), 171/6 (Sarfaraz) and 177/7 (Ashwin). The inexperience of the team lay exposed this time.

Well, you can’t expect the youngsters to fire every time and take the team out of crisis or get it to a winning position every time. The captain, even though he did contribute a century in the previous test, must be determined to carry on and at least contribute a moderately good score; the same applies to the relatively more experienced Gill who failed to anchor the partnership in spite of Jaiswal going great guns at the other end; it’s okay to give another chance to Rajat Patidar who has been failing since the selectors were kind enough to include him in the playing eleven, but then the selectors should’ve first checked the availability of the relatively more experienced batsmen in the reserve—like for example, the axed Shreyas Iyer who doesn’t at all deserve a permanent deletion; and more disastrously, you can’t afford to drop your main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah with the Series still undecided, particularly in the absence of the other strike pacer Mohd Shami.

If the would-be deficit is more than a 100 runs India would still face a huge challenge even if England manages to score only around 150 runs in their second innings; simply because as per the Hyderabad and other similar experiences on ‘home’ turfs where the ball turns, keeps low, induces vicious reverse swing and capitalizes on the pronounced uneven bounce, the home team invariably finds the pitch unplayable in the fourth innings. Now, the Indian spinners not at par with their counterparts of yore, it’s up to any good spinner of any visiting team to exploit the pitch for their teams better than the home spinners. Therefore, in a way, a Test match gets pre-determined by the toss—win it to win the match and vice versa. This also induces this writer to make an explosive statement: while nothing is wrong in making slow-turning pitches in here just like the way Australia or England or South Africa put up green turfs in their backyards, you cannot hope for your home team to win the toss every possible time; it makes you wonder if that was the case when they prepared the Ahmedabad pitch for the World Cup-2023 Final, hoping the home team to win the toss as they were consistent doing so during the tournament and then take the suitable call? If this speculation, howsoever ungrounded it may be, attract ire from some this writer would only welcome them to elucidate the issue further.

This writer agrees fully with England captain Ben Stokes on what he said after the last two consecutive defeats: he said the option of the ‘umpire’s call’ should be eliminated from the DRS rules. Rightly so, because the DRS has evolved to eliminate human mistakes and errors in judgement. Earlier there used to be ‘benefit of the doubt’ in LBW decisions expressed by the third umpires when the ball seemed to be just and only just touching the top or the sides of the off or the leg stumps and when it couldn’t be conclusively proved if the ball edged the bat or not. But now in such cases the DRS allows the ‘umpire’s call’, meaning if the umpire gave it Out originally then it has to be Out and vice versa, thus completely ignoring the ‘benefit of the doubt’ factor. If ‘err to human’ is true we cannot say the machines are bulletproof. Yes, like Ben said, ‘the umpire’s call’ should be taken out of the DRS and the entire decision should be left for the digital examination to decide, of course, if they could be convincing and conclusive. At the same time Ben Stokes was apparently benefiting today from the same clause he wanted removed!

A slight twist of good fortune for India at stumps today. Like the England seventh wicket partnership contributed more than 100 invaluable runs for the team with bowler Robinson notching up his highest Test score (58) in the company of Root from stumps yesterday to today morning session, the India seventh wicket partnership has so far contributed 42 runs as bowler Kuldeep Yadav is fighting it out with Jurel to end the day at 219/7, still trailing by 134 runs. The size of the lead to be conceded by India is very much going to decide the outcome of the match either in England’s or in India’s favor. However, should India crash to a defeat in the next two days, the behavior of this writer should not be labelled as ‘typical of an Indian supporter’, because during the next two or three days this writer happens to have some other engagement and may not be able to jot down the proceedings here, whoever wins or loses! Enjoy!

England Change Over from Bazball to Root Cricket! Ranchi, 4th Test, Day1

Although it wouldn’t be wholly correct to say that the visiting England team has lost the last two Tests thanks to their solid adherence to Bazball cricket, they apparently, trailing 1-2 in the five-match Series, did or had to change their tactics on the first day of the 4^th Test match that began in Ranchi today. To add to their ‘positive approach to Test Cricket’ they won the toss today choosing to bat first, and therefore, they decided to surge ahead with that aggressive cricket, the openers—Crawley (42) and Duckett (11)—keeping the run-rate nearly at five-an-over. One more debutant for the inexperienced Team India, pacer Akash Deep, replacing a roaring Bumrah for whatever reasons of ‘rest’ the selectors may have decided, however, got both of them out quickly including the danger man Ollie Pope for a duck in between them, and thus captured three scalps reducing England to 57/3, an ominous start batting first.  Nonetheless, Jonny Bairstow carried on with Bazball scoring 38 in 35, and maintaining the about-5 team run-rate. Unfortunately for him, the Indian spinners got active then and on a pitch that the English captain Ben Stokes reportedly condemned even before match began struck two vital blows—Ashwin dismissing Bairstow while Jadeja got Stokes for just 3 runs. Perhaps, Stokes, the co-founder of Bazball in association with Coach Brendon McCullum, was in a great dilemma about carrying on with Bazball or not wasting two or three overs in the process and before he could take the final call Jadeja consumed him.

In the meantime Joe Root was slowly spreading roots in the ground. He perhaps convinced his partner Ben Foakes (47 in 126) of the all-important changeover, and therefore, they began a phase of ‘Root cricket’ which has helped them stage a recovery with a partnership of 113 runs, when the team run-rate was just above three—a clear sign of traditional Test cricket. As the spinners were being defended quite easily by the ‘rooted’ cricketers India captain Rohit brought in Mohd Siraj who was Bazball-hit in his opening spell, and under ‘Root cricket’ he got a very well-set Foakes caught. Maybe Rohit capitalized on kind of a double changeover-woes for the visitors—first Bazball to Root Cricket and then onerous spin to sudden pace. Siraj continued to bowl furious sending Tom Hartley (13) too to the pavilion with England at 245/7 in 76^th over (run-rate reading 3.25 an over).

Why are we sort of ridiculing the Bazball approach? Well, this writer has earlier indicated that this kind of approach may not at all be good in the typical Indian pitches and should not be followed for the sake of it. Besides, there was quite a lot of international brouhaha over Bazball with former stalwarts questioning it or even cracking jokes about it. A few of them say that aggressive Test cricket is actually nothing new—teams like Australia among others having already demonstrated it on numerous occasions—and naming it Bazball now England cannot claim all the credit! Therefore, we also thought what could really go wrong if we too added in our contribution! All in the spirit of the glorious game, you see! Democracy must thrive at least in this beautiful gentleman game, if not in the countries that produce-enact it!

By the way! What are the crowds (in the picture above) celebrating for?  Definitely not for abandoning Bazball? Because, cricket fans, now fatally exposed to the irresistible charms of the shorter formats of cricket, would always love quick aggressive cricket! To put it more seriously, we also have welcomed result-oriented entertaining Test Cricket on numerous former occasions. However, Indian cricket fans don’t need no reasons to celebrate! I think I said earlier, in most probably in the IPL context, that Indian fans burst into merriment of the most boisterous order the moment the telecast cameras turn on them! Wonder of wonders! Even the most tensed-up suspenseful nail-biting faces dissolve into cheering bouts as the cameras explore and focus on them!

Joe Root, most deservedly, notched up his 10^th Test century, taking 219 balls to do that which is immensely traditional and this time helping England immensely too. Ollie Robinson, the replacement for Mark Wood, gave solid support to Root in evolving a crucial partnership in the last hour of the day. And they remained not out at stumps—Root on 106 and Robinson on 31 runs—a very important unbeaten partnership of 57 runs at the team score of 302 runs. The England supporters on the ground clapped emphatically as England reached the 300-run mark, because they like all of us know that scoring 300 in a day is very healthy—Bazball or no Bazball. The enthusiastic India cricketers, trying hard for an overkill perhaps, shouted ‘how’s that’ so much so intensely that their captain landed up exhausting all their reviews, and then the shouting turned hoarser as they knew they had none now to fall upon. Rohit took the last resort of Jaiswal as the bowler in the last over to break the partnership, but to no avail. In a Test in India anything above 300 is always considered good batting first, and England has crossed it with 3 wickets remaining. How well the batsmen of the most inexperienced Team India would reply is the all-important question for tomorrow even as the odd ball is already keeping low, and the England spinners have been very good in this Series so far. Definitely, this 4^th Test is set up!

The Most Inexperienced Team India Blasts Away the English Bazball! India Beat England by 434 Runs!

Arguably the most inexperienced playing eleven India had ever fielded in the international Test playing arena, has blasted away the much-talked-about Bazball approach to cricket that England adopted under their aggressive coach Brendon McCullum and an equally aggressive captain Ben Stokes in 2022, beating the visitors by the biggest-ever margin in terms of runs (434) in the last session of the fourth day of the Third Test between India and England in Rajkot today with India leading the five-match Series 2-1 now. The Indian selectors had reportedly included two debutants in the top seven of the playing eleven as far back as in 1999, and in 2024 for the third test match they had to do so by including debutant Sarfaraz Khan as a batsman and Dhruv Jurel as wicket keeper-batsman and a rookie batsman Rajat Patidar, apart from the other youngsters of great promise like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. This crucial decision had to be taken with the continuing absence of the two stalwarts Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, and the indifferent forms of Shreyas Iyer and the two wicket-keepers already tried in the first two tests. Therefore, fingers were crossed with the most inexperienced team in action and the traditionally tremendous batting depth of Team India slowly and almost inevitably remaining only on paper. On the other hand, even though the English bowling attack has not been much of a threat to India the Baz-positivity was ringing in the air and England must’ve definitely smelt the victory scent to go up in the Series. But what a match it turned out to be!

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss which was always good in Indian pitches, and inevitably opted to bat first. Perhaps due to the overnight due the Rajkot pitch that looked perfect for batting had some moisture and taking full advantage of that Mark Wood proved nearly unplayable, capturing the dangerous Jaiswal and the sober Gill. Tom Hartley, the mainstay spinner of England in this tour of India, who was introduced early did further damage reducing India to 33/3. The inexperienced line-up was looming large and a collapse looked very much a possibility. However, Rohit (131) played like a captain this time and forged a huge partnership (204 runs) with the most experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (112) who was moved up the order— and India were ‘out of the Wood’.

With the fall of Rohit, fourth down, in came the first debutant Sarfaraz Khan. Having a tremendous record in domestic cricket the 26-year-old never looked nervous or tentative and played brilliantly with fours and sixes all around the park. Another big partnership was evolving much to the detriment of England, but as a lucky break for them Sarfaraz was run out in a horrible mix-up with the experienced Jadeja at 99 making the former the sacrificial goat. Out at 62, Sarfaraz departed dejectedly and cried in the pavilion even as Rohit made his anger known publicly. Jadeja then stole that single to make to his 4^th Test century. On the second day the second debutant Dhruv Jurel (46) started rebuilding the innings with solid support from the veteran spinner all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin (37). Thanks to a spirited cameo from the Indian strike pacer Jasprit Bumrah (26) India finished at 445, a much respectable total under any circumstances.

Very true to the result-oriented and positive Bazball philosophy the English openers scored fluently all around the park till Crawley (15) fell at the team total of 89; Ollie Pope (39) added to the batting mayhem; and of course, Ben Duckett raced to his century in just 88 balls and remained not out on 133 in the company of Joe Root at stumps on the second day with England at 207/2 in 35 overs—almost 6 runs an over which is unthinkable in a Test match. It proved again the fact that the pitch had no demons in it at all and that England were very much in with a chance to at least save the match if not win.

However, what transpired from the start of the third day was a lesson in tight and aggressive bowling, particularly by Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja who all seemed to be bowling to an attacking plan masterminded by the captain. Except for Duckett who made 153 no other English batsmen could stick out for long and the whole team folded up for 319—losing 8 wickets for just 112 runs and conceding an unexpected bounty of 126-run lead for India.

The Indian second innings belonged to Yashasvi Jaiswal almost in entirety. He notched up his century in a dominant T-20 style, then retired hurt at the end of the third day, resumed today, the fourth day, and made it a double hundred—his second back-to-back double century in two Tests and thus becoming only the third Indian cricketer to do, after Vinod Kambli and Virat Kohli. Gill played a master innings of 91 runs and got run out unfortunately. An unbeaten partnership of nearly 200 runs evolved between Jaiswal (214 in 236 balls not out) and Sarfaraz Khan (68 runs in 72 balls). Suddenly, the pitch became a T-20 ground and the two mavericks defied all orthodoxy reserved for the classic Test format. Jaiswal’s 12 sixes matched the highest sixes in a Test innings held by Wasim Akram. The mayhem could’ve continued had Rohit not declared at 430/4 giving England the well-nigh impossible task of making 557 runs to win.

The England second innings was a horror story—the highest individual score being 33 made by Mark Wood. The run-out of Duckett which was extremely inexplicable started the rot and the mad rush toward defeat. The England innings folded up for a paltry 122 in just 39.4 overs, giving India the 434-run win and it was all over at the fag end of the fourth day today, contrary to all expectations. The weak and aimless English bowling attack was pathetically matched by a batting display that totally lacked in any kind of application. Veteran James Anderson being hit for consecutive sixes by a 22-year-old reminded me of the rampaging acts of a young Sachin Tendulkar in the early nineties. Alas Bazball! England needs much introspection to do before the fourth test begins from 23^rd February, 2024, in Ranchi. 

Amusing Superstitions in Watching Cricket!

When we were school students the Television was not there in our regions, and so, nothing about ‘watching’ cricket. Those days we caught up with the radio whenever India were playing, I remember lying awake the whole night till daylight, particularly when the matches were going on in the West Indies; and those were only the five-day Test matches as the shorter formats were also unknown except for our gully or home cricket being always limited-overs encounters. And we were free of any superstitious beliefs because listening didn’t necessarily involve them. It’s only when we started getting blessed with the live telecasts (early eighties in India) and began watching our favorite players in action that such superstitions began to emerge. Perhaps watching it live made the exchange of vibes or thoughts between us and the players possible with what you call the body language behaviors of both sides affecting the prospects, somewhat. And in came the superstitions, beliefs or say superstitious beliefs and biases/prejudices that mostly govern the rabid ‘home-side’ supporters. That day I was watching a Test match between India and England when all the memories regarding those rushed back, after a long time.

The first and foremost belief/superstition/prejudice was: based on circumstantial evidence we were of the firm opinion that when India were batting, the moment we got up from our seat and went out for some time or even went for a leak very much inside home one or two Indian wickets fell invariably—we cursing ourselves for the indiscretion while coming back to watch the horrid results. This ‘belief’ began to act so severely in our minds that we sat stuck to our seats till India finished their innings—in the process holding up biological needs, ignoring mother’s directives and other related issues that never failed to cause a lot of irritation around. However, we were sure that such ‘waves of irritation’, though essentially negative in nature, were not going to impact our batsmen adversely. And exactly the opposite was true, again based on ‘forensic’ evidence, when the opposition was batting—meaning if we sat stuck as in the Indian innings no wicket would ever fall and if we got up for a break one/two wickets fell invariably. So, during those periods we used to move around like free birds!

Although I don’t know much about astrology or astronomy and less about numerology, the numbers began to dominate our beliefs/superstitions/prejudices at a later stage, and unfortunately that streak still continues, at least in my personal case, notwithstanding the momentous fact that by now I am an ‘elderly, wise and experienced’ individual! How do we get the ‘concepts’ about all those special numbers? Well, maybe we’re influenced by some elaboration, talks, discussions or internet ‘insights’ over the years! For example, the number 13 is always beheld as the unluckiest number, even though numerology may say a lot of good things about it.

My ‘forensic’ evidence always shows that whenever an India batsman, particularly in case of the stalwarts like Virat or Rohit (not to speak of the greats of yore), reaches the individual score of 13 he succumbs to that piece of sheer bad luck, most often than not! It applies to the team score too, in fact, all other numbers that I’m going to talk about apply to both individual and team scores and that of the opposition players/teams as well. While I sit on as if thunderstruck when my favorite player fails to evade number 13, I sit up with delirious anticipation when players of the opposition do so! As per my ‘evidence’ the number 63 and 111 are even more dangerous and near-fatal! When a cricketer or his team reaches 63 some great tragedy is about to befall them, its effect being more ominous if he or the team stays on that score for one or two balls more or till the next over. Ditto for the number 111! And when both the episodes of 63 and 111 happen for a team, that team is bound to lose the match, as per my evidence again! And these are applicable for all playing teams.

You’d hardly believe me that once in a holy place I refused to take a very nice double-room offered by a good hotel, because the room bore the 111 number! And I caused undue hardship to my poor wife as she had to trudge along with me in search of a new hotel! But what to do? Maybe I thus prevented some absolutely hazardous bit of misfortune befalling us both if I had okayed the room. I know this much that astrology always suggest measures to get rid of probable misfortune and like the protective spirits/angels who are always with us to safeguard our journey of life as against the evil ones that want to harm us at every possible excuse. Such ‘Good Vs Evil’ battles are being constantly fought over every one of us like a balancing act, including the cricketers that some of them of their teams may be enabled to escape from the numbers as mentioned.

Although I cannot help but being number-conscious I don’t capsize to their hold of my mind, and I always hope for a clean way out. Now, number 4 is considered to be influenced by Rahu, number 7 by Ketu or number 8 is supposed to be governed by Saturn and the summation of numbers that result in these numbers; but they don’t always harm you, they may in fact do tremendous good to you if you happen to be looked upon favorably by the concerned planets. I don’t want to go for more explanations or justification or whatever. The moot point is that these number games or most of the superstitious beliefs we hold as far as cricket is concerned are always amusing and even humorous. Besides, who has the time nowadays to sit glued to TV sets (or even head-phoned mobiles for that matter)! Because you have to work, nah? Our cricketers earn millions of bucks all the time, and this obvious fact makes us lesser mortals work harder, right? So, as I mentioned I was amused that day by those memories. You should be too!

Two Memorable Tests and Two Young Matchwinners: Joseph and Hartley!

Shamar Joseph, 7/68

We have been treated to two nail-biting test matches on the same day (yesterday being the fourth day of each), the 27^th of January 2024, which is, to say the least, is terrific news for the future of Test Cricket, coming right after the two-day humdinger between India and South Africa in Cape Town. In both the Tests the host nations, Australia and India respectively, lost to the visitors on the day as mentioned, largely thanks to the captivating bowling performances of two young bowlers—fast bowler Shamar Joseph for the West Indies and orthodox spinner Tom Hartley for England. While Joseph was playing only his second Test, Hartley made his Test debut; both of the age of around 24, being born in 1999. Both of them captured 7 wickets each on the fourth day as the host nations were chasing the targets set. The Australia-West Indies test match was the second and last of the two-match Series played in Brisbane with the Aussies leading 1-0 while the India-England match was the first of the five-match Test Series in Hyderabad. In both the matches the first three days witnessed ups and downs. Electing to bat first at the Gabba the West Indies batted fairly well putting up 311 runs in the first innings with Starc and Hazlewood capturing six scalps; Australia replied with 289/9 conceding a marginal lead, thanks to Alzarri Joseph and Roach taking 7 of the wickets; known for their historical batting collapses the West Indies fell for just 193/9 in the second innings, setting a moderate target of 216 runs for the Aussies to get. As a further setback for the visitors Shamar Joseph got injured while batting after Tea on the third day; while no fracture was detected in his toe he was in great pain and was nearly ruled out for the fourth day.

Australia resumed batting at overnight 60/2 on the fourth day and seemed to be cruising at 113/2, needing just 103 runs to get with Steve Smith in full command and 8 wickets standing. And in came the limping Shamar Joseph and created history. Despite his injury he bowled mightily, reaching 150km per hour. Immediately he uprooted the stumps of a set Cameron Green for 42, then he clean bowled Travis Head for a duck, and then Marsh, Carey, Starc and Cummins on the trot. After Alzarri Joseph captured the 9^th Aussie wicket in the form of Lyon, Shamar crafted a historic win for his nation by dislodging the stumps of Hazlewood as Smith remained not out at 91, unable to force the winning runs. The West Indies won by 8 runs and delivered another Gabba defeat to the mighty hosts since India did to them in 2021. This is also a tremendous boost for a struggling cricket-nation, the West Indies, to stage a revival. Matchwinner Shamar Joseph ended the Series with a total of 13 wickets, helping his team to share equal Series honors with the hosts.

Tom Hartley, 7/62

The fourth-day drama, meanwhile, continued in Hyderabad as India started chasing the rather tricky target of 231 runs, set by England who defied the Indian spinners in the second innings to amass 420 runs, thus overcoming a huge deficit of 190 runs. Electing to bat first England made only 246 thanks mainly to the Indian spinner trio—Ashwin, Jadeja and Patel. India replied majestically with 436 runs. In fact, the hosts enjoyed the upper-hand and were in command of the match throughout the first three days. The morning session of the fourth day changed that with the England sheet-anchor Ollie Pope going on rollicking to amass 196 invaluable runs and also managing to get good contributions from the tail-enders including a sound 34 by Tom Hartley. In view of the fact that the pitch was deteriorating with the ball turning, bouncing and yet keeping low, the failure of the Indian spinners to utilize it fully was a bit perplexing, and this gave some sort of hope too for the Indian chase of 231 runs with the home crowds roaring in support. Besides, the England bowling was not much to write home about—Hartley punished heavily in the first innings, Wood and Leach not remarkably effective and only Root was showing some spin promise. However, the England spinners had different ideas this time around and were raring to go, Hartley in particular.

Joe Root opened the bowling attack as his spin was quite impressive in the first innings. Since the first over, the Indian batsmen, the supposed masters of spin, got hooked and intrigued, unable to take advantage against any of the spinners. After a relatively good start of 42 runs with Rohit stroking well the phenomenon of Tom Hartley emerged on the scene. First, he had Jaiswal (15) caught behind by Pope and then he consumed India’s expected mainstay Shubman Gill for a duck, reducing India to 42/2 now. Rohit fell next at 39 to Hartley and India at 69/3. Root then joined the show and captured the prize scalp of KL Rahul (22) while Hartley took Patel at India 107/5. The run-out of Jadeja, arguably the best fielder of the team, was a disaster for India and Leach made it worse by taking the scalp of the last recognized Indian batsman Shreya Iyer. India were tottering at 119/7 then, and it was all but over. Hartley proved consistently heartless for India as he cut short the growing partnership between Bharat and Ashwin, the last hope for the frustrated fans, by consuming both of them. Nine down now, Mohammed Siraj suddenly enlivened up the fans by making a few lusty shots around. Hartley ended that too having his 7^th catch in form of Siraj. England won by 28 runs as India folded up at 202 runs—a sensational win beating India in India and being the first visiting team to reverse a deficit of 190 or more.

Under the aggressive captaincy of Ben Stokes and with his team leading 1-0, the five-match Test Series is set to be gripping and absorbing. The next Test starts from 2^nd February in Visakhapatnam. In the remaining Tests too, there are no big metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai or Bengaluru as venues, and this, I think, further heightens the unpredictability and excitement of the Series. It could be anybody’s game in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi or in Dharmsala. Again, good for Test Cricket. More than hundred thousand people enjoyed the match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Team India Franchises on a Winning Spree: Is This For Real?

It has to be termed as a good positive sign in view of the ICC World Cup T20 coming up later this year and the ODI ICC World Cup coming next year that Team India, of late, has been winning in the shorter formats consistently. After Team India-Bumrah franchise lost the leftover 5^th Test against England the various franchises have been blooming in the following matches in the shorter formats. Before the 5^th Test Team India-Pandya franchise had triumphed over Ireland quite easily; then Team India-Rohit franchise won both the T20I Series and the ODI Series against England with the same margin of 2-1; next, Team India-Dhawan franchise swept the 3-match ODI Series against the competitive and spirited West Indies on the latter’s turf 3-0; and at the moment Team India-Rohit franchise has taken a lead of 1-0 in the 3-match T20I Series against the West Indies routing the hosts in the first T20I match. Before this winning spree Team India-Pant franchise managed to draw the ODI Series against South Africa back home. The problem here is as to why exactly we’re using the word ‘franchise’ for the true-blue national team. This, of course, can be interpreted as ‘in the glorious spirit of the IPL franchises’, because after that mind-blowing deal the IPL had accomplished in terms of revenues Indian cricket as well as international cricket are bound to undergo a paradigm shift from ‘proud national cricket’ to ‘businessmen’s franchise cricket’.

 

We’re not saying this out of any outraged hurts or feelings, we’re saying this based on hard facts. The surprise announcement of retirement from ODI cricket by England Test captain Ben Stokes immediately after the hosts lost the ODI Series 2-1 to India brought the ‘burnout of players’ syndrome into deep focus. This syndrome has quite a lot of validity behind it. After the Pandemic-induced break for well over a year the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to rush through as many pending tournaments/bilateral series as possible and the cricketers started complaining of continuous ‘bio bubble’ fatigue which also has a lot of humanitarian validity. Besides, some exceptionally capable cricketers play cricket in all formats for their respective national teams and therefore they are the worst hit in this ‘burnout’ syndrome.

 

As far as Indian cricket is concerned the supposedly prompt counter to the ‘burnout’ issue had been in operation well before the Pandemic; naturally because the IPL was raging here since times immemorial. The exceptional players or the superstars who must figure in all formats of the game plus obviously the IPL were being ‘rested’ or ‘put in the unfit or injury list’ quite regularly. However, there is a glorious exception to rule here: superstar players must not be ‘rested’ at any cost for the two months when the IPL franchises chalk out the encounters. This is now being further accentuated by the fact that the IPL, as the second-highest earning sports tournament of the world, is going to last for around two and half months from next year and the formation-in-line of various other T20 Leagues in many countries across the globe including South Africa, Australia, UAE and others the replacement of ‘national cricket’ by ‘franchise cricket’ has to become immensely imminent.

 

Therefore, the ‘burnout factor’, accentuated by the mushrooming T20 Leagues, has become a vexed international phenomenon. Former India coach Ravi Shastri and famed ex-cricketer of Pakistan Wasim Akram have in fact bluntly asked the ICC to cut down drastically on the bilateral fixtures, and if possible, to eradicate the ODI feature from international cricket schedule altogether. While they are being very righteous about the enveloping ‘burnout crisis’ they miss the basic point that the ODI Cricket World Cup still commands more interest than any other T20 or other tournaments. They also justify that this is absolutely necessary to preserve Tests Cricket, supposedly the original and the traditional format of the game. Unfortunately, cricket mandarins of this kind would be the last to be genuinely concerned about the future of Test Cricket.

 

Coming back to Indian cricket, we’ve already seen that the emergence of the Team India franchises cannot be prevented for practical reasons. Former India captain and the horribly cum consistently out-of-form Virat Kohli has been getting the much needed ‘rest’ very frequently along with the most delicate superstars like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami and others. Rohit Sharma, the newly appointed regular captain in all formats, has been exemplary as far as the ‘rested’ or ‘injured’ factors are concerned, and as a result of that various stand-in captains have been emerging in Indian cricket, very regularly too. And therefore, the inevitable ‘franchise’ phenomenon. Shikhar Dhawan was left in the wilderness for a long time without any suitable justification, but had to be brought in now for the ‘franchise’ issue.

 

Now, the Indian franchises are winning the matches cum series, but not India as such. ‘Bench strength’ and ‘experiments’ are the buzzwords now. No issues, it’s always good to have multiple choices. Some players like Deepak Hooda, Samson and many other youngsters are playing exceptionally well. But the problem is about the final eleven that was going to figure in the forthcoming World Cups. The ICC has been judiciously providing many T20 bilateral series to enable the national teams prepare well. But, when the key players are ‘rested’ from these preparatory matches and they come back to oust the promising and practicing youngsters from the playing eleven in the World Cups what would happen!

 

For example if KL Rahul, the regular stand-in captain in the shorter formats, comes back from a long injury break whom he is going to replace? Further, if Virat Kohli is given a permanent rest it would augur well for the final eleven in World Cups, because if he comes back too without any match practice he would oust another cog of the winning combinations and his performance in the eliminating matches would also be highly unpredictable. Why veteran Dinesh Karthik is being played in the final T20 eleven, coming to bat after Jadeja or Axar Patel, is another pertinent question. Or does it matter anyway how the India final eleven perform in the international tournaments? Other countries are joining in the chorus too for sparing their ‘national’ players to play and earn big money in the franchise leagues!

 

If only the T20 Leagues are given preference over the ICC fixtures we’ll always be the first to protest. National and International cricket cannot be sacrificed for the money-spinning entertainment shows like the T20 Leagues. But it’s going to be a battle where the genuine cricket lovers are going to be the most likely losers. This is definitely unfortunate, but what can we do when confronted with the ‘popularity’ and the ‘money’ associated with the short-cut cricket! Our hopes in the new coach Rahul Dravid, the Wall in Indian glorious Test cricket, have been a huge disappointment thus far, sadly.

England Chase Down A Record Total, Draw Test Series 2-2 Against India!

In a befitting climax to their incredible winning run of fourth-innings chases against New Zealand, clean sweeping the Series 3-0, England have successfully chased down a never-before total of 378 runs set by India to win the 5^th Test match against India in Birmingham today by 7 wickets. As in the previous chase in the third Test against New Zealand that England won by 7 wickets it’s none other than that rollicking duo of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow who has crafted a magical unbeaten partnership of 269 runs, in just about 54 overs, once again here to overcome the highest ever total in the fourth innings against any side in their Test cricket history. For that matter, India too had never before failed to defend a 350+ run target in a Test match. Root and Bairstow had been crucial in all of the test victories against New Zealand along with Ben Stokes, Overton and Ollie Pope giving company at times. Joe Root has notched up his third century in the four successful chases including this one, apart from other 50+ scores, and is declared the Player of the Series vs. India for having scored the highest individual runs (700+) in this five-match Series, beating the earlier record held by Virat Kohli. And of course, the hosts have the last laugh as far as the decision to field first is concerned, thanks to the positivity of Captain Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum.

 

Jonny Bairstow has picked up his fourth ton in as many matches including two successive centuries in this match—his 106 glorious runs in the first innings that restricted India’s possible lead considerably and the match-winning 114 not out today. In both of his innings Bairstow has kept the scoreboard moving with a very healthy strike rate throughout, in a perfect display of controlled aggression. In hindsight, his dropped catch by Hanuma Vihari when he was only on 14 could emerge as the costliest lapse of the match on India’s part. Otherwise, the duo batted freely all along since last evening when they made the victory target look almost a formality for the fifth and the last day today, accomplishing the 378-run mammoth target in only the 77^th over and not allowing India to entertain any chance of having a date with the new ball.

 

For England the openers Lees and Crawley also contributed in the innings that mattered most, building up a 100+ partnership in quick time last afternoon with Lees being the aggressor and Crawley the patient anchor on the other side. There had been a somewhat flurry of wickets as England slid from 107 for no loss to 109/3; however, the Indian bowlers could not take advantage of the situation and the Root-Bairstow duo made the proceedings extremely one-sided, excruciatingly for the devout Indian fans out there on the stands of Birmingham and before television sets across India.

 

There’d hardly be any ifs and buts for India in this incredible display of batting prowess by the Englishmen. Had the Indian top order contributed many more runs, say 200 more, the English batsmen would’ve overhauled that too the way they went about batting, making a new record in World Test Cricket history perhaps. But the fact remains that except for Pujara in the second innings the Indian top order failed again. In a team without the services of their regular opener duo—KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma—the former Indian captain Virat Kohli was expected to fire at least in one of the innings; but the greatest cricketer of the modern times seems have forgotten the art of hitting tons or half-tons or even good useful knocks, entirely.

 

The other worrying factor is that the spirited Indian bowlers of the first innings failed to defend a huge total of 378 for the first time in its Test Cricket history; their bowling in the second innings looked pedestrian with not a single bowler making any mark on the English batsmen. The bowlers extracted more swing in England’s first innings, but failed entirely to do so in the second. In India’s second innings too England bowlers utilized the pitch very well where the ball seemed to be keeping low at times, and their solitary spinner Leach too bowled effectively to capture a wicket; whereas the Indian counterpart Ravindra Jadeja failed to make any impression. Captain Stokes captured all the last four Indian wickets in a terrific spell of intelligent bowling. Maybe the increasingly sunny weather completely dried up the moisture in the pitch and finally made it a haven for batting on the 4^th and 5^th day for the hosts. But, as we said, nothing really matters whey you’re treated with that kind of superlative batting.

 

Now, it’s over to the games in the shorter formats, the three-match ODI Series and the three-match T20I Series between the two teams with the first T20I scheduled on 7^th July 2022 and the ODI Series to start from July 12. 

India 1st Innings of 416 Vs England: An Innings to Remember for Top (Sans Order) Reasons!

The consistent failures of Indian top and middle batting order since a couple of years at least, barring perhaps a few solid starts of the now-missing Rahul-Rohit opener duo, have become a rule rather than an exception. In the successful Test Series against both Australia and England (so far) we’d seen how the lower middle order, necessarily involving an all-rounder like Ravindra Jadeja or Ravichandran Ashwin and at times even tailenders like Shardul Thakur or Mohammad Shami, coming to the rescue of the Indian innings and most often leading the team to victories. Not to speak about the tremendous bowling efforts of the same players in those magnificent victories. The final and the fifth ‘leftover’ Test match that started yesterday against England in Birmingham has become the latest example. Put into bat, the Indian top and middle order had ably managed to reduce the team to a precarious 98/5, almost giving up against James Anderson, Matthew Potts and Stuart Broad; but then, came the lower middle order with the wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant still standing and joined by the all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the latter coming after a long injury break. And, the innings has become a memorable one thanks to them and other top reasons irrespective of whatever is the final result of the match, only on its second day today.

 

While Rishabh Pant kept on with his inimitable style of attacking ‘shorter format cricket’ his partner Ravindra Jadeja stood like a rock at the other end, providing a solid anchor to former’s aerobics. Barring Anderson the other English bowlers seemed to have suddenly lost the plot. Pant raced to this fifth Test century, the second in this Series, in just around 90 balls, and then spectacularly taking it forward to score 146 runs in just 111 balls with 19 fours and 4 sixes. His century has become the fastest test century by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman beating the long-standing record of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The duo registered an incredible partnership of 222 runs, the highest sixth wicket partnership by India against England, with Pant falling to the bowling of Joe Root at the team score of 320/6 while Jadeja saw the day off with his score of 83 runs. The innings was still in the unfolding stage as Jadeja took over today from where he left and he too achieved the brilliant feat of a test century (104), his third Test century, before falling to Anderson at the team score of 375/9. Mohammad Shami also contributed a useful 16 before becoming the 8^th out at 371, giving Stuart Broad his only wicket.

 

And it was still not over yet. Captain Jasprit Bumrah had one more ‘top’ feat in store for the very-happy-by-now Indian fans. He turned Stuart Broad’s last over in the match into history, at times freakishly and at times looking like a solid batsman during the saga of only 6 balls that of course got extended due to wides and no-balls. Fours and sixes started raining; through the bat, wides and no-balls and through the over the top and leg byes. In all, 35 runs were scored off that over, and it became the most expensive over in the history of Test cricket. Bumrah remained not out at 31 runs with 4 fours and 2 sixes. The spectacle reminds cricket lovers of the 6 glorious sixes hit by Yuvraj Singh in 6 balls, of that same bowler Stuart Broad in T20 World Cup-2002. That historical Broad over saw India cross the 400-run mark. 416 was the final total put up on the board and it’s really an unbelievable recovery after losing the entire top half for 98 runs.

 

In hindsight, it seems to be a huge blunder on the part of England to choose bowling after winning the toss. The decision must’ve been influenced by the overcast conditions and perhaps also by the incredible chases by England in the last two Test victories against New Zealand. It has also exposed England’s inability to mop up India’s lower order that was also evident in the previous matches of the Series. James Anderson achieved a fifer, bowling consistently throughout; but the other pacers were lacking. Potts, after having the early breakthroughs, and Broad gave away too many runs between them. The solitary spinner Jack Leach was totally ineffective, conceding 71 runs in 9 overs, more in the T20 way.

 

The scoring rate has been keeping with that of the previous Tests played in England this summer. India scored at the rate of nearly 5 an over on both days barring the in-a-shell top order, ending with 416 in only 85 overs, despite the rain interruptions when an early lunch was taken and play extended yesterday. The Edgbaston pitch has been behaving as a good batting track, but with uneven bounce and at times the ball keeping low.  

 

Captain Bumrah has followed up his batsmanship with some effective fast bowling too in the England innings, capturing all the three wickets to fall so far (the openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope) with rain interruptions. Here we’d only mentioned the Indian innings for the reasons we cited. The match is far from over with almost four days still left. The duo of Joe Root and Bairstow can turn any match on its head on their day. We only hope the weather allows play for a result in this memorable match, and it’s always good to see the efficient handling of the pitch and the outfield and prompt extensions of play for the interruptions.

India Vs England 5th Test: England on a Roll, COVID-19 Rules Out Rohit!

It was the COVID-19 scare in the Indian camp that led to the postponement of the 5^thTest between India and England to be played in Manchester back in September, 2021; and it’s again COVID-19 that’s led to ruling out India captain Rohit Sharma of this Test which begins Friday, the 1^st of July 2022 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Jasprit Bumrah, the existing Tests vice-captain is given the charge to lead India as the stand-in captain. The phenomenon of a ‘stand-in captain’ for Team India has become the rule rather than an exception in recent times, at times leading to double stand-ins. Anyway, the debutant captain Bumrah thus becomes only the second pacer, after Kapil Dev, to captain India in tests. In the absence of both the regular openers, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, the flown-in Mayank Agarwal is likely to join opener Shubman Gill.

 

There are significant changes that have taken place in the past 9 months. England has now a new captain Ben Stokes, one of the most successful all-rounders in world cricket. And under his aggressive and positive leadership England team is thriving at the moment, only recently clean sweeping a Test Series against New Zealand 3-0 with each match being high-scoring ones and English batsmen, namely former captain Joe Root and a blazing Jonny Bairstow, helping the team win even under extreme pressure to score runs like in the shorter formats. The newfound aggression is enhanced further by the new coach Brendon McCullum, incidentally an attacking batsman playing for New Zealand in the paste. On the other hand, the Indian batting stalwarts have hardly played in the recent months except for the IPL-2022; and most of them having come out of the ‘rested’ period. Why Rohit should get COVID-19 infection even after a full post-IPL rest is something nobody could have an answer about.  

 

But even otherwise, in Rohit India too had a new captain as against Virat Kohli who led India to take a lead of 2-1 in the five-match Test Series. Cheteshwar Pujara has made it back to the team thanks to scoring a lot of runs in domestic cricket and is likely to be the No.3 mainstay for India while Ajinkya Rahane is left out. Apart from Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Hanuma Vihari could be considered in the playing eleven. Depending on the normally spin-friendly Edgbaston pitch there could four or threesome pace attack led by Bumrah and Shami, and one or two of the three other pacers, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj, and accordingly both of the spinners, Ashwin and Jadeja, or one of them could be considered.

 

It’d be interesting to see how the Indian batting mainstay is going to face the English pace-battery of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes among others, and also how the in-form English batsmen would counter the Indian pace and spin attack in their home turf. The role of the all-rounders should be crucial for both teams when it matters. The match should be absorbing by all means. India cannot lose the Series and will put everything to win it while England will try all possible means to draw the Series.

Cricket Movie ‘83’: A Nostalgic Trip Back To The Moments Of Glory!

The movie aptly titled ‘83’ is really worth reliving Team India’s glorious World Cup victory at Lord’s in 1983 defeating the mighty West Indies, thus stopping the latter’s hat-trick moments after victories in 1975 and 1979; and in fact, the West Indies team is yet to win their third World Cup since then. I missed watching the movie on the big screen as moviegoing has been effectively stopped since the last two years, particularly for the elderly people like me. I grabbed the opportunity as soon as the great cricket movie was premiered on television yesterday. The movie too has suffered due to the pandemic: first it was slated for release in 2019 which, unfortunately, was postponed due to post-production reasons and after that the COVID-19 recurring bans and restrictions never allowed to make the movie reach millions of cricket fans. Finally, though it could be released in December 2021 its shows were again affected by the Omicron wave. Therefore, as it were, the movie could not recover its huge budget so far and technically was not a success at the box office.

 

During the time, June 9-25^th1983, we were living in the beautiful hilly town of Diphu in Assam and television sets, not even to mention telecasts, were totally absent. As avid cricket players and fans I along with my younger brother and occasionally my father always used to tune in to the radio commentaries whenever India played, since the early seventies. We used to stay awake late night and huddled around the radio set as and when the overseas Test matches demanded. I remember staying awake almost the whole night with my brother relishing one of the greatest Indian Test victories against the West Indies in 1976 as India managed to successfully chase the target of 405 runs batting last.

 

The ICC World Cup-1983 was another huge event not to be missed at any cost for us despite India’s laughable performances in the 1975 and 1979 and the general feeling that India had no chance at all in 1983 too. Such emotions were played in the movie beyond a measure, obviously to boost up the spirit of nationalism. However, this kind of cricket nationalism is okay as cricket is indeed a unifying force irrespective of caste, religion and languages in a diverse country like India and in light of the divisiveness of the present days. So, we were eagerly following the radio commentaries and expected India perform under Kapil Dev like the diehard optimists we were and always are.

 

The early Indian victory against the West Indies in the double round-robin Group-B matches really set us up and we never believed that Indian victories were flukes. That defeat for West Indies was their first ever in the World Cups. We sensed that this Team India, known as Kapil’s Devils, was indeed capable of winning and so it proved. Despite the huge losses against West Indies and Australia subsequently India again regrouped to annihilate Australia and made a historic entry into the Semi-finals winning against Zimbabwe with that record-breaking innings of 175 not out by Kapil Dev that put India back after being reduced to 17/5. And then the Semi-final victory against England in their own land to enter the Final. Therefore, the fluke-theory was never there for us, and I’d say again that this theory has been a bit overemphasized in the movie.

 

The Real Moment!

The hilly town naturally went to sleep early and the matches played in England and Wales were on till late hours (that time one-day matches were of 60 overs each) we continued to huddle around the radio set, playing it at a low volume to not risk waking up our parents. On the monumental day of the 25^th June 1983, we were indeed disappointed when Team India was bundled out for 183, but still believed the team could come back as wont to our optimism. As the West Indies chased the target during the night, we kept on with the radio commentary in our usual way and celebrated the fall of every wicket between us brothers. When the final moment of victory came, we exchanged wild-spirited high fives giving out suppressed battle cries. And then, we went to bed quietly. There were no celebrations at that period the way we witness nowadays.

 

The Reel Moment!

The task of playing the living legend Kapil Dev who is still the first cricketer of the world having more than 400 wickets while scoring more than 5000 runs in Test cricket and the Wisden Cricketer of the Century (2002) was not at all an easy one for Ranveer Singh. A terrific actor who is known for his roles of Peshwa Bajirao (2015) and Alauddin Khilji (2018) among many others has done a lot of labor to follow Kapil Dev’s batting/bowling style, his mannerisms and even the way he talks, and finally has delivered a memorable performance which is lapped up by the legend himself. All other members of Team India-83 have also done very well, picking up the details about the real cricketers.

 

The Reel Team!

This speaks volumes for the kind of research and training done by the director Kabir Khan, known for his critically-acclaimed blockbuster movie ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (2015), in making of ‘83’, choosing the characters with some physical resemblance and then building on those. Particularly Jiva who played K Srikanth capturing all the nuances and the humor stands out as a highlight. Not only for Team India, but also the choices for the international cricketers, namely of West Indies, with suitable actors. He also recreated the Lord’s environs with immaculate authenticity and mastery looking for details all the time. No doubt, the budget of such a movie would really shoot up.

 

The Real Team!

‘83’ is indeed an achievement for Kabir Khan in all possible respects. He can be pardoned for his filmy fictional dramas/melodramas, background songs and the ‘nationalism’ spirit we already mentioned, because all such elements are needed to make an authentic bio-pic click as a film too, particularly among the modern generation of today. The movie has also been lauded by all the real cricketers involved including another living legend Sunil Gavaskar and the celebrities from almost all fields of activity. The movie opens with a condolence note to Yashpal Sharma, one of the star performers of the team, who expired last year and is the first one to go from the Team-1983. We miss him too and love the inherent niceties of his character played so ably by Jatin Sarna. And more importantly, it’s not a hero-centric film like the Bollywood customs with every character coming out on its own and thus keeping the team spirit that is so typical of Kapil Dev.  In all, a hearty thumbs up for the entire team of ‘83’.