da supremo： Believe me – this Indian cricket team can walk on water
Partab Ramchand27-Sep-2002Believe me – this Indian cricket team can walk on water. Believe me -they can stride across a pit full of burning coal and come outunscathed. Believe me – if India could win the match against SouthAfrica on Wednesday, they can win anything.
© CricInfoIt is true that the maxim “No match is lost until it is won” isespecially appropriate to limited-overs cricket. But surely few teamscould have won a match from so lost a cause. Conversely, few teamscould have lost a match from such a winning position. In fact, it wasnot just a winning position, it was a veritable stranglehold that theSouth Africans held. How the Indians managed to wriggle out and thenmanage to tighten the noose on the South Africans will be debated foryears. Well may Sourav Ganguly ask, “I don’t know how we won.” He isin plentiful company, for all of us are still unable to comprehend howthe incredible turnaround was scripted. Indeed, the Indian captain hasalso hinted that perhaps destiny had something to do with the victory.He may not be far from the truth.Just think of the scenario as it was, with South Africa at 192 for oneafter 37 overs. They needed only 70 runs from 13 overs with ninewickets intact, which translates into a run-rate fractionally overfive per over. The batsmen did not have to do anything silly or go forthe big hits. Singles and twos would have sufficed for South Africa towrap things up.Surely a comfortable victory was only a matter of time. The bookieshad closed their books, the TV commentators were already looking aheadto South Africa’s opponents in Sunday’s final, and who could blamethem? On the field of play, the Indians seemed to have virtually givenup. The body language said it all – the drooping shoulders, themournful look, the sad eyes, the slow walk, they were all tell-talesigns that the Indians had almost thrown in the towel.And then came the metamorphosis. Not, for a change, through the fallof a wicket but with a batsman retiring hurt. As Herschelle Gibbswended his way back to the pavilion, Jonty Rhodes came out to joinJacques Kallis. In the dressing room, awaiting their chance to bat ifrequired, were Boeta Dippennaar, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher andShaun Pollock.
© CricInfoEven after Harbhajan Singh took the wickets of Rhodes and Dippennaarin one over, the odds still heavily favoured South Africa. But nowthere was a palpable change in the Indian mind-set. There was an extraspring in the step, the fielders strode to their places briskly, andthere were frequent consultations between the members of the team’sbrains-trust.And then there was Virender Sehwag. The man with the golden bat nowbecame the man with the golden arm. Sehwag can do nothing wrong at themoment, and much the same can be said about the team too. GivingSehwag the task of bowling the 48th and 50th overs, allotting ZaheerKhan the 49th, was obviously going to be a gamble. But Ganguly and histhink-tank were willing to take the risk. Such a bold outlook in atense situation is to be appreciated.Astonishingly the South Africans, faced with a similar situation,played it safe. It might have helped if Pollock had promoted himselfin the batting order, ahead of a Klusener now a pale shadow of thehero who almost won the 1999 World Cup for South Africa. The supremeirony was that Pollock finally came to the crease in the last over buthad not yet faced a ball when the match ended.From the Indian viewpoint, the most encouraging aspect was the abilityto rise from the dead, as it were. Indian cricketers traditionally arenot known to be fighters with the never-say-die attitudes of theAustralians. But Wednesday’s performance was something else. It willnot only further raise their confidence already high after thesmooth annihilation of England but will also will help earn muchgreater respect from any future opposition.The same cannot be said about the South Africans, who have lived up totheir dubious reputation of being champion chokers. Remember the HeroCup semi-final against India in 1993, the World Cup quarter-finalagainst the West Indies in 1996, the World Cup Super Six encounter andthe semi-final against Australia in 1999? One has almost lost count ofthe number of times South Africa have not been able to convert awinning position into victory.But the focus is now on India. They are one steep step from thesummit, and with the way things are shaping up, the team with a muchmaligned bowling line-up and with fielding standards not yet up tohighest international levels – though the youngsters have certainlyhelped lift that aspect of the game – could end up winning the ICCChampions Trophy. First the mini-World Cup and then the World Cupearly next year? It’s a heady thought, but first let us emergetriumphant on Sunday. One last thought. India were semi-finalists in1998 and finalists in 2000. Will the upward graph now have the perfectfinish?