BOMBAY, 26 February 2006 — The just-concluded tour of Pakistan could prove to be a watershed for Indian cricket in more ways than one. Despite losing the Test series, the achievement of the Rahul Dravid-led side touched dizzy heights, as it slammed the hosts in the shorter version of the game as no team had done in recent past. That stupendous success apart, the tour helped the strife-torn Indian team to cut all the ugly corners that had stuck out from the time that Saurav Ganguly was deposed as captain.
Cricket-wise, the gains to the Indian team were bountiful, what with almost all the young players coming off so wholesomely good that it was the senior who felt the heat of competition. The young crop itself will be zealously guarding their own places as there are several young players waiting in the wings.
From the moment he was appointed the Indian team coach, Greg Chappell plunged headlong into trouble, as his outspokenness was grossly misunderstood, if not misinterpreted, by the reigning captain Ganguly. He leaked out dressing room talks, which were held in right earnest, and tried to become a martyr. The ruling administrative regime supported him no end and a piquant situation was created for the new coach.
Chappell had come to India with fresh ideas, but before he could implement them, his task was made difficult by the very people who had appointed him. Fortunately for him, and in many ways for the betterment of Indian cricket, there was a change of regime and the Jagmohan Dalmiya clique was overthrown. Rahul Dravid’s appointment as captain helped to smoothen ruffled feathers in the team. The new set of selectors, as per Chappell’s expectation, played by merit and not by influence. Things began to fall in place. The performances in two home series against Sri Lanka and South Africa turned the tide completely
The Pakistan tour was to be a highly challenging one. Inzamam ul-Haq’s boys were riding high on their success over “Ashes” victors England. Their batting and bowling were looking awesome. Gradually, the Indian team began to assert itself and by the time the one-dayers came, they were the true masters.
Dravid made quite a few sacrifices for the sake of the team. He even opted to open despite their being two other specialist openers in the squad. He had to do this to accommodate Ganguly in the Test side. It must speak volumes for his commitment that he almost walked away with a world record with Virendra Sehwag.
Ganguly was not a part of the one-day squad and youngsters got their big break. As the team went along to win the series 4-1, some of the lesser names began to loom large. By the time the tour ended, there were more superstars in the Indian team than there are in a big blockbuster film. The likes of Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni repeated their heroics match after match and turned the impossible into possible. Not far behind were Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth, the young medium-pace bowler. The old reliable Mohammed Kaif might have had a better tour, but there is gainsaying the fact that he will always be an integral part of the team for some years. The props on which these youngsters rose were undoubtedly skipper Dravid and the evergreen Sachin Tendulkar. The boys were never short of inspiration. It is in everyone’s hands now to preserve this new-found success and confidence, including the media. One should not read dissent where there is none. As manager Raj Singh Dungarpur said: “This is the happiest bunch of cricketers that he has seen in his fifty years of association with Indian cricket.” So, let them be.
