Well many of us still remember the dialogue that Abhisekh Bachchan uttered in GURU," Bapu kehte the sapne mat dekho. Sapne kabhi sach nahi hote par maine sapna dekha aur aj hamara sapna pura hua". On a chilly morning of the English summer of 1932 at Lords Col. C. K. Nayudu must have dreamt about 6th December, 2009 when Mahendra singh Dhoni and his boys rose to the top of the most traditional format of our beloved game.It took us nearly 8 decades, 77 years to be precise. 31 test captains with 261 test cricketers have given their heart and soul over 433 test matches to reach the summit.That is why this journey is something to cherish for all the Indian cricket fanatics even more so because this happened in the home of Indian cricket at Brabourne Stadium.
When Murulidharan was caught by Dhoni off Harbhajan Singh, we all were ecstatic so were the cricketers. It was very apt that the side was captained by a man under whom Indian cricket has been phenomenal. He lead India 10 times in tests out of which won 7 and drew 3 which is a world record shared with former Australian captain Warwick Armstrong for remaining unbeaten for most no. of tests at the start of ones captaincy career. Under him India won test series at home against Australia,England,Sri Lanka and an away series in New Zealand. So you can see there were no freebies for him. Simply for that reason Dhoni and his team demands a huge credit for the domination they have shown over other sides in the last couple of years.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be the cynosure of all eyes right now but we have to look deeper to see that with every success there is a history attached to it. India have been served by 3 fantastic captains over the last decade. The first blue print of this result was drawn under a guy who changed the face of Indian cricket in 2001, Sourav Ganguly. Under his leadership India thought that winning overseas was also an option. We started winning test matches in Australia,England,West Indies which was unthinkable few years back.He brought us the belief in our ability. He was aptly succeded by a man who is totally of different character from Sourav, Rahul Dravid. We somehow seem to have a notion that Dravid was an average captain but results tend to disagree. Under him we won a test series in England after 21 years and in West Indies after 35 long years. I strongly believe that despite having a good team you need to have a good leader because very few good teams win with inadequate leadership. In 2008 during a very crucial juncture of Indian cricket Anil Kumble guided us with his strong yet cool demeanour. Winning a test match at Perth amidst all the stupidity around was not at all a mean achievement. Under him with Gary Kirsten & Paddy Upton, the final phase of our glory started.
During the last couple of years India played some breathtaking test cricket be it the victory at Perth or in Chennai.Ishant Sharma's spell at Perth was one of the best ever spell of fast bowling i have seen in my life from an Indian fast bowler. Virender Sehwag's thunderstorm at chennai and later on Sachin Tendulkar's ton in the same match spoke for the quality of this side.But test match cricket is not always about winning , sometimes saving a test worths like gold. Gautam Gambhir battled it out in Napier for 11 hours to save us from inevitable defeat. Zaheer Khan was stupendous with his bowling in last couple of years.Gautam Gambhir was bradmanisque with the willow.
It is sometimes pretty disturbing to say the least that many still doubt the ranking saying India still have not won test series in Australia and South Africa. I dont see any problem having a fantastic home record. South Africa, Australia also have been great in their own backyard. There is always this sense of devaluating India's success at home. I will like to remind those critics that even those 2 sides have struggled against us playing here. I think like all the successes this should also be celebrated. It is better to remain at the present rather than thinking too much ahead.
As they say that it is very hard to reach the top but harder to sustain it over a period of time. We should build up the future of Indian cricket, likes of Cheteswar Pujara, Manish Pandey etc as well as to see that the talents of Muruli Vijay, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma do not go waste. The job in our hand is tough but the journey from Lords 1932 to Brabourne 2009 shows that nothing is impossible.
7 comments:
Well nice compilation overall....but apart from the indispensable emphasis on the contribution of Indian captains, there have also been many immemorable prformance that have made this happen...be it Ishant's spell in Perth, Gambhir's match saving century at Napier or Sachin's century in Chennai test amongst many others...these little things accumulate to give such worthwhile results:-)
Well, I remember one statement of Mahindar Amarnanth :" My father always advices me that if you going to play in Pakisthan dont pad up the ball". Also Sunil Gavaskar said it many times about the bad umpiring in all othe continents. Many time because of this we lost tests outside India. Though it is not the excuse but it is true.
It is great to see India is in the top of World Test Ranking. But I would like to thank Sourav Ganguly the most because he was the guy who brought aggression into the Team. He taught us to win. He started the process and Dhoni completed it.
Well done Team India!!Cheers!!
we will soon loose the no.1 spot with only 2 tests to play next year.
nothing is impossible gourav tor new blog ta pore tai mone hocche.bhalo thakis.
Great work.Try to keep some trivia so as to enable cricket buffs like me to know more about the sport which is a passion for many Indians.
Great work.Try to keep some trivia so as to enable cricket buffs like me to know more about the sport which is a passion for many Indians.
For me this one is probably the best blog u have written so far. Really good work and I appreciate it fully.Well done and keep it up.
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