Another World Cup - Different but very Similar

2011: A 26-year-old with the world exploding around him. Not good enough to have his life mapped out, no high-paying job, no love of his life, no secure future; the six that Dhoni hit represented an average guy believing in breaking barriers, imagining an India that is going to dominate the world. It was not about greatness anymore. For all the reverence to Sachin, we all knew the victory was about Sehwag's belligerence, Yuvraj's impact, Dhoni's temperament, and many more who played as a team. Gambhir, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Raina, Bhajji; everyone in the squad contributed when called upon. Oh, and there was a 22-year-old Kohli.

2023: A 38-year-old with the world just as it should be. A high-paying job, married to the love of his life, a 4-year-old daughter who can light up a bomb shelter with her innocent smile; the 2023 World Cup represents where I, and my country India, have reached in life. Favourites to win, dominating countries who basically invented the game on the field and in the boardroom (no little thanks to a behemoth called the IPL). In 2011, the Indian team was favoured and won. Since then, for 12 years, India has always managed to be favourites and stumbled before the finish line.

But now, the 35-year-old Kohli is challenging the reverence we had for Sachin; Bumrah is challenging what it means to be the best in his generation; Rohit is challenging the belligerence of Sehwag, Gayle, and Gilchrist with much better technique, and so on. We might still lose; two unpredictable winner-takes-all games are no guarantee of success. But the fact is that this team has already announced their dominance, a team of confident, bellicose individuals who believe they are the best and play accordingly. If we lose, it is going to be because the team did not play even close to their potential, or the other team played way above their potential. As the stunner that Kapil grabbed onto, or the dolly that Gibbs grassed can define a World Cup, there are still turning points waiting to happen.

But I sleep easy. In the world today, we are no longer fighting to prove our ability. It has been made self-evident, not by a one-man army named Sachin, or an unbeatable batting line-up, but by an all-round team of match winners who enjoy and accept their dominance of the sport. Is the off chance of a bad day in the semi-final or final going to take that away from us? I doubt it. Is Kohli, the Sachin equivalent, the most important player in this team? I doubt it. Reverence, India as a country, as a team has grown above it. We the fans couldn't be luckier.

The transition of Greatness! Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli

Fandom is a fickle thing in sport. Especially in India. One day you are the savior of the world, and one bad performance later, they are calling for your blood. But some players manage to transcend the vagaries of fans by the sheer weight of their genius. They become living legends, revered and even worshiped. Their faults are forgotten, their inconsistencies invisible. An entire generation looks up to them as a template of genius. Like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

But athletes retire. And new generations grow up. And new geniuses turn up to usurp their mantle. They show the new generation a new level of performance, more in tune with their attitudes and aspirations. They overcome the fickleness which knows no generation and by weight of ability and attitude, put their hand up to be considered a legend. Like Virat Kohli.

Comparisons will naturally arise. But objectivity is close to impossible to compare careers spanning separate decades, even with the huge amount of statistical data available. Those who have experienced the magic of Tendulkar in the 90s and 00s will be hard pressed to accept Kohli in the same light. Those who have grown up watching a fading Tendulkar replaced by the arrogance of youth in Kohli are wondering what the fuss about Tendulkar is all about.

The similarities are many, similarities shared by great players spanning the nature of sport or the time they played in. Both are born talented, have honed their skill to maximum by sheer hard work and discipline, and have the temperament to perform independent of pressure and situation. While Tendulkar along with Lara, Ponting and Gilchrist bridged the gap between Tests and ODIs with classic stroke-making, Kohli has seamlessly molded himself into a Test, ODI and T20 machine. Kohli, ABD, Smith, Williamson etc. represent the new generation of powering up and switching gears at will.

Tendulkar might not be remembered for finishing off matches scoring 10-12 runs an over regularly, for scoring 50s off 25 balls and hitting sixes at will but then, very few of his peers will be. That was just not the pace at which cricket was played in his time. A run a ball innings was good enough to win most games and doing so consistently was excellence. Flip the coin and Kohli and his peers will not be remembered for dominating a Donald-Pollock on a bouncy Durban pitch or a Gough-Caddick on a swinging Lords morning. Or a Shane Warne turning it square on the fourth day at Eden gardens. Domination then was hitting the ball on the middle of a straight bat with the bowlers spitting fire.

Both are match winners in their own right. Both have won matches single handedly for the team. While Kohli has done it under extreme pressure when the rest have failed him, Tendulkar, by the sheer weight of his ability has carried the pressure of the whole team every time he goes out to bat. 5 wickets down in a crunch game, Kohli will take the team home, but come a crunch game, reading Tendulkar’s name on the team sheet has already taken the pressure off the other batsmen. The pressure on Kohli is to finish the innings, Tendulkar carried the pressure of creating the innings for two decades. Kohli revels in the pressure, it focusses him and perks him up while Tendulkar just absorbed it within him all the time, barely giving it any notice.

Externally they are chalk and cheese. Tendulkar the perennial introvert while Kohli is the poster boy of aggression and in your face attitude. A Rolls Royce and a Ferrari. But both ensure that there is nothing that comes in the way of performance. While Kohli can bring his concentration to Yogic levels while batting, Sachin with the bat could be as aggressive as anybody. Both in their own style.

Where Tendulkar today is ahead is only in the sheer years of performance he has delivered. Kohli has the opportunity to surpass him, and has shown more than enough ability to do so. But then the new generation has never been about looking too far in the future. At the here and now, Kohli is the new great. The older great man though, has not relinquished his title. Merely allotted his successor. At least not until those who witnessed his brilliance wither and die away. 

A note of Thanks - MS Dhoni

Dear Indian Fan,

Firstly, thank you for the tremendous support that all of you have shown me and the team. Such strong support has been unprecedented for any losing captain. It was well worth the few tears I shed that memorable day.

Now I am back at home in Ranchi. Things remain the same but they have changed too.

Oh, my sweet little daughter. So innocent and pure. One day she will know that while she was taking in her first sights, her papa was just one “batsman who can handle a little pressure” short of reaching a World cup final. I must admit I am a little worried of her growing up and finding out about the “Media”, be it social, anti-social, mass, niche or whatever.

My wife has completely refused to come to any match that I play in from now on unless I give an absolute guarantee I will not get out. Explaining to her that I am no Kohli and am allowed to fail once in a while with the bat has not helped. She has been spending too much time on twitter I guess. Must be the pregnancy. Anyways it’s a good decision on her part. My little daughter might be saved from a few bad habits.

My three dogs that used to bite and bark at me whether I win or lose have mellowed down. It seems they have sensed that India can be a dangerous place for dogs that bark for no rhyme or reason, especially on TV. Some dogs do listen to public opinion it seems.

My father-in-law wants to know when I will retire. When I asked him what he would prefer, he was silent. He is a true cricket fan, will wait for the announcement to support the exact opposite. I tried telling him that I am only 33 but he made it sound like I am 55.

My mechanic is sure that I would have won India the match if I had not gotten run-out. But then, he is also sure that Kohli’s problem is his girlfriend and Raina’s problem is the lack of a girlfriend. Go figure.

It’s such a relief to be around my bikes. Luckily for my security detail I live in Ranchi. Here their Bajaj Pulsars can keep up with my Harleys due to the condition of the roads. Life is a great leveler.

That’s all folks. I shall post a tweet or two soon just to make sure the fire keeps burning.

Thank you once again.   

An open letter to the Indian Olympics Team

Dear Olympians,
Lying on my bed, it is a little difficult to appreciate the effort, the sacrifices you had to do through to reach where you are today. But i am trying. So don't get me wrong. But I am confused.
It is true there are lots of other countries with infinitely more resources to match our infinitely larger population. Each one of you has reached where you are after competing with a billion others. That's more people than New Zealand might have given birth to over the last couple of centuries. But tell that to their hockey players whipping us in our national game. A lack of physical fitness, of technique, of talent is understandable. We do not have the resources, what we have are spread too thinly and the rest siphoned off by the corrupt Indian. Even talent can be excused as a lack of proper genetic material. But mental toughness is as much imbibed as born with. Then why do we lack so?
Why does a world number one fail to clear the first round? Why does a shooter placed in the top five until the last few minutes falter and end up eleventh. Why are two excellent tennis players who could have easily dominated the doubles game for a decade still squabbling at the ages of 38 and 39? Where are we going wrong?
Surely lack of sponsorships, poor training facilities, and illiterate associations should have made you stronger, not weaker mentally. Then what is lacking I wonder. Is there something lacking in the Indian diet that fails to nourish that part of the brain? Or is it the climate? Or maybe our culture.
Each one of you represents the best we have. The strengths of a Sachin Tendulkar or a Vishy Anand are in you. A Dhyan Chand is lurking in that Olympic village somewhere. Today an Indian can walk into any sphere of life proud of his identity. Then why do you fail at the biggest stage? After you have surpassed all those obstacles, obstacles athletes from other nations might barely comprehend, why do you give up before your time? Why do not the pressures of success spur you on? Has the effort put into participation fatigues you so much that you can no longer compete? Have you travelled too far to be able to go that extra mile?
The armchair critic tells me you have reached your crescendo of ambition. A medal is just a dream too far. But the Indian refuses to believe. And the Indian will wait. Till the last of you catch the flight back home.
Godspeed.

Not saying anything new... but saying it none-the-less....

I don't remember how I started watching cricket. I do remember that I didn't start watching it because I was Indian, I became an Indian watching cricket. Before GDP or LOC made sense, cricket was where a national identity was formed. India used to be that team in blue, fighting other countries with bat and ball. And an Indian was Sachin Tendulkar. Twenty something years later, still is.

The rest of the team reminded us of what the history of our country taught us, of great abilities and heroic deeds, but never consistent enough, never great enough to be held in awe by the rest of the world. Easily trodden upon by those stronger, those better than us. Good enough to win the occasional battle but never enough to win the war. A team much lesser than the sum of its parts. but Sachin was different. Sachin was the one dominating all those trying to bring him down, blessed with immense ability, giving his everything to the cause. And he was successful, rich, respected and aroused passions like no-one else could. He epitomized what every little man wanted to grow up and become. The ideal Indian. He was someone the whole world feared. Even his enemies respected him and made way for him.

For a whole decade growing up, the cricket team consisted of one man trying to outperform himself to compensate for the inabilities of his team-mates. While India was getting to grips with competition in all fields of life, Sachin reminded us of the possibilities within us. While the team's failures, even with Sachin performing or whenever he fails reminding us that we still have a long way to go as a unit on the field, as a country as a whole. Sachin represented what we can achieve. he also reminded us of how less we had achieved. His dedication, his willingness to toil hard for that little bit extra showing up the rest of us. India lost more than it won, as it has done all throughout history. but Sachin gave us hope. Those brilliant innings at Sharjah, where he single-handedly walloped the Australians, gave us our first glimpses of the power of the Indian. Our first example that we could also be the best in the world. If he could, so could others out of a billion.

I had reached my teens. and so had millions of other Indians. The confidence that Sachin gave the nation began to rub on to others. The team started getting better. Confident, strong individuals with talent began to play alongside him. the Gangulys and the Dravids came and began showing the world that others could also do what the great man can, even though not as good as him. We gave as good as we got. The world had begun to take note of our nation both on the cricket pitch and outside. India as a nation was making its voice heard in all spheres of life. Hope was starting to give way to confidence. While the great man just kept on performing. Getting better and better with every challenge faced. unruffled by the God like adulation he receives, teaching us lesson after lesson of greatness.

Lessons that millions of young men and women were learning and practicing in various spheres of life. India had grown into a strong wiled adult that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the world. Soon the team began filling up of young men who had revered Sachin as kids. Indians who believed that anything was possible and had the confidence to go out and fight for what they believed in. Confidence in which Sachin played no small part. Cocky aggressive young men with loads of talent like Zaheer and Yuvraj had arrived while the Dravids and Gangulys had matured. We could now be called world beaters, though greatness was still reserved for one man. By now sachin had made almost every individual record his own, and individually had nothing left to prove. But the lack of team glory was glaring in its absense, He was reaching the end of his glorious reign, and for a man who had always given his all for the team, it almost seemed to suffocate him.

Finally the tide has turned. More brilliant young cricketers have come in replacing the old. Only Sachin remains from the generation past. Some were not even born when sachin started playing. But the will of the man to persevere has reaped its just rewards. Sachin has been playing for the team for twenty two years. Now the team plays for Sachin. And they have given him the greatest gift the man has ever wanted, the greatest gift that an entire nation has prayed for Sachin to get. the World Cup, the pinnacle of cricketing glory is now Sachin's. It seems we, as a nation, has at last shredded away the chains of a docile past and are racing into a dominating future.

Tomorrow when India emerges victorious in battles other than cricket, as is our wont these days, let us not forget the contribution of Sachin Tendulkar. Let us not just see him as a cricketing icon, but the man who shaped an entire generation. And all that by hitting a leather ball with a wooden bat. Respect.