Apna Time Aa Gaya -- A Team Whose Time has Come!

 

India retains the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, January 19, 2021

 Photo credit: Google/timesofindia.indiatimes.com

“O, what a win was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,” on our knees and gave thanks to the cricketing Gods, as news came in of our 2-1 victory in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia at Gabba. The Indian tri-colour is out in force (with some of the headlines going Gabbash!).  …today India won the Border-Gavaskar trophy with a 2-1 victory against Australia at Gabba.  

In these gloomy times, we cannot have enough of such good news. The last time a visiting team won against the Aussies at Gabba was in 1988, all of 32 years ago -- when Kohli apparently was 16 days old, it was a year before Sachin debuted, George Bush had won the presidential election in America, Rajiv Gandhi was Indian PM, USSR and the Berlin Wall existed, and no one had heard of Harry Potter, Viagra or the internet! Those were the days Geoff Marsh used to open for Australia, the father of Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh who played in the Brisbane test in the current series (in fact, the last named was not even born then). 

On reading the headlines, I could help but recall those days when Thommo (Australia’s feared fast bowler Jeff Thomson) marked a cross on the late Chetan Chauhan’s forehead after the latter had hit him outside the off stump ….cut to Tim Paine’s sneer “See you at Gabba!” not to mention, him asking Rishabh Pant if he was available for babysitting while he took his wife out the movies! ALL OF THAT got wiped out in a single stroke on Jan 19, 2021 as India won a test series at Gabba…by a resounding 3 wickets. As they say, Victory is sweet, but revenge is sweeter! Babaji ka Thullu!!

And who were the guys who beat Australia in this mother of all wins? A bunch of rank (almost) newcomers, who were down at 36 for all out at the start of the series at Adelaide! From the pits to the pinnacle, in the space of four tests. Truly, “nothing surpasses this,” as head coach Ravi Shastri would say after India’s historic win, "Feeling defeated is one thing but giving up is not in our vocabulary.” It was the spirit behind the victory that was actually the real hero.

As one by one the more established players got hurt, the regular captain left to fulfill family obligations, “Cometh the hour, cometh the man” became the order of the day. And who were these men who scripted history?

Shubman Gill

Photo credit: Google/Hindustan Times.com

Shubman Gill (21 years old, with all of three tests behind him) for example, whose farmer father shifted with the whole family from a village in remote border areas to Mohali, in Chandigarh, when Shubman was nine years old, all because he believed his son was a gifted batsman, who would gain from exposure. 

Mohammed Siraj

Photo credit: Google/cricketnmore.com

Mohammed Siraj, the son of an autorickshaw driver in Hyderabad and house-help mother, who for years bowled barefoot at the local Idgah maidaan, who actually used to struggle to make it to practice every day on a tight budget of 70 rupees a day, and who believe-it-or-not first handled a cricket ball when he was 20. It was his father’s dream that he play a test match for India one day. Not just adversity, Siraj battled personal loss too as his father passed away at the start of the series. He was offered a return but he decided to stick on, “to fulfill my father’s dream.”   As someone said, his father must be pointing him out to the universe today, “See, that’s my son Mohammad Siraj, the Test player!”
That’s not the only parent, India must be thankful for.

Rishabh Pant

Photo credit: Google/cricfit.com

Rishabh Pant’s mother, widowed when Rishabh and his sister were still very young, recalls taking him every weekend to train at a cricket academy in Delhi via bus all the way from Roorkee in Uttarakhand. They would stay at a local gurudwara those two days and while he trained at the ground, she would cook and serve in the gurudwara kitchens as they had no money to afford a hotel stay. On Sunday night, the mother-son duo would head back for Roorkee. “I could scarcely sleep, with my heart in my mouth, the entire journey” she says, as it was very unsafe for single, unescorted women to travel in the nights, “but, I would ensure that Rishabh caught up on some sleep” on the journey into and out of Delhi. “Ma, tujhe salaam” as all of India joins him, in a salute to a mother’s courage and determination. And to think he came as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan. 

T. Natarajan

Photo credit: Google/timesofindia.indiatimes.com

T. Natarajan (a replacement for the injured Umesh Yadav) has a rags-to-riches story that is just unbelievable. The oldest of five brothers and sisters, he was born to a powerloom worker father and a mother who ran a local food stall in Chinnapampatti 26 km from Salem, in Tamil Nadu, the nearest big town marked on a map. Until he was 11, when his talent was spotted by a local talent scout, Jayaprakash, who also ran the local village cricket enthusiast’s club, he studied at the local government school and used to play in the fields in and around his village. “But for Jayaprakash sir, I would have most likely been a coolie today,” he has no hesitation in admitting. From such humble beginnings to becoming the Yorker King, working through a grievous elbow injury, surviving a suspect bowling action and finally taking six wickets in three games in the T20 series on the current tour of Australia, becoming the first Indian cricketer to make his international debut across all three formats on the current tour, is a long journey indeed. And to think, he actually went to Australia as a net bowler, never expecting to play in an actual match.  Destiny’s child? You bet! So is his daughter, born back in India while he was bamboozling the Aussies, whom he has seen only on video.

Shardul Thakur

Photo credit: Google/in.dafanews.com

Shardul’s childhood cricket coach, Dinesh Lad, recalls he first saw Shardul when he played for his school. In a particular tournament, where he scored 78 runs and picked up 5 wickets, Lad remembers convincing him to join the school he coached. “I told his father that Shardul had a lot of talent and could play top-level cricket. His father declined saying he had his board exams, and those days they lived in Palghar. The journey from Palghar to Mumbai was 2.5 hours, impossible to travel every day. I then asked my wife if we could keep the boy at our home so he could play here in Mumbai. My wife agreed despite her initial reservations as we had a daughter the same age. And we brought him home.” Still playing school cricket, Shardul joined the Mumbai Under-15 and after that, there was no looking back.

In a dramatic turn of events, Thakur originally a part of the ODI team, was added to the test team only after Mohammed Shami got injured. Yet, he never got to play until Gabba, when Bumrah, Vihari, Jadeja and Ashwin all suffered injuries one after the other. And then, on that fateful day on January 19, from travelling in crowded local trains to calling the shots on one of the fastest pitches in the world, Thakur completed a jou    rney that is a cricketing dream. Who can say that there was no divine design behind it?

A few years ago, he had put a lot of weight. Sachin Tendulkar advised him to get a hold on his weight as he had a brilliant cricketing future ahead of him. With the same grit and determination as he showed at Gabba, he took control and lost 13 kg of weight, just in time for fortune to come knocking at his door in the form of an international debut.

Washington Sundar

Photo credit: Google/cricketcountry.com

And last but not the least, the spin bowler, Washington Sundar and a new-age, cricketing Thakur; the most unlikely saviours/heroes for India who jointly stood between India and defeat, (or should I say India and History?) in their stand for the seventh-wicket. Together, in a sensational fightback, they kept the scoreboard going under massive pressure with every single sweat-soaked, adrenaline-charged run, fuelling India’s hopes of retaining the trophy. Then chasing 328, Indians were at 183 for 6, staring at a massive deficit. “Steel running through their nerves” they showed incredible character.

Debutant Sundar’s father reveals the mystery behind his son’s very unusual name. Sundar senior was a Ranji trophy player in his youth. “I was too poor to support my playing ambitions, but an ex-army man by the name of PD Washington would buy my uniform, pay my school fees, my books, even take me to the ground on his cycle, and encourage me endlessly. When my son was born in 1999, Washington sir had already passed away. I decided to name my son after him.” 

Photo credit: Google/India.com

However, there is yet another thread that connects the brilliant achievements of this young team with “steel running through their veins,” and that is Rahul Dravid, who heads India’s National Cricket Academy, Bangalore. Many credited the inspired performances by ‘young uns’ like Pant, Sundar and Gill, to Dravid who had groomed them at the Under-19 level. 

In the words of a Twitterati, ‘he will smile his silent smile and go back to training tomorrow morning.” As will all the physios, the bowling and batting coaches, the practice pitch-incharges and the countless, nameless others who are no less responsible for this glowing triumph, now etched in history for all times to come.

So what’s in store for the “Class of 2021”? If India’s cricketing history is anything to go by, impossibly heightened expectations, with riches untold, are all lying in wait for the battered and bruised warriors when they return to Indian shores from Down Under. Dealing with these will involve another test of character, played out on a pitch more damning and unforgiving than the pitches they played so valiantly in Australia. The England tour coming ahead will decide many of their futures.  But for now, they are up there on the cricketing skies as the guiding stars of Indian cricket. Who knows how many players of the future were born the minute Rahane, held the Border-Gavaskar trophy aloft – only time will tell. 

It seems as if the poet knew of all these bravehearts when he wrote these words for the song “Dil ka haal sune dilwala/Seedhi si baat na mirch masala” (Shri 420)

 

Chote se ghar mein gareeb ka beta

Main bhi hoon ma ke naseeb ka beta

Ranj-o-gham bachpan ke saathi

Aandhiyon mein jali jeevan baati

Bhookh ne hai bade pyaar se paala

 

“There is a tide in the affairs of men/Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” wrote Shakespeare.  And these then, were the “few good men” who helped turn the tide and lead their side to “good fortune.” In the words, of the stand-in captain (who himself came to the post in a twist of fate) the victory belonged to the entire team that showed “great character and fighting spirit on the field.”

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