Cricket - The gentleman’s game

 

Cricket - The gentleman’s game

We all have grown up  playing and respecting the game of Cricket which not only has given us heroes to adore, to worship but also to learn the perfect human bonding even when it comes to save the life of the opponent player. 

With the birth of the game in England to spreading  its wings with the  most recent additions to the International Cricket Council (ICC) are Timor-Leste and Zambia, who were granted Associate membership. 

This brings the total number of ICC members to 110. The outreach program to all the followers of the game has opened a new horizon to further enhance the competitiveness through mutual respect and true sportsmanship.

There have been numerous occasions and incidents when players have come up to really demonstrate the feelings of brotherhood leaving aside the results or even the winning momentum.

To say on such wonderful gestures and moments of true feelings of humanity a famous incident is being reproduced to appreciate the spirit of the game.

Former Indian cricketer Chandu Borde narrated a 58-year-old heartwarming story featuring former West Indies captain Frank Worrell and former Indian captain Nari Contractor. On March 17, 1962, India, under Nari Contractor, was playing a colony match against Barbados when Nari was at the verge of losing his life due to a heart-wrenching incident on the cricket pitch.

On the Day 2 of the match between India and Barbados, Contractor suffered a deadly head injury while trying to duck a bouncer by Charlie Griffith. 

Frank Worrell, who was enjoying the match through the VIP box, immediately got into action and took it upon himself to save the life of the visiting captain. Chandu Borde reminisced the whole episode and said,

 

 “He (Griffith) bowled a bouncer which Nari tried to duck. That bouncer hit on his right side because being a left-hander his right side was towards the bowler. He fell down. Nari said that he was in a lot of pain.

“Our manager was Ghulam Ahmed. It was decided to take him to a clinic. There was one doctor named Ford. X ray showed a crack on the right side. The doctor said to Ghulam Ahmed that he has to be operated on immediately within one hour otherwise it will be very dangerous. But they had to operate on him. B+ group blood was required.”

Sir Frank Worrel immediately took the responsibility to save the life of Nari. The players from both sides lined up to donate blood to Nari. Five people including Sir Frank Worrell donated blood, others were Bapu Nadkarni, Polly Umrigar, Chamdu Borde and Prabhu, a journalist. We had the same blood group,"

A Neuro-surgeon was flown in from Trinidad on the next day. A life was saved.

In remembrance of the humanitarian act of Frank Worrell, every year a mass voluntary blood donation camp is organised at the Club House of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Eden Gardens, Kolkata since 1981. 

Such heart touching incidents reminds us the sportsmanship, the fair play and the honorable behaviour which made Cricket the Gentleman’s game. 

Since last few years the spirit of brotherhood has deviated to utter rivalry leading to acts which are definitely distasteful and lacks the basic etiquettes. 

The players have engaged in unsporting behavior including unethical practices, which has tarnished the image and  also affected the overall reputation of the game.

The professionalism which was reaching a different level for sheer delight of all Cricket lovers with individual performances at its best in 1970s to 1990s had brought all under one umbrella for spreading the game to far off places and Countries. The popularity of Cricket reaching every household of India did happened post the World Cup victory in 1983.

 

It was an encouraging and welcome change with young ones enthused to learn Cricket over football which always has remained the most popular sports world wide.

Slowly the so-called professionalism did induced an undesirable layer of ego, hatred and jealousy robbing the sheen off  this wonderful game and its royal touch.

In the recently concluded test match at Old Trafford, how can any Cricket lover swallow the incident which happened in front of our eyes with Indian batters on the verge of their individual centuries and the England Captain, (just the other day was hailed as one of the best Captain England for his all round capabilities), suddenly coming up with the idea to call off the game with fifteen overs remaining.  

Would Ben Stokes himself had agreed to this proposal heading for a draw but if he had 10 odd runs to complete his century. Nothing would have changed the result with mere addition of twenty odd runs for Jadeja and Washington to complete their centuries. It would have added one more feather in the cap of Ben Stokes had he continued till Indian batters offered handshake. His strange and funny comments have drawn more criticism amongst the Cricket experts where he says, “what is that great to score few more runs”; since the bowlers were tired had to give the ball to Brooks”; and so on. But whether he is realizing that the gentlemen and the game of Cricket have same connotation and are like either side of the same coin.

Ravindra Jadeja and Washing(ton) Sundar scored their respective well deserved centuries after long fight for two sessions of fifth day, without being deterred by the efforts of  the England team. They batted with  grit, determination, perseverance and resolve to save the test match and they did it with flying colours. And on the other hand Ben Stokes the player of the match was demeaning their effort to satisfy his and teams ego. This characteristics of ego and taking the shine of ethics has made Cricket a game which only now has unhealthy rivalry in its first place.

While coming back to the Indian team and it’s selection there has been lot of hue and cry from the day the team was selected by Indian selectors for the Test Match series in England.

There have been instances to score brownie points to undermine the other, to take undesirable revenge for satisfying one’s ego and to ruin the career of an individual just for the sadistic pleasure.

Right from on field conflicts to dressing room drama, spreading to chopping off the wings of identified players, who ae not falling in line have become the talk of the day.

While restricting the wrong doings in Indian Cricket, can we carryout the introspection of some unwavering happenings affecting the pride of the game and the Nation.

There has been lot of mind game which had spread to such a level where it became the prime subject of discontentment between the player and the coach or the selectors.

Recently one of the Senior ex player and the coach Ravi Shastri has made a statement narrating the serious allegations on the current coach Gautam Gambhir for the retirements and exit of players Rohit Sharma,  Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and now Shreyas. The truth behind this may be debatable counting on the performance each had in last few outings in red ball Cricket but to be very fair and straight for the players who have toiled hard for their Country, brought so many laurels, took the Country at the top with best individual and team performance, shouldn’t they have a   graceful exit after proving their worth for the last time ?

It is always said that the individual comes and goes, the birth of new talents is a continuous process, retirement is a part of the professional life but not at the cost of one’s self image or not in a way which only displays insult to their all hard work. The game will continue with new set of players but forgetting the old heroes like a leaf blown in the storm is not what is expected.

Much has been discussed on team composition of the current Indian team touring England, where balance in batting and bowling is the key. To strike a balance the requirement pointed towards all-rounders and not the specialists; To analyse we just take the example of the last test match at Old Trafford. The team had the pace bowling attack consisting of Bumrah, Kamboj, Siraj, Shardul and spin attack of Jadeja and Washington. The bowlers amongst themselves had bowled 158 overs in the first innings of England giving away 669 runs at an average of 4.25 runs per over. Washington Sundar was asked to bowl after 69 overs is another story.

Coming back to the pace attack Kamboj was flown as a replacement on a short notice and had to be in the field even though the jet lag and his preparedness before the test wasn’t there resulting in bowling 18 overs for 89 runs; Siraj bowled a poor line and he also was expensive. Bumrah with his limitations still had bowled for length and his old injury resurfaced. He bowled 33 overs for 112 runs (a rare achievement of giving away 100 runs by Bumrah). On one hand we are fielding a balanced team, we are apprehensive of Bumrah’s work load and on the other hand the Coach and the Captain has no clue and ensured Bumrah continues to bowl and again injure himself. Shardul who has been picked as an another all-rounder was given only 11 overs and he was belted for 55 runs. A bowler if has been given only 11 overs out of 158 overs, why he is required in the team; only for batting and if he scores few runs that will help the team. Is this the correct approach? 

The need of the hour is a specialist bowler with proven bowling skills an in form spinner or to continue with whims and fancies of coach and team management.  Is Kuldeep Yadav and his destiny sealed with no way out? or  Is this is the destiny of a proven, effective and  wicket taking spinner in the team, to remain in the sidelines for the entire series ?

We are now heading towards the last test match of the series which is now 2-1 in favour of England to be played at Oval, can we really have a proper mix in the Indian line up with experienced and real balanced team rather than with a failed strategy. The wing at Oval will also boost the chances of Indian team in next WTC.

Many readers of my blog have given their valued comments also probable teams for the final game at Oval. In my last blog I had mentioned a list of probable's  and would like to reproduce the same here for your comments and appreciation. The first task now is to redeem the pride of Indian team and take on England with the renewed energy and attacking mode. The England bowling line up is not that great nor is the batting line up except for few individuals and their contribution. 

Indian team management will have to ponder on all the points before they really form a balanced team with effective inclusions in each segment of the game. The tower of runs scored by England at the expense of poor bowling combination of India was countered by four batters with the two brave hearts Jadeja and Washington standing like a rock, not affected by any killer instinct of the opposition including not responding to the handshake and bailing the team out along with heroic performance from Gill and KL Rahul. We need to come out of our mistakes and go for the best available resources covering all aspects of the game.

The probable Indian team for the Oval test as per readers choice is :

1)    Yashasvi Jaiswal

2)    KL Rahul

3) Sai Sudarshan/ A Easwaran ( he genuinely deserves a chance; waiting for last 4 games)

4)    Shubman Gill

5)    Washington Sundar

6)    Ravindra Jadeja

7)    Dhruv Jurel

8)    Akash Deep

9)    Md Siraj

10 Arshdeep Singh

11 Kuldeep Yadav

(* Bumrah injured and latest updates are of his not playing, Risabh Pant is injured; Akash Deep and Arshdeep have joined nets and are bowling)

Comments and expert opinion are welcome from all readers.