Lets go back to late 2007. Arch rivals Pakistan were just about to come to India in some days and Rahul Dravid, who had just led India to a historic series win in England, had decided he had had enough of the pressures of captaincy. To make matters worse, after 'due consideration', Sachin Tendulkar too declined to become the captain. The jury was still out on whether MS Dhoni had matured enough to be handed the Test reins especially in light of the then impending tour Down Under. Erring on the side of caution, India's selectors handed the captaincy to Anil Kumble, for the 'time being'.
Retrograde step, screamed the 'experts'. Two steps backward for Indian cricket, they claimed. High on the recent T20 glory, they felt that Dhoni was being 'denied' the Test captaincy. Agreed, MSD together with Yuvraj Singh is the future of Indian cricket. But just look at how poor old Kumble was treated. Rather than being lauded for having the guts to take the responsibility when everyone else had shunned it, it was almost as if he had been made a 'trustee' in charge of a heirloom (the captaincy) to keep it safe until the 'beneficiary' Dhoni could rightfully claim it.
Now lets take a look at what transpired in Australia. 'Fort' Perth was conquered. And none other than Sunil Gavaskar hailed it as India's greatest win in the past 35-40 years. Which pretty much makes it the greatest because before 1971, we didn't use to win anything. No one gave India a hell of a chance to win at Perth, of all places, and that too after the events at Sydney.
So the entire team played well. Whats Anil got to do with that? A lot! Ravi Shastri made the point that he knew 3-4 guys in the current team who wouldn't have been able to handle the situation in Sydney as well as Anil did, if they had been in his place. It has been a gargantuan effort from Anil. First, he made the entire cricketing world sit up and take notice by saying that there was only one team that was playing in the spirit of the game. Its not hard to see why that statement made so much of an impact. The last time such a statement like this was made was during the Bodyline series in the 1930s, by the Australian captain when Englishman Larwood was maiming and injuring Aussie batsmen with short pitched bowling. Thats all it took from Anil's side. One strong sentence. No shenanigans. No posturing. Moreover, it is to his eternal credit that he maintained his dignity all along. And on top of that, to get the team out of the "We have been betrayed" mindset and get them to play with such intensity speaks volumes about the mental strength of the man. Lets hear it for Jumbo then!
Retrograde step, screamed the 'experts'. Two steps backward for Indian cricket, they claimed. High on the recent T20 glory, they felt that Dhoni was being 'denied' the Test captaincy. Agreed, MSD together with Yuvraj Singh is the future of Indian cricket. But just look at how poor old Kumble was treated. Rather than being lauded for having the guts to take the responsibility when everyone else had shunned it, it was almost as if he had been made a 'trustee' in charge of a heirloom (the captaincy) to keep it safe until the 'beneficiary' Dhoni could rightfully claim it.
Now lets take a look at what transpired in Australia. 'Fort' Perth was conquered. And none other than Sunil Gavaskar hailed it as India's greatest win in the past 35-40 years. Which pretty much makes it the greatest because before 1971, we didn't use to win anything. No one gave India a hell of a chance to win at Perth, of all places, and that too after the events at Sydney.
So the entire team played well. Whats Anil got to do with that? A lot! Ravi Shastri made the point that he knew 3-4 guys in the current team who wouldn't have been able to handle the situation in Sydney as well as Anil did, if they had been in his place. It has been a gargantuan effort from Anil. First, he made the entire cricketing world sit up and take notice by saying that there was only one team that was playing in the spirit of the game. Its not hard to see why that statement made so much of an impact. The last time such a statement like this was made was during the Bodyline series in the 1930s, by the Australian captain when Englishman Larwood was maiming and injuring Aussie batsmen with short pitched bowling. Thats all it took from Anil's side. One strong sentence. No shenanigans. No posturing. Moreover, it is to his eternal credit that he maintained his dignity all along. And on top of that, to get the team out of the "We have been betrayed" mindset and get them to play with such intensity speaks volumes about the mental strength of the man. Lets hear it for Jumbo then!
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