The blitz on behalf of India’s World Cup campaign has started in
real earnest
Partab Ramchand21-Nov-2002The blitz on behalf of India’s World Cup campaign has started in
real earnest. If on TV we have Shah Rukh Khan yearning for , in the print media we have Kapil Dev saying that
India can dream about winning the World Cup following India’s
victory against West Indies at Ahmedabad when the home team
successfully chased a total of 324. Over the next couple of
months we will have more such aspirations, lengthy analyses by
experts and all sorts of public opinion polls. One’s mind goes
back to a similar blitz carried out on the eve of the 1999
competition highlighted by a national news magazine’s rather lopsided cover story on ’11 reasons why India will win the World
Cup’. We all know what happened. In fact only the bookies, the
down-to-earth breed of people who think with their heads and not
with their hearts, got it right. They put India sixth in the list
of favourites as the tournament commenced and that was how India
finished.Admittedly, this time around, the Indians from being just one of
the contenders for the World Cup, have emerged as strong
challengers on the sheer weight of their performances over the
last few months. The NatWest Trophy triumph and the sharing of
the ICC Champions Trophy are being cited as proof that India
stand a realistic chance of regaining the trophy they won 20
years ago.Detractors, however, never tire to point out that even if the
NatWest Trophy triumph was registered away from the sub
continent, the opposition was not very strong in the absence of
Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan.
The pessimists also underscore the fact that in the full-strength
ICC Champions Trophy, the joint triumph was achieved on the sub
continent whereas conditions in South Africa will be very
different. And it must be remembered that India’s record in that
country is anything but impressive. To compound matters, India’s
showing in the ongoing series against the West Indies has been
uneven. After all, even without Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan
they were favoured to take the series easily.It does take certain special qualities to emerge as a World Cup
winning side and at the moment it must be admitted that India
fall short of being a trophy taking combination. Even the supreme
optimist will admit that the bowling is weak. And the rash of
experiments being tried out by the team management is proof that
there are certain lacunae in the squad that have to be plugged. A
formidable batting line up can come to naught when not backed by
strong bowling.As I said, it takes certain qualities to emerge as World Cup
champions, qualities that will undoubtedly emerge after taking a
quick look at the seven sides that have won the trophy so far.
| © ICC |
In 1975 and 1979, West Indies were champions on the strength of
their awesome batting and bowling. Six great batsmen and four
great bowlers made for an unbeatable combination. Even, though,
they possessed utility players in Keith Boyce and Bernard Julien
(in 1975) and Collis King (in 1979) they were regarded primarily
as bowlers thanks to the awesome batting line up (Greenidge,
Fredericks, Haynes, Richards, Kallicharran, Lloyd, Kanhai and
Gomes) and a fearsome quartet of fast bowlers in Holding,
Roberts, Garner and Croft.Few will deny that India’s unexpected triumph in 1983 was
scripted in the main because of the presence of a number of all
rounders – Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Roger Binny, Madan Lal and Mohinder
Amarnath. By this time, the bits-and-pieces player had become
essential to the one-day side and Steve Waugh underlined this by
playing a prominent role in Australia’s victorious campaign on
the sub continent in 1987. Of course, Australia were also well
served in the batting department by the likes of Geoff Marsh,
David Boon and Dean Jones while Craig McDermott with a bag of 18
wickets saw to it that the bowling too played its part in the
triumph.Around this time, another quality associated with championship
winning sides came to the fore – outstanding leadership. Allan
Border provided that in 1987 by leading the Australians to
victory when they were still in the rebuilding process and
reckoned as having little chance of getting beyond the
semifinals.In Australiasia in 1992, it was Imran Khan’s turn to provide
inspirational leadership. Again Pakistan’s chances were not rated
too highly especially after they had lost three of their first
five matches. Indeed, at this stage Pakistan were virtually out
of the tournament but by winning their last three league matches,
they squeaked into the semifinals as the fourth team and the rest
is history. Imran’s contributions with bat and ball were modest
but he inspired his teammates to great deeds and Javed Miandad,
Rameez Raja, Amil Sohail and young Inzamam with the bat and Wasim
Akram, Aaqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed with the ball responded in a
telling manner.The Sri Lankans in 1996 brought back memories of the twin West
Indian triumphs and not just in the manner of playing. It was
back to the six batsmen and four bowlers policy but with one
important change. They had a wicketkeeper who could double up as
a pinch hitter at the top of the order. The Jayasuriya-
Kaluwitharana pairing was really something else and the Lankans
by going for the bowling in an uninhibited manner virtually
decided the course of the match in the first 15 overs. The high
point came at Kandy in the game against Kenya when Jayasuriya and
Kaluwitharana brought up the 50 in an amazing 3.2 overs. Not
surprisingly, Sri Lanka went on to register the highest total in
a limited overs international – 398 for five in 50 overs on
their way to a glorious trophy triumph at Lahore a couple of
weeks later.While the batting was Sri Lanka’s chief strength, the bowling in
the hands of Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralitharan was anything
but weak while Jayasuriya doubled up as a utility player and
there was also the inspiring captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga.
| © CricInfo |
Leadership again was an important factor in Australia’s triumph
in the last World Cup. Steve Waugh provided the spark that
ignited the entire team, again at a time when they seemed headed
for elimination at the preliminary stage. They made it to the
Super Six carrying no points but from then on everything went
right for them. Waugh led from the front, his aggregate of 398
being the second highest in the competition while twin brother
Mark (375) played his part admirably. They were well served in
the bowling department too and while Shane Warne (20) finished as
the joint top wicket taker, Glenn McGrath (18) was not far
behind. So astute was the captaincy and so effective was the
batting and bowling that the utility qualities of Michael Bevan
and Tom Moody were barely required.So there you have it the mantra for a World Cup winning side.
Astute or inspiring leadership, a formidable batting line up, an
awesome bowling attack and one or two utility players allied to
other mandatory factors like brilliant fielding and catching,
self belief, the ability to win anywhere and not just in your
backyard, a thoroughly professional approach and the readiness to
innovate. Does the Indian team have all this? I leave it to the
reader to be the judge.
