Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Kumble does a Worrell in Australia

In 1960-61, Frank Worrell became the first black man to captain the West Indies in Australia. This honour came to him after a long struggle. Worrell distinguished himself on and off the field and lead his men admiringly. The series is well remembered for the quality of cricket. Even though the West Indies lost 2-1, they won the hearts of the public and thousands of people lined the streets to give Worrell and his man a fitting farewell. Worrell is also credited for unifying the island nations to at last compete as one team.

47 years later, Anil Kumble stands on the cusp of similar greatness. His elevation to captaincy has come very late in his cricketing life. He has also been in a constant struggle; albeit of a different kind, trying to win the hearts and respect of an ungrateful board and an under appreciative nation, which mistook his impeccable behaviour as a lack of aggression and leadership ability. The manner in which he has lead his side to take the fight to the Aussies begs the question – how could we ignore him for so long as we stumbled from one poor captain to another. While Stephen Fleming and Sourav Ganguly can claim greater success in Australia; having drawn a test series, they cannot match the overwhelming public support generated in Kumble’s favour. And this support has come from the Australian fans as well, a la Worrell's. This latest conquest between India and Australia has become a landmark in the annals of the game and will be remembered for all the right as well as wrong reasons. That Kumble has raised the level of his game is also testament to his character and never-say-die approach to the game. This series has united the Indian nation like never before – another feat which places Kumble in Worrell’s company.

Now for something which might be of interest to Mr Narendra Modi – riding a crest of rightist support in Gujarat. I was watching the closing moments of the Perth Test at the airport. The stand between Clark and Mitchell Johnson was causing a lot of anxiety for the watching public. Among them was a large family of Bohra Muslims. (This is a sect that originated in Gujarat). They were flying on Air Deccan and as soon as their flight was announced they rushed to join the queue for boarding – a very common occurrence. Their early start got them a place at the head of the line – quite an advantage if you are flying that particular airline. Moments later, a Muslim from Baroda dismissed Clark and the crowd at the airport erupted with jubilation. The group of Bohras dropped their luggage, forgot where they stood in the line and ran back to catch a glimpse of the dismissal. This was a postcard moment for unity in diversity through cricket.

When I was planning to start this blog, I wanted to call it ‘cricketsedoor’ meaning away from cricket. I was almost burnt out as a follower of the game and wanted to write on other sports only. And the irony is that this year all the posts have been on cricket. That is why this series is unprecedented in its all-encompassing effect on Indians of all types and Anil Kumble is a modern day equivalent of Frank Worrell.

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3 comments:

Vanjul said...

good insite avinish... i think this will break the vodo which greats as geffory boycott has tht batsmen can be better captain... but kumble has proven everyone wrong....his humbleness also adds to his fan followings....the way he handled sydney was good....

Unknown said...

Mr Boycott's views on most things including his grandmother's batting ability suffer from a similar hopeless bias

Unknown said...

kumble simply roxx!!!
hes the greatest!!!
I m sure the way hes going he can serve india for at least next 2-3 years.