World Cup Diaries: The Booing, The Tayloring & The Cooling
The journey of a journalist isn't as exciting as a sportsman out there on the field but it's probably the closest a mango man (aam aadmi) can come to understanding the juicy, sometimes sour, sometimes sweet, world of the Gentleman's game. Part two of the World Cup diaries, brings to you a glimpse of what else is going on when a World Cup is on apart from the wickets, sixes, fours you see on the television.
- Amitoj Singh
- Updated: March 15, 2015 05:40 pm IST
The pre-match press conference is where we journalists get our answers. It is customary but not compulsory for participating teams to send in their Captain for pre-match media interactions. However, barring India almost every team follows the code. I am not asking MS Dhoni why he sometimes doesn't come for the pre match press conferences. Personally, I believe very strongly, Captaining India is the toughest Captaincy job in the world in any sport. So yeah give him a break as often as you can and before a game against already knocked out Zimbabwe would be the ideal scenario. But I can't help give you a sense of what happens if the Captain himself doesn't show up.
This particular media conference was attended by Mohammad Shami. India vs Zimbabwe was up next. Having performed brilliantly in the World Cup till now, Shami was confident, respectful and detailed in his answers. There was one question though that strayed from the kind we would have probably got from Dhoni.
Is there any room for improvement in the Indian camp after winning 5 out of 5 World Cup games?
The answer wasn't a yes or a no. It was 'We'll keep doing what we're doing and you'll keep watching. Consistency is the key''
Alternatively, if MS Dhoni would have come for the press conference his answer, I suspect, would have been - 'There's always room for improvement. We don't know how good we all can be. We have to discover that' Shami gave us a hint of over confidence, Dhoni would have been wary of that.
When the match begins it's easy to forget all of these details which might call for the statement 'you're reading too much into it'. It's kind of our job folks. Getting back to the match though makes one see the bigger picture. Cricket is just loved. The effort some fans put into cheering for their team leaves one wondering 'how in this age of technology and busy lives, do the fans manage?'
One set of fans have come dressed in the white and black clothes that India's first World Cup winners wore in 1983. They stitched it themselves. The fans rock to 'mundian toh bach ke raheen' a little more than they do to 'we will we will rock you'. Virat Kohli gets the loudest cheers every time he so much as looks at the crowd. He claps asking that section of the crowd to get behind the team even more and they oblige.
The respect for Dhoni though is almost Sachin like. Poor Tendai Chatara (Zimbabwe bowler) did what any bowler does when a batsman hits it straight back at him - threaten to throw it straight back at the batsman and his stumps, in a sense ordering him to get back in his crease. But the crowd responded immediately. Tendai Chatara will forever remember the 'booing' he got from more than 30,000 Indian fans.
The fans' loyalty to Dhoni is evident just as much is Brendan Taylor's is to Zimbabwe. Taylor announced just before the game vs India that he would be retiring and would go to England to play county cricket. That decision made him unavailable to play for Zimbabwe any longer, but he could play for England in the future. For a man who chose to leave Captaincy and Country to aspire for greener pastures, for a growing family back home, the decision he termed 'the hardest of his life' should be a no brainer, a practical decision. However abandoning one's country when you lead it was indeed tougher for him than anyone could understand. How tough was it? Well, nobody can quantify it but just the fact that Taylor scored an unbelievable 138 off 110 vs the World Champions gave us our answer. It's hard to imagine a Captain of a minnow country playing such an innings which is probably why Sunil Gavaskar termed it one of the best ODI innings he had ever seen.
The motivation for Brendan though was something that was undefined. It was a deep desire to give his country all that he could in his last attempt, considering he was leaving it for good. His reaction at completing the century said it all. It was 'tayloring' the perfect answer to how difficult it was for him to take this decision.
The image of the day for me though was one that was probably not even caught by the television cameras. It is probably what will lead India to winning this World Cup, if they do - The Dhoni effect. MS Dhoni had played a shot and called for a run. Suresh Raina who had already completed his century, gave up midway as the throw missed the stumps and Raina survived. Dhoni only gestured as if to say 'what are you doing'?' A few fist pumps and an inaudible conversation later purpose was back in Raina's body language. Captain Cool had performed 'the cooling'. Raina's century was far from flawless but Dhoni's presence made the ultimate difference.
It was close to midnight in Auckland and Mr Sunil Gavaskar came out to record a show with us. He would go on to say 'Raina is a different animal when Dhoni is batting alongside him'. But back to how much cricket is loved. Within minutes of Mr Gavaskar reaching the secluded spot we had found for our recording, Indian cricket fans somehow found us. We were not in India. We were in Auckland, New Zealand. It was late. They still sniffed us out.
The fans waited patiently for the recording to end and then took their selfies. Mr Gavaskar smiled. I wondered. Isn't it all just amazing?