RevSportz Comment
On air after victory over New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final, Sunil Gavaskar tried to put his occasional criticism of India’s cricketers into context. He compared himself to the family elder who occasionally needed to admonish the young tyros. And why not? If anyone has earned that status, it’s Gavaskar.
It couldn’t be more appropriate that this is being written on March 10, 40 years to the day from India’s triumph in the World Championship of Cricket final against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For most Indians, it was their first exposure to white-ball cricket. The World Cup wouldn’t adopt coloured clothes and the white ball until 1992, and this tournament – to celebrate 150 years of the state of Victoria – was India’s first glimpse at the Kerry Packer-led innovations that had transformed world cricket.
That was a brilliant side, which won five matches on the trot to take the trophy. Kapil Dev provided the new-ball nous – “Knocked ’im over! First cherry! Great yorker” was the inimitable Richie Benaud’s response to his dismissal of Qasim Omar – while Laxman Sivaramakrishnan sprinkled the leg-spin magic. And what wizardry it was. The leg-break that saw Javed Miandad stumped deserved to be framed in a museum.
Gavaskar, in his final match as India captain, affected the crucial run-out of Imran Khan, his counterpart, with a direct hit from backward point, and then watched from the dressing room as India strolled past the target of 177 with eight wickets in hand.
Ravi Shastri, player of the tournament back then, never won an ICC tournament as coach, but no one would quibble at his contribution to the solid foundation that has allowed Indian cricket to bask in this era of dominance. Across the last three major tournaments, India have won 23 matches and lost one – the 2023 World Cup final to Australia. It’s a level of consistency once associated with the old Soviet Union’s Red Machine ice-hockey teams, and few others.
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And what is truly scary is that the Champions Trophy was won without Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s most valuable cricketer by a country mile. Even without Bumrah, India were rarely even stretched. New Zealand pushed them in both games, but can anyone really say that India were ever really behind the eight-ball?
Then, you look at the bench. Arshdeep Singh, who has outstanding numbers in T20 cricket, didn’t get a game. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma weren’t in the squad. Yuzvendra Chahal was watching from the stands as a spectator. Each of those men would waltz into half the international sides around. Pakistan, for example, would bite your hand off if you offered them batsmen of the quality of Jaiswal and Samson.
The BCCI gets so much criticism for a variety of things, some of it justified. But there’s little doubt that India’s staggering talent pool owes much to the work done two decades ago when the likes of AC Muthiah and Jagmohan Dalmiya insisted that the game must grow beyond the big cities. Each such global success will only bring more kids to the sport, more young boys and girls with stars in their eyes.
A white-ball journey that began with Gavaskar and his mighty team 40 years ago is now on the fast track. And such is the momentum that it will take some stopping.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma – Intent Over Statistics
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