In Honor of Honest Labor

So, finally, it came. A century against Bangladesh, in Bangladesh, in an ODI. And, to boot, a workmanlike effort, no frills, just a methodical march to a hundred, nothing more to say about the innings. Tendulkar himself was, by now, frustrated enough that his overwhelming emotion was only relief.

But although most of the commentary paid richly deserved tribute, there seems to be this small sense that the event, when it happened, didn't merit the occasion. After all, consider where we have been. Way back, when this was barely news, there was India-Pakistan in the World Cup. Then, the final, at the Wankhede. What better place, what better time? Not to be. No matter, venue and occasion quickly followed one after the other, each one seemingly just as fitting or more, than the previous one for the man and his momentous achievement. The 2000th Test at Lords, a Test at the Oval. Wankhede again, cheering its favourite son home. MCG, The Sachin Cricket Ground, with the Australians themselves claiming it was destined to be so. It was not. The WACA and the Adelaide Oval, scenes of past glory. No and no. Finally it comes in unheralded Bangladesh. You sense that everyone had all kinds of material where they wrote eloquently about the place, the time, and the monumental milestone, about how it all magically came together just so. All for nought, for there is not a whole lot to wax lyrical about an ODI against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla. Thus, the quick mention, the pivot to more illustrious past, and the almost apologetic explanation about how it should be about the hundred hundreds, not just the hundredth.

But I disagree. I think it is quite fitting for Tendulkar to have reached the milestone where, when and how he did. Take, first of all, the people in the stands, the Bangladesh fans. I was telling myself a few days ago, watching the TV showing Bangladesh fans in the stands praying - literally hands-together-praying - their team onwards in their chase of Pakistan's total, that it must really be wonderful to be a Bangladesh fan. The tension, the suspense, the importance of every match. With all the top notch talent and all the matches and the winning, all of us fans of all major playing nations, are, I think, just a bit jaded. Although many of us (probably not Australian fans) can remember, if we tried, another time of endless frustration just at the brink of world class and the sheer exhilaration of unexpected but long-awaited triumph, we are not as innocent now. Winning is normal, and losing is only an opportunity for criticising or at best informed analysis, no time for renewed and postponed hope. If anyone deserved to see Tendulkar's feat firsthand, I think the Bangladesh fans did. Probably more than anyone else, for their unrivaled passion and their innocent enjoyment of the game. This story about a veteran Bangladeshi photojournalist shooting the event in spite of being ill captures the point perfectly. The privilege of witnessing this bit of history was no less deserved by those at the Sher-e-Bangla than the grandees at Lord's or the SCG.

If you are not convinced by that line of argument, there is another dimension to this as well. Sharda Ugra writes in this lovely piece about how, for two decades Tendulkar has kept the Machine at bay. And here we see how it is done. We see it in the poignant report on the previous day of Tendulkar attending optional nets. 70 minutes of batting practice before a match against Bangladesh, after 99 centuries over 22 years. We see it in the struggle, for more than a year. We see it in the almost enforced humility in seeing Lord's, SCG and MCG, Wankhede go by in failure, so near yet so far, but Mirpur - Mirpur ! - provide succour, even then only after patient, no-frills, honest labor. We see that Tendulkar does his part, refusing to depart from simply working hard, practising, playing, and practising some more no matter what, where and who the opposition. And we see that the powers that be do theirs in protecting him. He gets his due, but not before he pays a price that shows to anyone who is paying attention how you can get a hundred hundreds while not being swallowed by the Machine.

A hundred hundreds achieved in Mirpur against Bangladesh is the culmination, the supreme symbol of the man beating the Machine. Simultaneously, it is also a manual for how to do it. If we appreciate Tendulkar not just for his cricketing genius but also for who he is, as I do, this is as good as it can get.

 

Vacuous Analysis and Gratuitous Nastiness

So much of cricket coverage is so routinely vacuous that commenting on it would be like writing about the invisibility of air.

But there is a certain type of commentary which is particularly insidious because it hides its emptiness beneath the polished patina of a pretty turn of phrase. Sadly common in the supposedly serious press, it lacks even the redeeming honesty of a tabloid hack job.

Writing in the broadsheet The Australian, the highly regarded Gideon Haigh has recently produced some fine examples of this kind of writing. Surely he has written much better in the past to deserve his great reputation.

What particularly moves me to comment is some seemingly gratuitous nastiness that goes well beyond pithily describing cricketing failures. Here, for instance is his take on Kohli:

"In the long-term, a candidate for this pivotal role could be Kohli, who finally fleshed out the sketchy case he has made to be considered a serious Test batsman rather than a one-day gigolo."

Gigolo? And how exactly has Kohli prostituted himself? Just by playing for his country in ODIs and doing very well? Maybe it is intended to be just mildly amusing. Maybe it is a clever play on words, one-night, one-day.....But the nasty - and patently baseless - jabs seem to be a regular feature of the column. Sachin Tendulkar is "fast becoming cricket's Harpo Marx." Just why he is supposed to be becoming a clown is never clear. Judging from the surrounding sentences, apparently it is because he hasn't spoken to the press. Or maybe it is because he hasn't scored the much-awaited century (on a related note, I love the way people talk about how Tendulkar should have played in the West Indies ODI series and gotten the century "out of the way." As if it is something like his morning toilet). Of Dhoni, we learn about his motorcycles and his money, without knowing why any of it is of any relevance.

All this is accompanied by much eloquence without any substance. It goes without saying that of cricketing analysis we find next to none. Maybe this column is supposed to transcend such mere mundanities as bowling and batting. But we do not even find any logical, coherently reasoned arguments.

Thus, much ink and space is wasted on the IPL riches - with the BCCI making its usual mandatory appearance - and a vague allusion that somehow it is contributing to the present predicaments of the Indian team. These are not, mind you, the garden-variety arguments about T20 technique. Instead, we are supposed to be convinced that the enormous monies at stake in the IPL have somehow led to a "greater malaise" in Indian cricket:

"Does this suggest that the BCCI's colossal works are trending towards an environment of mediocrity, there being no special incentive to master Test cricket when rewards are so concentrated elsewhere. After all, being a powerful short-form batsman and a competent wicket-keeper has made Dhoni, by the reckoning of Forbes, the world's best-paid cricketer. Why bother trying for more?"

Why, indeed? They must all be masochists, to stand in the sun for days on end, and get themselves called all sorts of names. The fact that India won a World Cup less than a year ago? Probably an aberration in the sea of mediocrity. The fact that the IPL started in 2008 and India did not lose a single Test series for much of its existence, from Oct 2008 to Jul 2011? Well, maybe the effect takes time, much like a slow-acting poison perhaps. And what of this "special incentive to master Test cricket?" I don't see any such thing existing anywhere else either, in Australia, England or South Africa. Every top player from every one of those countries is most anxious to join the IPL too and it doesn't seem to affect them any, if the recent results are anything to go by. Seems to be a mysterious illness that afflicts only Indians. But even that doesn't wash. The bulk of the Indian batting consists of legends who can hardly be said to be affected by IPL riches. The one guy in there who is from the IPL generation has, rather inconveniently, come somewhat good on the tour. The argument fails on so many fronts that it is hard to call it an argument. It is confused thinking and sloppy reasoning sliding by in fluid language.

Not only are these articles disappointingly void of any insights; they are almost irresponsibly personal in their unthinking slinging of some very ordinary mud.

Artful Communications, Lack Thereof

Lucky for the news media. You can only go so far with "inept," "total domination" and the like. It gets old after a while.

But with this India team, they have found a gift that keeps on giving. Instead of the pre-programmed, computer generated, mind numbing, totally inconsequential PR-speak that is routine in so many of the modern media interactions including professional sport, they get gems every day that they can write headlines with and entire articles about.

If a certain touchingly naive directness was the only redeeming quality about these pronouncements, it is far exceeded by a total lack of any understanding of time and circumstance.

Consider Virender Sehwag. His recent foray with the press caused even balanced reporters to lead with 'We won 2-0 in India - Sehwag.' Here is a simple rule that Sehwag can remember, along the lines of "see ball, hit ball." You never, never ever, bring up your past victories. Least of all after having been pasted four different times in as many weeks.

With that, Sehwag has achieved a rare double. Appear a whinging, sore loser now, while at the same time getting a head start on taking the lustre off any future home victories. I used to think India's home wins are not given enough credit for, but now perhaps I begin to see why. If you are going to use them as a fig leaf to cover yourself every time you find yourself without clothes, then even golden fig leaves I suppose would get soiled.

And the disease does not appear limited to Sehwag. Gautam Gambhir produced 'Prepare 'rank turners' for visiting teams - Gambhir.' Again, there is some valid point in there that visiting teams should equally be tested in India under unfamiliar conditions (trust me, they expect to be), but why would you be making this point in the middle of a whitewash in Australia?

Ashwin, for his part, appears to have a picked a semantic quarrel: 'India 'disappointed' not 'embarrassed' - Ashwin.' I have no idea why he thought this was an important distinction we should all be thoroughly informed about, but he needs to understand that just because someone asks you a provocative question does not mean you have to directly and thoroughly answer it. He could simply have said they were all extremely disappointed and stopped there instead of making sure to tell us that the team still had their heads high with their effort. I agree they probably did put in the effort, and there is nothing to be ashamed of there, but that was not the point.

MS Dhoni has, in the past, shown better facility at not creating news simply by having a news conference, but his problem has been different. After a loss or two, a calm demeanour elicits compliment. Especially if it is followed by a win or two. After eight consecutive losses, a beatific smile on your lips as you discuss your team's failings is somewhat out of place. A little glum would have gone a long way here. But that's the way he is, and I am not going to blame him for it. His crimes at the press conferences, at least, are far less.

Now, some would infer problems with attitude and causes of the cricketing disaster from all these weird public pronouncements but I am not going to make that leap. I do however, think that the Indian team can help themselves a great deal by developing a little sensitivity to what perceptions they cause and a little competence in dealing with news media. It is really not very complicated - when you lose all you have to do is simply repeat: extremely disappointed, didn't put up enough runs, didn't take enough wickets, will go back to the drawing board, work hard, blah blah blah. Nothing about pitches, home conditions, and what not. 

As if the players alone are not enough, there is this curious case of a "media manager" of the Indian team that one hears about time to time. I would have thought such a person would have instructed, prepared, even pleaded with, if necessary, the players on how to talk to the media, what to say, and what not to say. That is what spokespersons, communications chiefs, and press secretaries do. And if the Indian team's version is not all that sophisticated, maybe he just gets the microphones and chairs in order for the press conferences. But no, G.S. Walia, India's media manager, appears to be waging his own battles. When the media mention the media manager in a story about a press conference that leads with the words "debacle," and "farce," you know you have plumbed some serious depths of incompetence.

And this I find far harder to accept. The cricket, sure, I get. And having been a child of the seventies and young adult of the eighties I have known the misfortune of fanatic fandom in longer and deeper periods of cricket ineptness. The players and their press conferences, too, I can excuse - they are getting annihilated and are not experts at public communications. But the media manager? This is not an intangible that administrators cannot really control, like the cricket. Can we not find a halfway competent PR person who doesn't get stories written about himself?

Win with grace and lose with dignity, they say. Sadly, a team filled with people who have done both, especially the former and with great distinction, cannot even seem to manage the latter in this tour so far.

A Beautiful Illustration of Brain-dead

It is curious how in all sports bad sporting performances routinely metastasise into horrible mental mistakes.

It was 162 for 5, chasing 500. No, chasing is the wrong word. Whatever curious enterprise India were engaged in out there, it was definitely not chasing totals. No, it was much more relevant that five wickets were down in the 4th innings, with another day to go and an unfathomable number of runs behind, with the last remaining specialist batsman already out there and the number 7, playing in his second Test, slated to walk out. India send out a night watchman !

Several questions come to mind: Who were they trying to protect? That legendary hall of fame middle order that was about to follow? And what was the point of protecting anything? I must have missed it, was there a game hanging in the balance? Or maybe it was the first day of a Test, waiting to be blown wide open the next day?

I really, really wish someone from the media would ask them to explain this decision as a cricketing matter. I say this more out a deep curiosity than anything else, because I found the decision to be quite impossible to understand. The only way I could justify it was nobody was thinking, they had all switched off. With 15 minutes to go or whatever, Ishant pads up. Because that's just the way it is done.

Inevitably, another ugly mental mistake followed - Kohli ran himself out protecting the night watchman. Perhaps he is so used to desperately trying to prolong an Indian innings by now that the sight of Ishant Sharma triggered some muscle memory of shielding his No. 10.

Modern professional sport is played at such a generally high level, and the cost of mistakes correspondingly so high, that it is not too difficult make fools of oneselves. It is certainly not true that a team with hundreds of Tests between them know nothing about the game, but India sure looked like clowns yesterday.

Kohli, Whiskey and a Prediction

Jan 14, 2012. A blog is born, after having been thought about for a long time. More about the history later, but I am having to write this first post with desperate urgency because of certain events that are about to happen. At least that's my prediction.

Satadru Sen opens an article with a pleasing image of settling in to watch India bat with a drink, snacks and the expectation of time, sweet time. Ah, what a wonderful thing, I thought -- certainly to do, but even just to imagine it.  Great to know that there are also other souls out there who would not only do such a thing, but also write about it. But alas, he ends, many words later, that he would be hard pressed to do the same when Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma walk out five years from now.

Surely not, Satadru Sen. I hope not.

Kohli is going to get there. Kohli is going to get himself into your whisky, my snacks and both our time. "Will propped up by something more than itself - propped up by technical virtuosity and severe discipline" says a discerning voice recently.

He doesn't say that about Kohli, but I do. Drive, determination, the sheer pigheaded will to do well, Kohli clearly has all this abundance. I frankly think almost everyone playing at the highest levels has all this, but in Kohli's case it is obvious he does. The look of anguish every time he comes back from the middle is precious.

In fact, I was more worried until recently if he was going to be consumed by his own intensity, swallowed up by an inability to forget his failed outings, a la Billy Beane. But his recent press conference put these fears to rest. Yes, he spoke of not understanding why people are after him -- he needs to ignore this -- but he did so composedly. More pertinently he said this is not the last series we will play, not the end of the world. He has balance in his intensity, perspective in his outlook. This is rare.

Technical virtuosity - not 100% there, but I would say clearly he is 75% there, and what is not there is improving almost right in front of our eyes. Both in Sydney and in Perth, I thought next to Tendulkar he looked absolutely the most in command. Nothing really troubled him. The drives were pure, the leaves assured, bad and pad close in every defense, off stump sense decisive (although he could do a little better here). No less than Richie Benaud was apparently moved by the technical rock-solidness of this kid.

Discipline - no one who watched him in Perth can say he is lacking patience and discipline. He left pretty much everything he could, fished at nothing, never went chasing. I counted more Dravid flashes.

Yet, for all the talk of the promise, no one will go all in with Kohli. We'll have to wait and see they'll say. He has the potential, they say.

Well, if there is going to be any prediction about Kohli, now is the time for anyone bold or stupid enough to make it. Soon, it will be too late to make predictions. So, here we go.

I predict Virat Kohli will prolong Satadru Sen's pleasurable rituals for years to come. I predict Virat Kohli at Perth 2012 will be spoken of in the same breath as Dravid at Headingley, Laxman at Kolkata, Sehwag at Melbourne, Tendulkar at too many places to just mention one.

10 minutes to go before play opens, day 3, India vs Australia, Perth 2012. Virat Kohli 21 not out overnight, India 120 behind.