The difference is obvious

Published : Sep 22, 2001 00:00 IST

WHILE spreading to different parts of the globe, cricket became an all-season sport played round the year. As a result, teams now are constantly on the move and cricket stars accumulate more frequent flier miles than runs. Some feel there is too much cricket as the Indians play every day, but this could be because we lose so often. Other teams too play as much.

Helping the game grow rapidly are several innovations. Australia took cricket indoors, closed the stadium roof and staged the game under lights, in what was off-season for them. India has no stadium roof to close, but it went ahead with a series in mid-May in searing heat, in what is normally off-season. New Zealand used a prefabricated pitch, prepared in a lab, for a Test match. England erected temporary lights and extended play till midnight.

All this means cricket is stretching like elastic and more matches are being played. Due to this packed schedule, players add extra pages to their passports and Mohandas Menon ji and his colleagues do double shifts keeping track of their achievements. Also, it is impossible to surf channels on TV in the evening without catching some live action from distant corners of the world.

Of course, all this is paise ka khel because international cricket is driven by economics, money makes the circus go round. The arrangement is most satisfactory - Cricket Boards get rich, TV networks are pleased, the sponsors are not complaining. The players? They are happy, cricket is livelihood and in their short life span money is made only if runs are made, and neither is possible by sitting at home. This may change marginally with annual contracts but, still, if Sachin has to take home Rs. two crore he must play 50 games for India every year and do duty for 100 days.

We all love cricket, but too much of a good thing is bad, with excess supply interest must decrease. Which means even with live cricket available, the earlier urgency is gone, one does not reschedule work to accommodate cricket as often. Matches are erased quickly from memory and few remember what happened in the series the previous week.

The other problem is that players get injured, the dressing room resembles a hospital ward and doctors decide the team as much as the selectors. Bowlers are the hardest hit, Srinath/ Kumble could not shoulder the burden (excuse the pun) and Laxman/ Sachin could not find their feet (excuse this pun, too) and missed out.

A related, but larger, issue is about the quality of cricket. Till yesterday, Zimbabwe was the popat side, but they recently humbled us in a Test when all regular bowlers were missing. Now there is Bangladesh, which, if competing in the Ranji Trophy next season, would most likely be in the august company of Himachal and Services in the B division. In one-dayers they might win an odd game against brotherly opposition (as with Pakistan in the last World Cup), but their hopes in Test cricket rest on rule changes which compel McGrath to bowl leg breaks and Lara to bat right-handed.

Just as nobody disputes Bangladesh's sorry position, there is no doubt about Australia's top position in world cricket. Ignore silly ratings, it is pretty evident they are in a different zone and if Test cricket was a 1500 metre race, the silver medallist would be two laps behind. Steve Waugh's team set new standards and the rest struggle to keep up.

The Aussies play with style, they display dignity and poise on the field. Players conduct themselves like mature adults and not a bunch of kids on a night out without permission from their hostel warden. You don't see them jump into each others arms after dismissing a tailender, the difference in class is the same as that between Tusshar (the latest teenage wonder in Hindi cinema) and Shahrukh (the durable cool dude). The gap between Australia and the rest is as wide as that of Germany and India in football - really poles apart.

The reasons why the Aussies are serial winners are easy to identify. There is loads of talent, plenty of hard-nosed professionalism and deep commitment, the last so woefully missing in India. John Wright rues the fact that India does not do the basics right; the Australians have no such problems. You won't remember occasions when top guys get run out in the same innings, Mark Waugh dropping sitters at slip or McGrath straying down the leg side with seven fielders on the off. These guys, to use a PGA phrase, are really good. And they know it!

Actually, so do others. England escaped a 0-5 thrashing only because the local Muasam Vibhag misled Gilchrist with predictions of rain. Gilchrist declared in good faith and lost the game as his team, quite literally, was left high and dry. Before this temporary stutter Australia crushed opposition, often in two and a half days, made Test runs at one-day rates, picked sides with four bowlers of which one does not get enough to bowl.

Such is their abundance of riches that another half-a-dozen guys are ready for battle but can't get a game. They have no other option but to chew gum and wait for someone to get injured.

It's no coincidence they are led by Steve Waugh, a statesman with a towering personality whose demeanour is understated and unobtrusive, yet firm, aggressive without being abrasive.

He does not speak much but chooses words carefully and is not afraid to make a blunt point. Handles his job with calm maturity, is guided by a sense of pride and patriotism and an intense commitment to values. Steve Waugh's simple message to others: don't mess around with me, mate.

Compared to Australia, Indian cricket is in medieval times, struggling to get the basics right despite a foreign coach/ trainer/ consultant/ expert. Domestic cricket is in disarray, coaching/ development programme is absent, facilities are primitive at most centres and there is insufficient will to push reform.

It is possible to list hundreds of things that are wrong but despite the pervasive gloom there is hope. We have Sachin Tendulkar, cricket's ultimate Kohinoor who has more carats and lustre than the Nizam's Jacob diamond. He is the answer to our cricket prayers and dua who attracts young talent like a magnet. He is Raj Kapoor, someone who creates and sells dreams.

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