After breakthrough, game needs follow-ups

Dispassionately considered, India was the better team, primarily because of a greater sense of purpose and, therefore, the commitment. Touri...

Dispassionately considered, India was the better team, primarily because of a greater sense of purpose and, therefore, the commitment. Touring teams offset the home advantage by bonding. There were no signs of any cracks in the team and one does not want to make of cricket something more than the game but the prominence given to security created the perception of a common danger. It helped India to play as a team.

But this is not to deny India its due on the cricket field. India’s batting had been built around Sachin Tendulkar and he had become the banyan

tree under whose branches nothing could grow. All other batsmen had been assigned support roles. The emergence of other batsmen from Sachin’s shadow and becoming great players in their own right was the making of Team India.

The bowlers,too, emerged from the shadows of Srinath and Harbhajan Singh — and, indeed, Zaheer Khan — and it was Balaji, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra who played decisive roles in India’s historic win.

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Pakistan, on the other hand, found home advantage a millstone round its neck. It looked a house divided and there is a very strong statement from PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan that he was shocked at the way Pakistan had collapsed in the decider. ‘‘Obvious flaws in Pakistan’s performance will be addressed in a calm and professional manner and I have taken serious note of this lack of commitment to national honour’’, he says in his statement.

I am not entirely sure whether this is not a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. What is needed to bring about is a change in the cricket culture, which is personality-oriented rather than team-oriented.

But the tour has provided lots of positives and the credit for this goes to the cricket public of both Pakistan and Indian. The correspondent of a London newspaper telephoned me for my comments and she, herself, made the observation that, judging by the general atmosphere at the grounds, it was hard to believe that the countries were bitter rivals. I responded by telling her, that the cricket fans had shown that ‘‘politicians were not in touch with public opinion.’’ But, at the same time I cautioned her that there was the night and there was the morning of the night before.

Everyone hopes that the goodwill engendered will last and the best way would be to resume normal cricket relations without the burden of peace and the hoopla of friendship.

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Having resumed cricket ties, a huge obstacle has been removed that was in the way of the development of regional cricket. We can now return to the Asia Cup and make something of it, a tournament second only to the World Cup. A hype can be created for it and I have no doubt that sponsors will be lining up to claim a piece of the action. There should be regular visits of ‘A’ teams between the two countries so that upcoming players can get used to playing against one another.

For me, it was a wonderful six weeks and I shall miss the cricket and miss even the slog of writing about the matches. It was a tough assignment, straddling the fence between subjectivity and objectivity in order to provide fair comment and sift the chaff from the wheat — or is it the other way round?

Both teams need to be congratulated for the way they behaved on the field. And fans need to be saluted for not only enjoying themselves but allowing others to do so.