Lack Of Focus And Not Anouska Let Kohli Down !

The Indian cricket team  made a inglorious exit from the Cricket World Cup .It came under fire from every front –including  getting a few bullets from me .Many were giving vent to their anger for emotional reasons and some like me were angry because I thought  they  were put up on a high pedestal  by the media  ,for not much reason – and  they had to fall .I wrote in a blog before the World Cup started that we would be lucky to make it to the semi  finals –I am glad I  was proved wrong .The last thing I had expected  when I made the  forecast  was that Bangladesh would be among the 8 teams that  would  qualify  and I always thought that England would find its place under the sun !!Bangladesh are the minnows of world cricket –no matter what their Prime Minister thinks of them  .Lucky we ran into them in the quarters .

There were a lot of reasons for Indias defeat  in the semi finals –but Anouska Sharma is certainly not one of them.

Do players get distracted ? Yes they do unless they are exceptional human beings  and exceptionally gifted .Those who are geniuses  can  cope with distractions –those who are short of it may not .From all accounts drinking ,dancing and having parties all night will certainly affect ones performance .And if one is in the midst of a tempestuous love affair ,it will almost certainly distract you .If you are not distracted –then you are certainly not in love .!! Obviously Virat Kohli was distracted –but then why blame Anouska ? Its not she who was batting and  on whose name so much was at a stake.Blame Virat for it –he just does not seem to handle his distractions well enough these days .Remember him losing his cool on a journalist  which led to him being warned by the BCCI ? Do you think the incidents like that   would not have distracted him ?  Besides ,he has to cope up with his celebrity status  ,and add to it the celebrity status of his girlfriend  .Not being able to handle fame and fortune is the greatest challenge for anyone (remember what it did to Vinod Kambli and Rajesh Khanna  ).So lets get the red herring out of the way –players get distracted - unless one is a genius like Sacchin Tendulkar who left a world cup match to attend his fathers funeral  and came back and scored a century and dedicated it to his Dad .Or  you have to be like the greatest cricketer of all time –Gary Sobers.Here is a incident from his life .

Sobers was known as someone who was likely to be in the mood for a party, even during a major match. He rarely went to bed at a normal time because he was  one of those people who could   have four or five hours' sleep and still wake up fresh he admitted.It was well known I liked a drink  and went betting  after play.

While most of the West Indies team returned to the Clarendon Court Hotel after a days play against England in a Test Match , Sobers headed out with retired West Indian spinner  Reg Scarlett, and the pair headed to a nightclub, and as they made ready to leave in the early hours, Sobers said he "realised I had long gone past the need to sleep". He persuaded Scarlett to come back to the hotel, where the two of them settled down in the bar to reminisce.

"We drank until about 9 o'clock in the morning , then I got a cold shower, walked up to Lord's, got my pads on and walked out as the umpires called play," he said. "I took guard, but all I could see as Bob Willis ran up was arms and legs. The first five balls I missed, and I could hear Kanhai (he was the Captain of the team) and everyone else up in the pavilion laughing. Anyhow, the sixth ball hit the bat."

As his head slowly cleared, he found he had other problems, as "churning pains" started in his stomach. As he neared his hundred they were bad enough for him to consider retiring, but he feared it would break his concentration.

He completed his century and soldiered on until the afternoon drinks interval, when he turned to Charlie Elliott, the umpire, and said: "I'm not feeling well, can I go off?" Elliott was bemused. "Go? What for? I haven't seen you get any injury." An increasingly desperate Sobers replied: "Charlie, I've held this in for 50 minutes, I can't hold it any longer. Put down whatever you like. I gone…" And with that he headed back to the dressing room, unbeaten on 132.

Inside the pavilion, Kanhai asked what was up and Sobers told him that his stomach was "giving him hell", adding: "The only thing that'll help me now is a port and brandy mixed." The drink was duly produced and he downed it in one. "Bring him another brandy and port," Kanhai said. "But make it a big one this time." Sobers was ready to return. He duly completed his 150 !!

Clearly the Indian Cricket Team has no Gary Sobers amongst them and Virat Kohli  and gang should be supervised like schoolboys when they tour .Otherwise they lack the talent and discipline to be given the freedom  and iconic status that they enjoy .In the end –it was this factor that led them down .The VIP culture percolates every pore of our society –and you get further away from yourself if you start believing in it .To win –you need to be yourself and not be someone who has been created  by someone else .The gap must narrow and merge for you to be a winner .

We Lost Bcoz We Did Not Play Cricket.

I usually don’t write post scripts about cricket .Its a futile thing to do because the game is so unpredictable .Only someone who has played it for close to 30 years and followed it with the mind of a addict can appreciate that .For a majority of us –it’s a entertainment .For a addict and a student of the game –it’s a science ,(about why and how much the ball will swing and spin,about how much it will bounce ,about how quickly it will come off the wicket ,about where it will go if it is hit with a bat which you swing at a angle starting from lifting it from the position of third man or above your shoulder ),and so on .Its a game about strategy and cunning –about how you give the ball more flight in the air so as to generate that little extra bounce off the wicket leading to a mishit (ah Bedi and Prassana were prime masters at that ) and so on .Its not just a “lathi charge” –hitting leather with wood .More than anything –the game is  about patience and planning .We lost the match yesterday because we failed  to play cricket like cricket .There was no science .Rohit lost his wicket because he left a huge gap as he brought down his bat .He did not bring it down straight .Kohli lost the plot because he became impatient .He was just not in a position to hook  but the Australians (and perhaps someone in the stands )drove him to desperation .There were a billion hopes that sunk with his shot .Shikhar made a fool of himself .He was going nicely ,was getting runs and there was no need to hit everyball and to hit it straight to the only fielder in the outfield on the off side  .The strategy should have been to keep picking the singles ,get fours and sixes occasionally ,and push the score till 125 and then go bang bang !! But he just lost the plot .Dhoni was the greatest disappointment .17 overs and still no Ashwin ? We were all waiting for him to come on .And who do we see coming to bowl –Kohli .God ,can anyone explain that ?We had Australia in a tight spot after getting the prized wicket of Warner   let them off .Spin should have been introduced much earlier .And can anyone explain why Dhoni waited for so long to have a go at the bowling ?It was a impossible ask by then .The run rate was too much for the asking and we were not playing Afghnasithan .

It was a sad end to a world cup campaign.And it was sad not because we lost .It was sad because we lost in the way we did .No planning ,no fight and no remorse .Were we good enough to reach the semis ? I think we were lucky to be there in the first place .We were never tested till the run up to the quarter finals .We were lucky against South Africa –yes we were lucky – and we did not have a chance against any of the 3 teams that made the semis .No matter how much you say –“well played India”-the fact of the matter is that we played badly .And we did not play cricket .And we were not upto it .I don’t care too much for pessimists .I dislike optimists .I love realists who call a spade a spade.Call me anti national .Call me a pessimist .Call me anything –but for heavens sake –call a spade a spade .