As one of
Indian Cricket's most obedient sons walks into retirement,
Virat Kohli promises to carry the baton passed by
Rahul Dravid.
Often a baton-exchange in cricket takes place in full public view, even though sometimes its meaning becomes clear only much later. When
Vijay Merchant broken his career with 154 against England in Delhi, the batsman at No. 3 was run out for 21.
This was Polly Umrigar, who was to carry the batting on his shoulder in the next generation.
Forty years ago, as Dilip Sardesai was moving towards the then record score of 642 in a series in the West Indies, he pointed to a younger man saying the latter was the future of Indian cricket. That 21-year-old, Sunil Gavaskar, went on to make 774 in the same series.
At
Cardiff, as
Rahul Dravid and
Virat Kohli batted jointly, put on 170 in a one-day international, it was hard to look beyond the clear pattern. Another baton-exchange, this time in a one-day international, but it doesn’t take too much head to make bigger that to Test cricket.
It is not an abnormally Indian thing – this obligation of order as a creation prepares to bid goodbye. Australia, looking at a No. 3 to succeed
Ricky Ponting has a new applicant, the young
Shaun Marsh, who made a century on Test debut next to Sri Lanka recently. England’s bench strength in the series against India was so rich and varied that the senior players can feel the breath of the youngsters on their necks.
Much of the remains of the cricket season in India will now be occupied with the thought of whom after the Biggies? Or its variants. While it is generally accepted that Sachin Tendulkar, like Bhagwat Chandrasekhar before him, cannot have an correct replacement, India’s current lowly status in world cricket means that any hint that they might be able to squeeze in an infrequent square peg into a round hole, will be welcomed.
Sport is a strange creature. You don’t lose if you can find your future in the loss. As William Blake said in another context, without contraries there is no progression.
A generation and more ago, when another Fab Four – the spinners Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and
Srinivas Venkatraghavan – retire, those who moved into their shoes had the extra pressure of not only taking wickets at the same rate but being aesthetically as pleasing and articulate to boot.
Virat Kohli, Cheteswar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and others will face a similar intolerant approach when the Tendulkars, Dravids and Laxmans move on. Their success will depend on how well they cope with this extra, and in some ways unnecessary pressure.
It is mainly difficult when the team is doing badly. As England exposed once again in Cardiff, when a team is doing well, everything it touches turns into gold. When John Bairstow inwards at the crease during the chase, the match was still India’s, but the young man bat with the self-assurance and freedom that he had captivated through some osmosis from a winning team. In 21 deliveries, he became a national hero.
Kohli brings to his game an additional aspect of team spirit – the ability to put off through osmosis the aggravation and depression that comes from defeat. His century was another reminder that he is ready for thought as a front-runner to take over from the batting greats.
The Zaheer Khan saga might have, sadly come to an end. We will know soon enough. It is difficult not to feel understanding for a team which lost ten players throughout injury on a miserable tour. Yet, should India soon ascend back to the top spot in either form of the game, the magic instant will be traced to that magic partnership between Dravid and Kohli.
Gaji
