The Fantastic Four!

 

 

It’s a dusty field where village youth are playing cricket with gusto beside a mosque. Everything appears routine, scenes indistinct from a thousand others unfolding across the Indian landscape, where youngsters have an impromptu hit about. Then you realise that the scene is set in a small hamlet called Ikhar in Gujarat, the hometown of Munaf Musa Patel – a rags to riches ‘Cricket Cinderella’ if ever there was one. It is on this very field that Munaf Patel generated the buzz about him and in true Bollywood style (all those who have seen Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal will know) entered the Indian cricket team.

At about the same time, a descendant of the strong and robust folk who inhabit the town of Almora in Kumaun, was planning to become the goal keeper of his school team when the cricket team was suddenly a keeper short. Mahendra Singh Dhoni spent a year learning the ropes of wicket-keeping and soon became a critical part of his school side. Football’s loss became cricket’s explosive gain!

Down south, somewhere in Bengalooru, the son of an international hockey referee was taking his baby steps towards becoming a key figure as a wicketkeeper-batsman for his school cricket team. But he gave up his big gloves to concentrate on his batting that became a key to India winning the under-19 Asia Cup.

And a 19-year-old lad from India’s northern city of Chandigarh had already arrived on the scene with a smashing debut against Australia at the Champions Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya. “Yuvraj was a cricketer right from day one. I still remember he used to play with this little plastic bat even when he would be sitting on the pot!” exclaims his father, Yograj Singh. He was being heralded as India’s next great batsman. And Yuvraj Singh should know, because his talent was evident as he powered India to the under-19 World Cup. “He had this astounding sense of timing about him… always!”, says Gulzar Singh Chahal, a schoolmate of his.

The genesis of four contrasting and contrarian cricketers to hit the Indian scene could not have been more diverse. Belonging to the Golden CC – a cricket club that has been around in Ikhar for about four decades, Munaf Patel caught the eye of national selectors and the fancy of the nation when he visited Kiran More’s Alembic Academy in Baroda. His real break came from the patronage of Sachin Tendulkar who spotted his potential at the pre-season camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bengalooru in 2003 and got him to sign up for Mumbai for the domestic season where he impressed with 33 wickets in 10 games at an impressive 25.27. That paved the way for him to break into India A, and about two years later he got picked for the domestic series against England.

If Munaf was making his mark with his stock-in-trade, Dhoni’s leap into the Indian team was more on the back of his pulverising batting than his keeping. He hit the right notes with some destructive knocks in the Deodhar Trophy and Duleep Trophy in the 2004 season after a couple of ordinary seasons, which had led people to start advising him to change his batting style. Thank god the battle-axe wielding buccaneer from Jharkhand decided against it! Robin Uthappa’s steady rise at all levels of cricket was thanks to his uncomplicated style of batting and string of prolific scores. “He never changed his game,” says Krishna Vasist, his team mate at the Karnataka under-13 and under-16 levels. A part of the Brijesh Patel Imtiaz Cricket Academy, Uthappa was always the mainstay of any batting line up he entered, and finally showed his class at the Challenger Trophy in 2006 that earned him the national call up.

Almost born with the cricketing equivalent of a silver spoon in his mouth, Yuvraj Singh lived up to his first name (Yuvraj translates to Prince) as he batted like a dream (not least in that final of the Natwest Trophy at Lord’s in 2002 where he and Mohd. Kaif guided India to an improbable target of 326). Soon enough, the lad from Chandigarh became the mainstay of India’s middle order and a livewire in the field. He played the 2003 World Cup snapping up 240 runs and a few useful wickets as well. In the 2005-06 season he had a run of 31 matches where he scored 1,313 runs at almost an average of 60 (five hundreds and six fifties). Unsurprisingly, India had a stellar record in the One-Day game in the same period. “He is a match winner to the hilt, all that is required out of him is consistency and we might just win (the World Cup) if he performs well,” Maninder Singh, former India left arm spinner hits the nail right on the head. Mark the term ‘match-winner’.

The arrival of each of these players tended to fill a supposed void in the team. Munaf Patel fitted snugly into the role of a lead pace bowler, as Zaheer Khan was injured and Irfan Pathan sought to reinvent himself. Dhoni was the answer to India’s prayers for a wicket-keeper batsman as Parthiv Patel refused to grow up; Yuvraj became just the aggressive middle order the team lacked as the millennium turned. And Uthappa came as a whiff of fresh breeze as Sehwag inexplicably lost potency at the top.

Fortunes turned for Patel as he delivered on his promise and potential with a superb spell against England at Mohali (that effectively won India the Test). And his position was pretty much cemented in the lineup as India had been looking for a fast bowler who could hit the deck hard. He was no Brett Lee, but he sure was the best we had.

Dhoni went through a bit of a slump that threatened his position but then he scared the living daylights out of the Pakistani bowlers as India cruised in chase after chase, and Dhoni was always in the thick of things. He has impressed the venerable Kapil Dev who calls him his hero! Mention Dhoni and Mohinder Amarnath jumps with excitement, “I’m a great Dhoni fan. He is indeed a balle-balle player. He, like Yuvraj, has that aggressive approach and plays sensible cricket.” Robin Uthappa stormed on to the One-Day International scene with a couple of swashbuckling knocks that were as destructive as they were dominant. “He is talented and is very straight in his approach and has been displaying great progress,” says Amarnath. A young 21-year-old still finding his feet in the role of the One-Day opener (a position opened up thanks to Sehwag’s wretched run with the bat), this World Cup is where Robin can become the ‘Batman’!

An injury laid Yuvraj low after his dream run that also saw him solidify himself in Tests, but the good news is that he is back at full throttle right in time for the big one. “He is capable of winning matches on his own and 80% can be achieved by him (alone),” says Mohinder Amarnath who knows a thing or two about winning World Cups (he was after all, the Man of the Match in the 1983 final).

Now the four of these men find themselves in the Caribbean along with another committed 11 men with one aim in mind – capturing or rather re-capturing Cricket’s Holy Grail, the World Cup. In a team that has an average age of 26.4 years, the key members who might swing it for India at the World Cup in the West Indies is this bunch of youngsters aged 25 or less. Just like the Knights Templar held the key to the real Holy Grail, these young knights in shining armour might hold the keys for this one. The selectors have favoured experience over youth but these four youngsters would perhaps lend the X-factor needed for a successful campaign.

Uthappa provides the possibility of a thumping start, irrespective if Sehwag’s form. The experts concur with Maninder Singh saying, “I’m pretty impressed with the great promise he has shown on the field”. Munaf Patel will be invaluable on the pitches where the ball tends to reverse swing. The only concern is his fitness. While Singh says he is a fabulous bowler, he is also “constantly scared that he might break down on the field”. Yuvraj Singh’s rejuvenated solidity and style in the middle order will keep the batting relaxed and pep up the men while fielding. And last but not the least, Dhoni’s explosive exploits as the ‘finisher’ would be invaluable. Singh is right in suggesting, “He is another match winner and can be used more consistently. Dhoni should be sent in and used against the Kookaburra ball once it stops moving. He would take care (of things) from there on . . .” It wouldn’t be stretching the imagination too far to visualise these ‘Fantastic Four’ playing a key role in India’s progress at the cricket carnival that is the World Cup. Get ready to see these next gen superheroes don their capes and make the men in blue . . . fly!