Of the Englishmen, the Taj and Cricket!

England arrived on the Indian shores in the first week of November to partake in what I very wrongly predicted would be a forgettable series coming after a legendary smashing of the Aussies. And make no mistake; the Englishmen (of which yours truly is an ardent supporter) made all the efforts to ensure that the series would be forgotten even before it got over. At Rajkot, a belligerent Yuvraj reminded them of what it takes to play India in India, at Indore they did start well before faltering; at Kanpur they were undone by Dhoni’s smart reading of the D/L and it just went on. Frankly, even a Tim Henman stood a better chance of winning at his game but certainly not this team. I remember watching Freddie Flintoff celebrate an Indian wicket early in one game with his shoulders drooping and absolutely no confidence in his demeanor whatsoever. That spoke a lot about this team. Without Flintoff, without Pietersen they are like a rudderless ship. And a rudderless ship was exactly what KP’s captaincy was like. I would leave the topic as to why and how I started liking England and KP to be discussed for some other time but for now, I would certainly like to concede defeat to all my friends and fellow Indian supporters, and would also make it clear that I do not have a clue as to how England are planning to survive over the 10 days of cricket to be played at Chennai and Mohali!!
Coming back to the story though, it was after the rain hit game at Cuttack that things took a different turn, cricket took a complete backstage and a different species of sportsmen decided that it was time to play their game in a playground called Mumbai. I remember the ‘Shiv-Sena’ once dug up the Ferozshah Kotla in their bid to avoid the Pakistanis play on Indian soil; I wonder why they dint do the same to Mumbai on the 26th. The players who had arrived in Mumbai went on a Sehwag-like rampage hitting the Mumbai Police for a few sixes and fours. The city was taken hostage for a whole of 72 hrs and nobody, I repeat; nobody spoke cricket. 72 hrs without talking cricket is a long time in India and you really need to hit us hard for us to do that. England immediately made their way through to Cuttack-Bangalore-London and to safety.
What followed was an almost week-long round of negotiations, security checks, assurances to the players by the ICC, the BCCI, and the ECB amidst other things. The media channels as usual went into all kinds of speculations saying they would never come, they would come but without Flintoff & Harmison (I really doubt if the tests would have even lasted for 3 days in that case!) etc. etc. Finally, a full-strength (if you can really use that word) England took the flight to Abu-Dhabi still unsure of whether they would land up in India.
And now it’s over to Chennai. The first test starts Thursday 11th Dec; 15 days after the ghastly attacks on Mumbai. Pietersen and his men definitely deserve to be given the credit for what is a very bold decision on their part to come and play. Especially when they could have very easily opted out of what seems to be another disaster on the cards.
I guess though, and I think most people would agree, that it’s not anymore about cricket on this tour. Its definitely not. I am just waiting to see the two teams do a lap across the Chidambaram stadium once the test match is over and for me, that is going to be the moment of the series, leave aside anything dramatic. We aren’t bothered about whether it is Sehwag or Flintoff who get the century, the century is either ways gonna be dedicated to a Karkare or an Unnikrishnan. Let’s hope that someday, the champions of terror are successfully dissuaded against it. Till then, lets go on with the game. Let’s get back to what is our LIFE.