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Sunday Snippets
How neutral umpires changed fortunes bringing in fresh talent
By Venkatesh Raghavan*
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Before we get talking about Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the wicket keeper par excellence and a batting legend who has recently retired from all formats of the game, I would like to make a point on two about how India’s overseas performance bettered over the previous decades owing to the ushering in of neutral umpires in all formats of the game.
To drive home this point, I recall an anecdote narrated by Sunil Gavaskar in his Sunny Days. It talks about bowler Bhagwat Chandrashekar in action at a Test Match India played against New Zealand at Auckland. Chandra got the batsman clean bowled but yet appealed loudly. The New Zealand umpire expressed surprise. “He is bowled. Why are you appealing?” Chandra responded, “He is bowled but is he out?”
Also read: Sunday Snippets: When India became the first country to resume cricketing ties with South Africa
Another anecdote I briefly recall is when a Pakistan cricketer told his Indian counterpart, “Give us Gavaskar. We will be world-beaters.” The Indian cricketer responded, “Give us your umpires and we will achieve the same.”
Touring sides routinely complained about the patriotism of the home team umpires. The situation was partially remedied in 1994 with one neutral umpire and it was fully set to rest by 2002 when it was decided that both umpires will be neutral.
It was in this neutral environment that India dominated the Test and ODI matches played on Pakistani soil during 2003-04 where another legendary opener Virender Sehwag made his mark by scoring a triple century. In a subsequent series that India played on Pakistani soil, Dhoni got noticed for his hard-hitting, devil-may-care attitude and the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf talked in jest about his long hair and no need for a haircut.
Dhoni’s induction in the Indian team acted as a much-needed bout of oxygen for a team that was searching for stability in its middle order batting. After crashing out of the 2007 World Cup first round, losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian team seemed to have hit a nadir and Dhoni too felt the heat as locals of Jharkhand vandalized his home and later police protection arrived to safeguard his family.
After this low, the BCCI picked a young side to play in the first T20 World Cup and put Dhoni in charge as captain of the team. What happened next is history. India won the first T20 World Cup under Dhoni’s captaincy. There were also memorable moments in the tournament when another young player, Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes in a single over. This was a feat that was under the sole proprietorship of veteran Windie-allrounder Gary Sobers in a county match several decades ago. Conspicuously, India’s senior batting line up including Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and others were absent and it was a team of newcomers and young faces.
From then on, the Indian team started having a different set of players for each format of the game, Tests, ODIs and T20. Dhoni went on to become the Indian captain in all formats of the game. In 2011, looking at the form of the Indian cricketers, overseas players too tipped India were the favourites for the World Cup tournament.
After a couple of hiccups that involved a tie with England and a close target that was set for Pakistan in the semi-finals, the Indian team under his able stewardship arrived at the final fixture in which it played against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka scored a robust 276 and the total looked formidable to achieve for a team chasing it. Only two matches back, India had beaten Australia by scoring over 260 after they were put in to chase the total.
Captain Dhoni promoted himself up the order and made short work of the feat when he hit the bowler for a huge six to score the winning runs. Immediately, sounds of triumph resounded from the commentary box, stating “After a gap of 29 years, India have done it again.” Though the euphoria generated by the World Cup victory died down after a couple of away series against England and Australia, Dhoni followed it up by being the only captain to savor victory in all the three world championships. In 2013, he led India to victory in the Champion’s trophy playing against England in the finals. By the end of 2014, Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket.
He continued being Captain of the Indian ODI team which reached the semi-finals in the 2015 World Cup in which it lost to Australia by a huge margin. Finally, in 2017 he stepped down as skipper of the ODI format but made himself available for playing in ODIs as a wicketkeeper batsman.
Having played in four World Cup tournaments out of which India won the finals once and reached semi-finals twice, he has plenty of feathers to put away for posterity. Adieu to you Dhoni for announcing retirement from all formats of the game. We wish you a bigger second innings in life.
*The writer is a Mumbai-based journalist and novelist. He is the author of bestseller thriller, Operation Drug Mafia (Times Group Books). The views expressed are his own.
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