|
By Tushar Jha
 We
beat them in their own backyard. We made them
stand up and acknowledge our might. We actually
surprised them. They said they hadn't seen an
Indian team like this ever before. We not only
won hearts as advised by our then premier but
also won both the One-Day and the Test Series.
But that’s history, isn’t it?? A coach once told
his team members " We here because, we win. You
are here because we win. When we lose, we are
gone" While these words might be a little too
strong in the Indian team’s context, but this
message needs to be conveyed to them
nevertheless.
The
performance in the last two ODIs that we have
played against our archrivals have been dismal
to say the least. It’s difficult to fathom, how
a team that had just demoralized the Pakistanis
has capitulated so meekly on two occasions in
succession. 'Woolmer Magic'?? Naah!! Lets not
deviate from the post mortem. Complacency?? May
be .We have done what all teams before us could
never do on Pakistan soil. Can we relax a
little?? Definitely not. Lack of planning and
the aversion to take impromptu decisions during
the run chase on both occasions?? May be. The
Indian approach seemed more like a software
program which works in a predefined and is found
wanting if confronted with something out of its
ambit.
Something is definitely wrong with the Indian
approach and it would be best left to Sourav and
Wright to find out what and get back to the
winning ways. Winning, as the Windies of the 70s
and 80s and more recently the Aussies have
proved, is a habit. It’s about doing things that
you do best, and doing them over and over again.
To the winner, there is 100 % elation, 100 %
fun, and 100 % laughter; and yet the only thing
left to the loser is resolution and
determination. This, although is one of the
paradoxes of the winning habit, but have we had
enough of those 100 percents?? Not yet, I’m
sure.
I
wouldn’t like to jump the gun here to soon and
go into too many details of what might be the
reason for our losses and would like to
accentuate my faith in Wright and Ganguly who
have done so well for us in the past. But, I
would definitely like to remind them of the
'Winning Habit ' which we seemed to have got
into sometime back Winning isn’t everything, but
its the only thing. There doesn’t exist a second
place. Either you are first, or you are last.
One last reminder to Ganguly before I sign off.
'Some of us will do our jobs well and some will
not, but I’m sure you know that we will all be
judged on one thing: the result.
Top of the Page |
Related Links