A squad is only as good as its captain

Sports

14 Hrs Ago

A cricket team can be as strong or as weak as its leader. In the game of cricket, almost more so than any other, the captain must be dynamic. He can win or lose matches by his influence on the performance of his players. The mood, the determination, the absolute positive energy of the team united as one, can do wonders under the baton of leadership of the conductor; all contributing to the cause to create perfect harmony.

Whether a group of ten cricketers is the worst or the best in the world, their performance will resound to the personality of their captain. Depending on the skipper, the outcomes would reflect his influence on the team. Same team, different captains, in any type of cricket, from school to club to country, in theory, would all have varying results. A team responds to its leader. It doesn’t matter whether the side is winning or losing, but how they play the game.

Ajinkya Rahane led the Indian team in the final three Tests of the four-Test series on their tour of Australia, when Virat Kohli, the official captain, was unavailable after the first Test, which Australia won. That first Test was a shocker, as India in their second innings were rolled over for 36 – their lowest score in their history of Tests.

Captain Kohli and his men must have wanted to die of shame at that collapse in a foreign country with no place to hide. The humiliation for their fans back home must have been a horrible feeling for the team members. Kohli, although he might not have wanted to leave behind his suffering mates, to the slurs and slights of some insulting cricket fans, nonetheless, had his other responsibility to concentrate on, and that was to support his wife, who was due to give birth for the first time.

Rahane was very impressive, rising to the occasion as if he had the experience of many years under his belt. He was cool, calm and collected, drawing his players close to him, telling them what their mission was going to be: pulling the curtain down on the recent poor performance, letting them know that the next game was the important one.

The second Test at Melbourne is known as the Boxing Day Test, because traditionally, Boxing Day is the first day of the visiting teams’ second Test. It’s on in every series, since the beginning of Test cricket Down Under. An Australian relishes the thought of participating in this traditional game, not unlike the Englishman playing in a Test at Lord’s.

Then we witnessed this captain we knew not, with grace and unruffled demeanour, reminding me so much of our own Sir Frank Worrell when he took over the West Indies team, moving around his players, exhibiting no fuss nor agitation, always in command of the situation, without revealing any emotional concern. I recognised a master at work, a man blessed with the personality of leadership, born to softly draw out the best in his men without their even noticing it.

He inherited many novices, new to the ordeal by fire of Test cricket, young cricketers brought along on the tour as net bowlers, to give practice to their batsmen so as not to fatigue the regular bowlers on the team, who would have their work cut out for them against the might of the Australian batsmen.

With the series tied at one-all and one Test to play, the injuries kept piling up on the Indian team. Did we hear any excuses from Rahane? No, not a peep. However, the newcomers were ready for the moment, to hold on to the reins of the big time, let it bolt with them and the devil take the hindmost.

Without the leadership of Rahane we would not have perceived the self-confidence of these bowlers. He never mentioned their inexperience. All Rahane said was: “We knew if we wanted to win the Test and series then five bowlers would be the key; that’s why we opted for five bowlers.”

Mohammed Siraj had played two Tests, Navdeep Saini and Shardool Thakur one each, Washington Sundar and Thangarasu Natarajan were on debut.

Siraj picked up six, Sundar four, Thakur seven, Natarajan three. These rookies bowled out the might of Australia twice and won the Test, thus the series 2-1.

Rahane said after the game that his players showed character. Well, skipper, that is because of you.