THE WAREBLOG

In the hoopla of India lifting the ICC Cricket World Cup, a handful might have thought about a player, warrior and a whole lot of other adjectives rolled into one we can colloquially refer to as ‘The Superman’, actually drifting into a silent retirement.

Fans may swear for Sachin’s godliness, critics may crave scores of lines toeing in Murali’s divine skills or even Ponting’s brute mental strength – but in this bokeh of a focussed discussion of the game’s greatest, we have conveniently forgotten to focus on one man who is irreplaceable – the one who makes this picture the bokeh it is.

If you think of it, you can recollect commentators talking of Sehwag being in the ‘Tendulkar mould’ or Murali finding emulators – one even played for KKR last season!

But a genuine doubt that I nurture is if you will ever hear of ‘The Next Rawalpindi Express’.. ‘coz seriously, you don’t unearth a Superman every few years!

And when he silently slid into retirement sitting on the benches during the touted ‘epic’ semi-final of the World Cup, the audience hardly took note. To them, either sixty years of malign was too blinding to admire a true titan or they had conveniently chosen their ‘Gods’ and in return had disrespect for a man not to be seen on the hunting grounds again.

Shoaib Akhtar has taken his last wicket and had his last hurrah in international cricket – a bitter pill to swallow. Even more bitter when you think of no farewell words to follow.

As for a fan like me, I have my little fistful of words..

You are the Protagonist of every story we didn’t write,
You are the Subject of every song they never sang,
You are not Everything they ever wanted,
‘Coz you are Nothing short of Something they can never have – The Superman from Pakistan, We miss you..!

P.S. I grew up wanting to be you ‘coz no cricketer has ever evoked the kind of emotions you generated when you steamed-in each time for your country. I wish you all the success in the road ahead and company that is worthy enough to acknowledge your contributions.

Shoaib Akhtar - The Superman from Pakistan

SOURAV GANGULY – [sho-oo-rob gaan-goo-lee] – noun; Former Captain of the Indian Cricket Team. Most successful Indian Test Captain till date. Skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders in Indian Premier League. Widely been held incompetent as a player and captain in between recurring periods of prolific playing streak. Lately, the second most popular subject of jeering by a section of Indians (after Shahrukh Khan) suffering from severe identity crisis and an abominable urge to be heard.

Dada has come a long way.

Yesterday, it was another one of those days when he stopped way short of expectations for a staunch fanbase – much to the delight of a ‘premium’ section of Indians.

Given my humble coding skills, here’s an attempt to chart the working algorithm behind these (premium) folks, here goes –

1. Start

2. Identify a/another domain of discussion

3. Am I any good at this domain? If yes, go to step 4 else (who cares?? also) go to step 4

4. Identify the most successful person/team/club/firm/artist in this domain.

5. Does the person/team/club/firm/artist derived in step 4 enjoy the largest fanbase around me? If yes, go to step 6 else go to step 4

6. Is there an overriding ‘oomph factor’ in going for an inferior person/team/club/firm/artist? If yes, go to step 7 else – there’s no way out, just take up and go to step 7

7. Am I now surrounded by a sizeable amount of people who can defend my allegiance to this person/team/club/firm/artist since I know (not much == nothing) about my new found ‘love’? If yes, go to step 8 else go to step 6

8. Start planting my fan status and derived opinions that can help heal my identity crisis and jeer anything that comes along the way.

9. Am I gaining enough mileage? If yes, repeat steps 2 to 9 else go to step 10

10. I am now a ‘premium’ soul – let me bask in the glory!

11. Stop

One of these days, I hope to codify this into a ‘predictor’ – given the need for one, I might as well have found out the next sell-out.

And as for Dada –

“Shaara jibon taai shey lorechhe.. korechhe.. aar jeetechhe; aashchhey shomoy, ta-paalte daewaar khomota kaaro-r moddhe dekhle-i jaanbo.. aabar phire pey-chhi Dada!”

Till then – to the ‘Uncommon Indian Elitist’ – Jog on!!

That is pretty much all of the fan-base has on offer for this mercurial and supremely talented guy after being served a two-match ban for ball tampering in the last one-day international against Australia.

Yesterday was a rare sight, a well-galvanised team that was rallying behind its Captain – something I have failed to associate with a team as talented as Pakistan.

Having been comprehensively beaten on most occasions and at certain others, succumbing to the enormity of the prospective accomplishment of pulling one off Australia, the Pakistan side has looked like a mere shadow of its illustrious past for most of the winter.

While not many tolerate – let alone admire, the flair and flamboyance of this team on this side of the border, I have always been a devout fan of the inimitable passion this team carries on to the field. Make no mistake – Team India is where my faithful support lies, but it is the sheer will to win – perhaps even more than the Aussies, that has found Team Pakistan a fan in me.

It was then no wonder that I was all but looking up to the current team to fire after the debacle at Sydney.

Enter Shahid Khan Afridi – and Pakistan was a new outfit altogether. But the hope and highness was short-lived. Afridi chose to have a meaty bite at the cherry in the most crucial of match circumstances. The act did not go unnoticed having been performed in broad daylight of the media shots.

While the timing of such an act was really pathetic from the standpoint of the match – Pakistan went on to lose the match, it also comes across as a blow to Pakistan’s chances of fine-tuning and rallying around Shahid to build the team that one has come to associate with their legacy.

I hope the ban does serve its purpose. In the case of the otherwise, we could have well turned up another ‘what-if’ scenario in a troubled outfit.

There could not have been a better occasion for a champion to show his class, especially for the sake of fans like me who have been waiting for the same for almost an eternity.!

The ‘Rawalpindi Express’ (He’s probably too fast for the tag anyways) as they call him, chose such an opportune moment to vindicate his class and passion for the game and on the receiving end were the Delhi IPL team.

With the first half of the match witnessing paltry yet dogged batsmanship from the Calcutta team, the bowlers and the fieldsmen had to perhaps play the match of their lives and am glad that they did and in doing so gave the spectators moments that would become the highlight of this edition of the IPL when seen in retrospection.

But the whole show was setup by a man who had been on the receiving end of blow after blow from his national cricket body and had been at the centre-stage of severe criticism with former players even doubting his attitude and sincerity towards the game.

This was his first competitive game in a long time but he chose this very moment to weave magic, the way only he can.!

One would exaggerate to say that he silenced them all with his show but it would only be an understatement if I said that Shoaib Akhtar’s passion and flair for the game is still burning; in fact, it’s exploding..!

And every cricket fan who witnessed yesterday’s match would agree that the champion bowler single-handedly blew up the opposition.

It’s ironical that when the nation was burning with the Pink City blasts and alleging foreign hands in the same, here was a foreign hand which was blasting away in a very different and appropriate way, much to the delight of the masses.

Perhaps, we will never learn to treat our champions the way they are due.

Well played Shoaib Akhtar, the cricketer..!

The old warrior still sports that heart-of-a-lion when it comes to standing up and being counted.

On Sunday, the scene was no different when The Prince of Calcutta towered with his all-round performance to almost single-handedly vanquish Team Hyderabad in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Controversies and misfortune may have found favour in his fate-line and yes, his ‘jobfront’ but to put it in the right perspective, they have all been outside his ‘workplace’.

And for the umpteenth time, he once again stood out with his show when he had just been involved in yet another fuss-controversy but more importantly, when his team needed him the most..!

Sourav Ganguly may never be called say, A Braveheart-Personified, but in context of what he has been to the game of cricket and its true admirers, he goes beyond any such title.

May the Sun never set on The Prince of Calcutta..!!

Way to go Dada!!