Champagne time

Sujata Prakash

Bring out the champagne. Dust the empty pedestals. But before popping that cork and reinstalling the gods, let us kneel and pray: dear Lord in heaven, bring us this day our daily newcomer and lead us not into despair ever again. Hallowed be the name of the NCA for promising us more Zaheer Khans and Yuvraj Singhs in future, amen!

The shock still hasn't worn off. For a nation used to seeing fresh young faces cowering in fright when facing the likes of Glen Mcgrath-- hark back to the recent past when Mcgrath grinned to see an Indian opening batsman, making his debut on the tour to Australia, jump in alarm after virtually every delivery - it was glorious to watch Yuvraj Singh give it back to the Australian quicks in a manner which suggested that he found them as scary as the bowlers of his local club team.

As if that wasn't enough, he flew to all sides to stop that ball rocketing to the boundary and took a catch which left the batsman shaking his head gloomily. Now, now, Indians are not supposed to do that. A Shahid Afridi is born on the other side of the border, not this side. At the risk of offending some (a friend took great umbrage when he heard me say I found Singh to have shades of Afridi) I do find them similar. Both can hit the ball cleanly and effortlessly, display immense enthusiasm on the field and have oodles of courage. But that could also be because I've always liked Afridi and wished we could one day see a young man of such talent and verve wearing the Indian colors. Singh is all that but minus the all-brute-force-and-no-thought kind of batting that Afridi favours. Thank god.

If Yuvraj Singh is exciting, then the discovery of Zaheer Khan must surely be the coup-de-grace. A genuine quick who can actually bowl a good line and length -- we haven't seen many of those around, have we! It also lays to rest the question that nonplussed commentators have been asking for ages, 'In a country of one billion, can't you find even one good fast bowler?' Well, we've found one and now we need another. Sloppy bowling loses matches, and for a horrible moment it seemed as if Australia would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat once Khan had finished his overs and the mercurial Ajit Agarkar was on.

Last time I had questioned how Ganguly had, in a manner of speaking, dismissed the notion of the identity of the coach as being irrelevant. Well, he's put his money where his mouth is and shown us exactly what he meant. If the Indians had won like this after a year of coaching from a top drawer foreigner it would have been understandable. But to do it on your very first outing after a disastrous year is a miracle. Ganguly achieved what none of us would have dared to dream about -- transformed a bottom-of-the-rung team into one on which the odds are being placed in it's favour to take the cup. And for once it's because of teamwork so breathtaking it looks unshakeable.

And talking of winning the cup, for those interested in a bit of loose talk here's what I heard through the grapevine today, just before the start of the Pakistan/Sri Lanka match. It will be an India/Pakistan final and it has been fixed so that India will win. This is to woo back the disgruntled fans and half a billion dollars worth of advertising revenue which was in danger of slowly evaporating into thin air.

Disgusting isn't it? Apart from dampening my joy and gratitude immediately, it actually made me wish for a second that India does not reach the final, just to prove that the games being played are all on the field and not out. Imagine, even after seeing that the win was not handed to us, but was fought for with tooth and nail, the shadow of a doubt can still creep in. When will this terrible match-fixing nightmare be over!

But enough of that. Heck, after yesterday's performance even a dummy can see that if the Indians continue to play like this they'll probably win. However, prudence cometh when once bitten. So, I'll keep the champagne ready but leave the pedestals empty for just a while longer.