Status quo ante, and all that

Prem Panicker

India ready to be tested

Among all the rain clouds that washed out the first three days play at Antigua, there is - if you look hard enough - an itsy-bitsy silver streak.

And that, for me, lies in the attitude of the Indian side. Too often in the recent past have commentators, the media, and fans criticised Sachin Tendulkar and his touring party - with, on occasion, some justification - for not seeming urgent enough in their quest for results.

In fact, no less than Sunny Gavaskar was considerably indignant when, on the fifth day of the third Test against South Africa at Johannesburg, the Indian players stayed in the dressing room watching video while the groundstaff where getting the wicket and environs ready for the game. On that occasion, Gavaskar suggested that the players should have been out on the ground in their whites, bustling around and showing a sense of urgency. This, the former Indian skipper argued, would have indicated to the umpires that the side was ready and eager for play to restart, and would have forced them to get the ground ready and for play to begin earlier than it actually did.

As it happened, the umpires took their time over it and, in the process, India lost an opportunity to go for a win in the last Test of the series.

Playing for a draw has long been an Indian trait, and past captains have shown a penchant for first ensuring a draw, rather than taking risks to try and force a win - Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi being the honourable exception to this rule.

And that is why I was pleasantly surprised to learn that team manager D P Subba Rao, coach Madan Lal and captain Sachin Tendulkar had approached the West Indies board, arguing a case for playing a full five-day Test at Antigua, beginning Monday, rather than indulge in the ongoing truncated exercise.

India is down 1-0 in the series, and this urgency to play the full Test is - one hopes - indicative of the fact that the team is not content to lie down and take its defeat lightly. If India wanted a full Test here, it could only have been because the touring side was anxious to level the series and thus inject even more excitement into the final Test at Guyana slated to start on April 17.

Good positive attitude, that, and deserving of kudos.

The West Indies, of course, turned the proposal down - quite rightly too, when viewed from their point of view. From the unconquered world champions of the late seventies and eighties, the Windies are now a side that, like most others in international cricket, struggles to notch up the odd series win. Being one up in the series, the last thing they would want is to play the full Test and open the door to the possibility, even if it is a remote one, that India will manage to pull it back. Now that the Antigua Test is history, all the Windies have to do is ensure a batting track at Guyana, and shut the door on all chances of India pulling off a win.

In the process, of course, the paying spectator - and by close of play, there were 3,500 of them in the ground for this no-point game - lost out. But then, that is not something that has unduly worried cricket officialdom, is it?

Ganguly, Jadeja bag endorsement contracts

Sometime on Saturday, Ajay Jadeja will walk out to bat in a Test for India after a little over a year. And when he does so, his bat will spot an interesting logo - that of a colourful kingfisher, emblem of Vijay Mallya's United Breweries group.

It is costing the premier brewery group a cool Rs 25 lakh per annum, the contract to run for three years. And it is not only Jadeja, mind - Saurav Ganguly, who is under contract to WorldTel Sports (India) has also been given permission to sport the logo, on the same monetary terms.

Kingfisher, it will be remembered, are the worldwide sponsors of the West Indies cricket team.

"Jadeja and Ganguly are the face of Kingfisher," says Kalyan Ganguly (no relation of Saurav), the CEO of UB. "They are young, vivacious and recognisable, as befits the company's sponsorship needs. Jadeja is a flamboyant batsman, and Ganguly is young and rapidly becoming an international brand.

As part of the deal the duo, besides sporting the Kingfisher logo on their bats, will also wear Kingfisher's trendy fashion attire at cricket-related social gatherings.

Besides, the contract - which has a lifespan of March 1, 1997 to February 29, 2000 - specifies that the two Indian stars will take part in Kingfisher's promo activities, and also make themselves available for three visits, each year, to select schools and colleges for conducting cricket clinics. Kingfisher will also have the right to use the pictures of the two cricket stars for promoting its brands of beer and aerated water, cricketing gear and other merchandise.

In order to avoid clashing with Wills, official sponsors of the Indian cricket team, the two have been instructed to sport the Kingfisher logo only on their bats, and not on any other item of clothing.

Kapil Dev to play for India again

I've heard that old saying that you can't keep a good guy down, but this is ridiculous - Kapil Dev Nikhanj, holder of 355 India caps, wants one more.

The ace all-rounder, though, hopes that his 356th country cap will be in a new discipline - golf.

"I will be delighted if I get to represent India in international tournaments," said Kapil. "It is just a matter of making up my mind, after that it is commitment that matters and I have no shortage of that."

Surely not. And Kapil could have added, though he didn't, that the task should be even easier for a natural athlete like himself. A couple of years back, Kapil turned out for a premier Calcutta football club and, if those who saw him play are to be believed, performed quite creditably too. Then he took to golf and, in just two years, has brought his handicap to minus 7. Congnoscenti of the game, in fact, maintain that there are few, if any, better than Kapil at driving off the tee.

"Basically, it means getting my life totally disciplined again, and practising every day instead of about once in three days, as I am doing now," says Kapil. Asked if it might not be more tempting to turn pro, Kapil shrugged. "No, my goal is to represent India and I can't do that if I turn professional. I would prefer to play for the country in tournaments like the Eisenhower Cup and Nomura Cup, and also the Asian Games."

That Kapil will make the grade seems to be pretty much a given. He himself believes that he will qualify for the national team in six months from now. Which, of course, brings up an increasingly intriguing question - what other ambitions does the large-hearted sportsman still nurse?