Having followed cricket from the time I became aware of this remarkable game, I have by now become more convinced than ever that it is this game that mirrors life. For one, cricket, like life, continues to have an element of fascination, intrigue, mystery and uncertainty about it. Fortunes, like in life, have been known to swing from one end to the other in this game too. And again, as in life, so in cricket, it is those who manage to keep their feet firmly on the ground, that are able to ride over the challenges better.
Let me recount a few examples featuring India. Remember the India-Zimbabwe one-day match in the Cricket World Cup of 1983? India was very nearly down and out of the match with a scorecard reading a miserable 17 for 5 which soon became 78 for 7. India was clearly tottering but a man by the name of Kapil Dev was not quite yet done, and with some support from the lower order helped India set a victory target of 267. Zimbabwe fell short of the target and India won that match, living to fight another day. In that same tournament, when India reached the finals and was pitted against the best team in the world, the West Indies, hardly anyone wanted to give India a chance. It was billed as a no-contest and yet India, even with a paltry score of 183 was able to hold its own and dismiss the awe-inspiring West Indies and lift the Prudential World Cup.
Haven’t we seen people who have been written off, coming from nowhere to embrace success? Eighteen years later, an all-conquering Australian team had come to India to play a three-match series. Steve Waugh, the then Australian captain, considered the contest with India to be his team’s ‘final frontier’. The extraordinary partnership between two of India’s finest cricketers, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who not only kept the Australians at bay but also put up a score which the Australians found hard to chase down. The scales and momentum had turned India’s way and India went on to win that series.
Miracles are known to have been achieved with self-belief. The examples cited above from the world of cricket are testimony to the power of that self-belief. On another dimension, complacency can confound and confuse and many a bubble have burst because of this! Life is replete with examples that an
opponent who underestimates another can often pay a heavy price. Both the West Indies and the Australians perhaps did just that in 1983 and 2001 respectively and we all know what happened!