Dada’s Kirti

I have fallen to my temptation of lifting the title of a popular Bengali movie.
“Dada’s Kirti” translated in plain English would perhaps mean elder brother’s great doings. There Dada was a popular Bengali actor called Tapas Pal (Madhuri debuted opposite him), here however the Dada I refer to is well known all over India and to most in other cricketing nations too, especially Pakistan and Australia. Ganguly has been a nemesis, particularly for these two teams. Against Pakistan as a batsman, sometimes even as a bowler and against Australia, in many forms. Sometimes as a captain or as a batsman or sometimes by just being there. This current crop of Indian cricketers we see today, who are not afraid to give it back to the Aussies, are products of Dada’s school of thought. They are aggressive, bloating with pride and won’t take a word lying down. So whether it’s Harbhajan replying back to Symmonds or Shreesanth doing the dance on the pitch against South Africa, they all show us that they are proud to be Indians and are not any less than the cricketers from the so called developed world.
Just like Sachin’s presence in the team inspires youngsters to be more committed and perform better, Dada fills the youth up with passion. What happened in Sydney, probably wouldn’t have happened if Dada weren’t there. The BCCI was more than happy to sweep the issue under the carpet and go on with the series. It was a combination of the passion that a large group of the team had, to not just silently accept cheating by the Aussies and the match officials, along with the dramatic Indian media which forced the BCCI to take the tough stand. BCCI chief, Pawar, who has his eyes set at the ICC chief’s chair was in no mood to take risks by getting into a tangle with the ICC and Cricket Australia. Needlessly to say the nation’s pride was last thing on his mind. If it weren’t for the unified Indian team which refused to leave Sydney until the contentious issues were resolved, the BCCI would have never disturbed its inertia. I still remember the instant when in the second innings of the Sydney test, Michael Clarke took that controversial catch and Ricky Pointing declared Dada out, he refused to leave the crease until the umpire would say that its out. That was important, especially after a series of wrong decisions against the Indians, someone had to protest. I still feel that after this decision the Indians should have walked out like Inzy had once done, demanding that the match be scrapped. However alls well that ends well. The humiliation of Sydney filled the team with a feeling of revenge for justice and thus followed the victory at Perth.
The very next day, the one day squad is announced and Dada and Dravid are dropped! People are surprised, accuse Vengsarkar and Dhoni of partiality and what not. However the real culprit is none of them, least of all Dhoni. The man responsible for this game of politics is the political mastermind called Sharadchandra Govind Rao Pawar.
The seeds of this plant lie in Sydney. Dada’s ability to unite the team, seniors and juniors alike scared the Board chief. A unified team means less power for the manipulative BCCI officials. They knew that removing Dada would mean media reports about a divided team and internal bickering. BCCI are not alone in fearing an unified Team India. Cricket Australia fears it too. If Greg Chappell’s tenure is analyzed closely, it can be seen that Chappell always tried to divide Team India (with help of some BCCI officials) and thus brought India’s performance to an all time low. Whether Cricket Australia was behind this deep rooted conspiracy is anybody’s guess. After the 2003 World Cup and India’s stunningly successful tour to Australia, the only country which could have displaced Australia from its cricketing throne could have been India. This ofcourse did not happen, thanks to Greg Chappell and the likes of Bindra, Dungarpur and Modi (Lalit, not Narendra).
Cricket India is plagued by the problems that have plagued India for the past few centuries. Foreigners dividing the country, Indian politicians thinking only about themselves and regionalism taking a toll on the country as a whole. I wonder when we will eradicate evils like Pawar, Bindra and Modi. It is not just about these people being thrown out but also the evil that they represent needs to be eliminated.