More »
Showing posts with label Prithvi Shaw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prithvi Shaw. Show all posts
This happened.
This happened. You were alive. And even if you were dead inside, you came alive again. You will not be able to make sense of how it happened, don’t try to. But it happened. Please say it with me again – This happened. Today cannot take away what happened yesterday. It happened.
What today, yesterday, day before, the days before that, the weeks before, a month before, nothing could stop it. It fucking happened.
This was life affirming for many Indians. It was for me. It was for you too, if you’re still reading.
You may have a new favourite Indian cricketer after this series – someone whose game speaks to you. He may even be Prithvi Shaw. You may be the only guy who believes in him. That would be cool. Because if you believe in Shaw, you believe in the impossible, you believe in this team.
You believe that in spite of everything, he will make a comeback. Wasn’t that what this win was about – a comeback?
Believing in Pant and Pujara and Gill is a convenience today. But it is not believing in the ridiculous that this team is about.
Believe in Kuleep Yadav who did not get a game but was part of the squad. That will be something.
Believing in a player when he is down, when his game is down, when he isn’t picked, is believing in the team.
Somewhere that sneaked into this bunch, didn’t it?
That even though, they weren’t first choice, they weren’t an afterthought either. Each guy knew that.
This was desi rap, this was Apna time ayega, and when it ayega, I will hold on to it so tight, that it doesn’t jayega anywhere.
This is that dude’s show whose soundtrack on autopilot is I’m too sexy for your Gabba, kahan lega?
This is Rishabh Pant’s score. Rishabh Pant happened. He was meant to, because all that could have stopped him from happening did not. Catches went down, the stumping went down. The Aussie captain went down. He played one down the ground, Australia went down.
It did not happen that fast. Before that Cheteshwar Pujara happened. Match after match, he happened with Pant. Unlikely as it was, it did. There was an invisible glue that forged a bond between the two, again and again – it was Dravid-Sehwag all over again. It was no mercy, it was Dylan, it was every word about the cricket that sounded like an off-beat folk song. But it endured all these days, and it might just have won the cricket Noble.
“But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone”
The sky did not open. Pujara was unbroken. Long after he appeared broken. He fell. He was not felled. He was almost morbid in his coming together and being whole and taking strike again.
It happened.
Delhi Capitals, how on earth did you make the play-offs?
Delhi vs
Mumbai at the Kotla. A bunch of Delhiites are supporting the Mumbai Indians. Or
Sachin Tendulkar. By now, Tendulkar is fast moving towards the end of his IPL
career; coincidentally, the end is nigh for Delhi Daredevils too. And Ajit
Agarkar who slides over a Tendulkar on drive that goes for four.
Delhi vs
Bangalore at the Kotla. Starc is stripping Delhi’s batsmen with his yorkers.
Out of nowhere, Dr Luthria from down the road, emerges. He seems far more
cheery than ever, announcing his exit with a Krishna-like swirl in the air,
“Game is over, nothing left to see”.
A healthy
couple, seated in front of me, hand 500 bucks each to their healthy kids for
eats.
Delhi vs
Deccan Chargers. A bunch of cricket bloggers, two from South Africa go to the
Kotla, to be pierced by “Go Chargers Go”.
First
season, first game vs Rajasthan. Delhi had it all, won the match, but guess who
went on to win the IPL?
***
Years back, if you told anyone that Delhi Daredevils will change its
name and make a comeback for the ages; ‘anyone’ would say, “yeah right, just
like Robbie Uthappa will?”
It’s unfathomable that Delhi is in the playoffs. It’s not like there are
no traces of that bewildering old franchise. Some of that old skin is yet to
shedded, but it’s way deeper that something has changed.
Delhi Daredevils was in a sad loop, thriving on poor decisions, building
on wreckages, with their only real equity as a brand being laughing stock
options.
But hell, it was Delhi. And if by some misfortune you found yourself
looped in their doom, it was doubly painful. It was best not to watch them.
Unless your thing was to watch pranksters masquerading as professional
sportspersons.
There wasn’t a thing Delhi hadn’t tried – they tossed together the
cricketing equivalent of tequila, whiskey, rum, cocaine, marijuana, acid in any
order whatsoever. Which is why, they continued to barf on the IPL with such
hilarity.
Breaking the Sehwag-Gambhir opening for David Warner was up there with
letting go of Gambhir at the top of his game.
***
Now, after all
those seasons, Shikhar Dhawan is back to where it began for him. Last season,
so was Gautam Gambhir. So dramatic was that season, Gambhir is now campaigning
in the elections.
Delhi also
went through a season when James Hopes was their most accomplished batsman. Along
with Venugopal Rao. Hopes is Ricky Ponting’s deputy now.
By now,
ownership change, personnel change, logo change, jersey change, colour change,
the name-change from Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals, all have been
documented. It may have been tempting to go with Delhi’s erstwhile name,
Indraprastha, but perhaps Indraprastha Rajdhanis didn’t quite cut it.
So here we
are. With an investment in the future, with some smart tweaks finally paying
off to balance the Delhi portfolio. To identify that Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer
and Prithvi Shaw are long-term investments – that will not be messed with was a
start. No exits, no redemptions.
Shaw in
only his second season shows how form or runs have not forced Delhi’s hand. Not
as yet. Last season, he played nine games. Identified as a mainstay only after
a few games. So far, in spite of his up-and-down form, he has opened in every
match. The strike rate has dropped, as have the returns, but the backing has
not.
On his day,
Shaw is a match winner. There have been very few such days. But knowing that he
will play every game, must count for something?
Rishabh
Pant has possibly been India’s most scrutinized cricketer over the last few
months. In his fourth IPL season already, Pant’s position is finally defined at
four. Over the last three seasons, he’s played every Delhi game. From a force
of nature; automatic transmission in previous years, in addition to the
accelerator, Pant now has to be a clutch player too. There is the half century
off 18 balls, but there are also innings that are run-a-ball before they cherry
blossom and blind you with their magnificence.
While
Pant’s strike rate, batting average and over-all returns have both dropped from
last season, he’s been part of the engine room that’s driven Delhi to the
play-offs.
16 sixes
less, 35 fewer fours, appears Pant may be biting down much more than just his
tongue these days. There’s much being made of him finishing games, but three
not outs are writing a different ending.
Then there
is the younger-elder statesman, Shreyas Iyer. Captain. No. 3. Communicator.
Post-match eloquence. Mainstay against spin on the tired Kotla pitches. Iyer
can pass off as an invisible captain. What, he was unfazed even after Delhi’s stormy
collapse against Punjab. But it is his ability to turn it on out of nowhere,
especially against spin (back-to-back sixes in a tight chase vs Rajathan) that
demonstrate what he can be capable of.
When it
doesn’t come off, he’ll just walk off with a shrug. He appears to be just one
of the guys; in the dazzle of the IPL, that’s a welcome contradiction.
What more
there is to Iyer, only Iyer can unearth from here. Beyond the runs, canny selections
and bowling changes could be the key; bowling Amit Mishra for his full quota
will be a start.
Across most
seasons, Shikhar Dhawan’s returns have been similar. Blended with the
unpredictability of smashing young Indian batsmen, Dhawan has worked as the
near-perfect foil for Delhi’s top order batting.
While some
of Dhawan’s dismissals appear almost as brazen as that of his brethren, it’s
precisely a style of play and purpose that unites the team’s top four Indian
batsmen.
On any day,
Delhi can win big or lose even bigger. That they sealed nine wins in spite of
the unfavourable Kotla pitch and bowling selections is creditworthy.
With Kagiso
Rabada’s exit however, there is a definite downgrade in Delhi Capitals’ credit
rating. From a triple A, it’s now hovering around A minus.
Rabada
stopped Andre Russell with the yorker
in that super over. Rabada stopped 25 batsmen. But Rabada couldn’t stop a
niggle from making him back-off.
In Rabada’s
absence, Ishant-Boult-Mishra stepped up. But without Rabada, there is no death
bowler. Without Rabada, there is no bully-bowler.
***
By making
the play-offs, Delhi has already crossed a bridge too far. From now on, they’re
up against champion teams – first Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2016 champions; and
next, if they win that game, against either three time champions, CSK or Mumbai
Indians.
This
season, Delhi has beaten both MI and SRH once but yet to beat CSK so far. If
they are win the IPL, they will have to go past them – either on Friday in
Visakhapatnam or on Sunday in Hyderabad.
That they
won’t play CSK in either Chennai or Delhi is a start.
And if
somehow they go past CSK, they will have beaten all seven teams.
If that
isn’t a champion side, what is?
First published here
India’s second opener? Mayank Agarwal & Prithvi Shaw seek closure.
From being
the third choice opener at the start of the England series, KL Rahul is now the
only certainty on top of the order. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan find
themselves together again, both discarded from the Test squad. What took Vijay
just two Tests, Dhawan accomplished in four.
Which
brings us to Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. Shaw was part of the squad in
England, which, if you go by the Karun Nair selection logic means that he may not
play in either of the upcoming Tests. Agarwal is 27, Shaw is 18. Both have robust
numbers.
Before Agarwal
was picked, it appeared Shaw’s name had already been inked in the team-sheet.
Not so simple anymore.
In the West
Indies’ tour match, the two opened the innings. Agarwal made 90, Shaw 8. A two-day
game rarely gives batsmen second chances. Going by the team management fixation
with ‘current form’, Agarwal would walk in with his latest mark-sheet. Going by
the team management’s inclination towards young guns (take Risabh Pant for
instance), Shaw could walk in. And going by the team management inclination towards
muddled thinking, both could walk in, with KL Rahul at three, and Pujara on the
bench.
It’s
happened before. This is a home series. There’s a ticket to Australia up for
grabs. And India is already thinking ahead at chasing down 500 in the fourth
innings in Adelaide.
This of
course means little to Shaw or Agarwal. Both aware that they will soon be sharing
the Indian dressing room. Yet, in all possibility, only one will become the 293rd
Indian Test cricketer.
Agarwal and
Shaw found themselves together in the Board President’s XI dressing room after
the second and last day’s play. With them was India’s 292 Test player, Hanuma
Vihari.
There was a
shyness between the two openers, one that led to an awkward silence. It took
Vihari to break it.
Hanuma
Vihari (HV): Have you spoken to Dravid sir….y’kno I called Dravid sir
the day before I made my debut and told him I was making my debut.
He spoke to me for a couple of minutes and gave his
inputs and I thought it eased my nerves a little bit, because it is coming from
a legend and you know that you belong here. He just told me that you have the
skillset, you have the mindset and the temperament, just go out there and enjoy
yourself. I would like to give him a lot of credit for that because my journey
with India A was very important for me to come here, because not only that I
performed there, but the way he gave us inputs, that made me a better player
Both Shaw
and Agarwal look at Vihari dazed.
Prithvi
Shaw (PS): Bro…you just made a speech…nice one…
HV: No
problem…it’s what I told the press too. Not seen my name in print like this
before so I read it a few times. It was fun. Now I know it by heart.
Mayank
Agarwal (MA): They’ll tell us the day before…
HV:
Yes…y’kno, jokes apart, how this team goes by current form, maybe both of you
will play and I will be dropped
PS:
Bro…don’t say that…you’re always 292…and we’re openers…
MA: You’re
middle order da…
HV: You
made 90, Prithvi made 8 and I made only 3…so current form…
Vihari
walks out, leaving the two together.
PS: Bro…you
think we’ll open together…that’s crazy…Rahul will definitely open
MA: Rahul
will definitely open da…
PS: Should
we both call up Dravid sir…how to chill bro…before they announce the team…
MA: Dunno
da…we have to use it like phone-a-friend, why don’t you just call Rishabh…he’s
No. 291…he made his Test debut last month only da…call Rishabh...he’ll talk to
you like a bro da
Before
Agarwal can finish, Shaw is on the phone with Rishabh Pant
PS: Rish
Bro…how’re you bro…big question bro…how was it before your Test debut…I’m
asking for Mayank…he’s nervous as sh…
Agarwal
snatches the phone…
MA: Rish…Prithvi
just talking rubbish da…he wants to ask for himself…passing the buck…he’s going
to make his Test debut…
Rishabh
Pant (RA): M’ynk …put it on speaker yaar…I gotta message for both of you…both
of you are like my brothers and I love you both…and y’kno 4th
October is my birthday and I will be very happy if we are all playing together
but if say, only two of us are…I don’t want the third to have bad feelings…it’s
ok…dressing room is good…maybe third guy will come on as substitute fielder and
we’ll all be on the field together in a Test match for India…bros I’m getting
very emotional too…
PS: All
that is ok, how do we handle the build-up to the Test cap, bro
RA: What
build up?
MA: Anxiety
da…stress, tension…should we call up Dravid sir?
RA: Why?
I’m telling you don’t take stress. You’ll either be 293 or 294 or 295…it’s coming
guys…I know it…and in the evening, treat for my birthday…
MA: What
treat? You know we’ll be eating in the team hotel and management picks the
bill, da
RA: It’s
nice to say bro…don’t spoil my birthday
PS:
Bro…thanks…talk soon bro
Shaw shrugs
as he looks at Agarwal…the two decide to call Test Cap No. 290, Jasprit Bumrah
PS: Hi Jas
bro…how’re you? gotta minute…
JB
(overstepping): Hi..Hi…Prithvi…thanks in advance
PS: Oh
right, bro…congrats…great win…bro…can I ask you a question…how did you handle it
bro…before your Test debut
JB: It was
ok…I had already made by ODI debut 2 years before…so it was good…ok…why are you
asking? Oh right, for yourself? But what if Mayank A…
MA: Hi
Jaspreet…Mayank here, congrats, great win da…loved it…we’re here together…just
wondering…what prep…
JB: No…no
prep…enjoy the moment…
As there
are no answers from Bumrah either, the two decide on one final call. No 289.
Hardik Pandya. They make a video call.
Hardik
Pandya (HP) (in a bathtub): Hi guys…wasup? Just taking it easy…back is
screwed…ready for Test debut and all…good luck…don’t take any stress…if you’re
nervous…enjoy the nerves man…it’s a once in a life-time opp…I’m telling
you…nothing like it…will miss not being with you…but we can do a video call
that day in the evening…would love to speak to both of you…no hard feelings…oh
what did you call for? Seeing me in a bath tub…you dirty boys…
Feeling
better after speaking with Pandya, they decide to call No 288, Kuldeep Yadav
It was
either the phone line or Kuldeep’s thickly accented American-Australian English
fusion, that they understood very little of what he said. They quickly
congratulate him and get off the phone.
Enjoying
this sport way too much, they decide to call No 287, Karun Nair.
Karun Nair
(taped message) Hi…this is Karun Nair…if you’re calling to ask how I felt being
in the squad for England…and not playing a game…press 1…if you want to know how
it feels being left out of the squad for the West Indies’ series press 2…if
you..
They hang
up. And look at each other blankly. They then hug each other. Suddenly aware of
certain realities.
(However
plausible this may sound, this is largely a work of fiction)
First published here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
