More equal than others
Deepak Joshi - 3 June 2002
India made history when, for the very first time, they won a one-
day international against the West Indies - an emphatic win at
that, by a seven-wicket margin. The victory no doubt came as a
huge relief to millions of Indian fans, just as much as it would
have to Sourav Ganguly and his team-mates.
Interestingly, the men responsible for it happened to be left-
handed batsman Dinesh Mongia, who scored a characteristic, rock-
solid 74, and speedster Tinu Yohannan, who more or less clinched
the match for India by scalping three West Indian wickets with
accurate and lively bowling. What was most refreshing about the
achievement of these two youngsters was that this was their first
real opportunity after sitting on the reserve bench for almost
two months. Lesser mortals would have simply gone to pieces with
that sort of harassment.
While Yohannan should have been the Man of the Match, I must say
that Mongia’s attitude was a joy to watch. The best thing about
him is the way he plans and paces his innings, always seeming to
be in full control of the situation. He may never look
spectacular like Virender Sehwag, but he never looks as
vulnerable as Sehwag either. In Barbados, he showed a positive
frame of mind in executing a short-arm pull as soon as he
arrived; later he put the gentle off-spin of Carl Hooper in its
place, sweeping him and then lofting him straight.
Mongia presented a picture of a man brimming with confidence, and
it was quite pleasing to watch the Punjab left-hander establish
himself in only his third innings overseas. "I was confident.
It's just a game, and it all depends on your approach. I would
love to win more matches for India, and I would have been happier
had I finished the match," he said.
The southpaw did admit it that was frustrating to sit on the
sidelines for two months even as he was dying to get into the
playing XI. Surely India would do well to draft more mentally
tough and determined youngsters like Mongia into their ranks
rather then endlessly persisting with so-called "classy",
"wristy"’ or "elegant" players who crumble as soon as a little
pressure applied, just like the cookies that some of them endorse
for additional commercial gains.
One of the intriguing things about Ganguly is that he goes out of
his way to stick his neck out for the players he likes and
believes in, at times even taking on all and sundry for their
cause. The way he put his foot down for Shiv Sunder Das, Deep
Dasgupta, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman etc. can hardly be forgotten.
The true mark of a leader, I must say.
At the same time, if God forbid he has a personal bias against
someone, the frightening thing is that he seems to go to
illogical extremes to ruin the careers of such lesser souls.
Sunil Joshi, Murali Kartik, Rahul Sanghvi fall in this lesser-
mortal category. For the sake of Indian cricket, one prays that
Dinesh Mongia doesn’t make his way into the latter grouping. It
would be a pity to see a promising player like him going waste.
Mongia has a number of Man of the Match and Man of the Series
awards in his cabinet after just a short career. His knocks have
helped India win matches convincingly. Even so, every time
Ganguly has very few words of praise to bestow on him. For the
record, Ganguly's comment after the Kensington Oval win was:
"Dinesh did well coming in at number three." He could not have
said less about his Man of the Match if he had tried.
This is in sharp contrast to how eloquent he is about the match-
winning prowess of Yuvraj Singh, Sehwag, Ajit Agarkar and others.
Even after Mongia hit a massive 159 not out to snatch the series
from Zimbabwe at Guwahati, Ganguly said, "I have always
maintained that Yuvraj is a real match-winner. The Indian
youngsters batted very well to come back from behind and take the
series." Yuvraj had scored 80-odd in that same match.
I do hope my reading of the captain’s mind is totally wrong. Even
so, during the recently concluded India-West Indies Test series,
the way Mongia sat frustrated on the sidelines while Das was
woefully out of form and more mediocre talents like Dasgupta and
Sanjay Bangar got the nod doesn’t inspire confidence.
The views expressed above are solely those of the guest
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