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SIXY SUPERMAN: YUVRAJ

YUVRAJ SINGH was the demon batsman for England, smashing Stuart Broad long, wide, high and handsome for six sixers to help India defeat England by 18 runs in their Group E game. Earlier, when Yuvraj fell on the penultimate delivery of the innings, he had made 58 runs off 16 balls, reaching 50 off just 12 — a new record for the quickest international half-century in any form of the game.

Times change fast — Yuvraj was booed when he was hit for five successive sixes by England’s Dimitri Mascarenhas at the Oval exactly two weeks ago. The boot was on the other foot on Wednesday as Yuvraj clobbered Broad for six sixes, only the second such instance in international cricket after Herschelle Gibbs’ onslaught against Dan van Bunge of the Netherlands in the World Cup.

Yuvraj is the only batsman to record this feat against a fast bowler in any form of the game. SUPERMAN - that’s what Yograj Singh wants his son to become. In two crucial matches of the Twenty20 World Cup, the born-again Yuvraj Singh did play like one.
He was simply unstoppable against England and Australia, hitting sixes almost at will.
It’s true that the entire team contributed towards India’s historic triumph, but it was Yuvraj’s brilliant performances which shone more brightly than those of the others.

Being a senior member of the squad, he made his experience count in crunch situations.
What’s most remarkable about his feat of hitting six sixes in an over is that he did it against a pace bowler (Stuart Broad). Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs had achieved it agcrinst spinners (Malcolm Nash, Tilak Raj and Daan van Bunge, respectively). Being a pacer" Broad could have tried out various things to break Yuvraj’s rhythm - a bouncer, a Yorker or a widish delivery. The fact that he failed to do any of these shows he was just too stunned by the batsman’s onslaught.

Broad might be a rookie, but Australian speedsters Brett Lee and Stuart Clark are not. However, even the latter were not spared the "sixy" treatment. Taking to Twenty20 like a duck to water, Yuvraj also smashed the two fastest fifties of the new format.
The Chandigarhian seems to have been around for so long that it’s hard to believe he’s just 25 (he will turn 26 on December 12).

The southpaw burst on to the international scene during the ICC Champions Trophy in Nairobi, 2000. After not getting a chance to bat in his debut match against Kenya, he took on the Aussies in the next game. The then 18-year-old fearlessly blasted the mighty bowling attack to score a masterly 84, thereby ousting the world champions from the tournament. India went on to finish runners-up, losing to New Zealand in the final.
Less than two years later, he helped India pull off a miraculous win at Lord’s in the NatWest Trophy final against England.

Although it was Mohammad Kaif who finished off the match with an unbeaten 83, Yuvraj’s 69 off 63 balls steadied the innings after early setbacks. He and Kaif delivered even as heavyweights Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid came a cropper.
He was also an important member of the team that shared the Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 and reached the final of the 2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly’s leadership.

Yuvraj’s confidence has always been high, but inconsistency has proved to be his undoing many a time. Great knocks have alternated with pedestrian efforts. His fielding has been superb all the way, but his bowling has remained part-time at best.

Above all, his temperamental nature has sometimes overshadowed his prodigious talent.
Nevertheless, his success has been substantial enough to make his father swell with pride.
Yograj, a famous Punjabi film actor, was himself a pace bowler who got to play just one Test (against New Zealand at Wellington in 1981, the year Yuvraj was born) and six ODIs in his career. His sole Test victim was none other than John Wright, the Kiwi who played a part in honing Yuvraj’s skills over two decades later as India’s coach.

After his heroic feats in the shortest version of the game, it’s time for him to stamp his class on the longest one. It’s a pity that Yuvraj has been in and out of the Test squad. He has so far played only 19 Tests, compared to 183 one-dayers. His two Test hundreds have been scored against Pakistan under adverse circumstances, at Lahore in 2004 and Karachi in 2006. Yuvi stood tall amid the ruins, even though he couldn’t save India from defeat in both games.

Despite these knocks, he has struggled to shed the tag of a "one day specialist". Playing in the shadow of the "Big Three" Sachin, Sourav and Rahul- hasn’t helped matters. If all goes well, he will get an opportunity to prove his mettle in the Test series against Pakistan later this year.

A great player ought to excel in all forms of the game. That’s what makes guys like Matthew Hayden and Mahendra Singh Dhoni stand apart. If Yuvraj is able to perform this juggling act, he will certainly become a real cricketing Superman.

INDIA: TWENTY20 WORLD CHAMPION.
6 runs, 4 balls, 1 wicket. A catch ends match.

There was enchantment at work at the Wanderers here. Everything that could go wrong for India did, but somehow, despite scoring what should not have been enough (157); despite the trailblazing Yuvraj Singh failing after getting them so far in the tournament; despite Imran Nazir hammering quick runs in quick time, India beat Pakistan by five runs to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.

There was magic in the air. And you could feel it right through the day. It began early, when hordes of jostling Indians and Indian-origin fans, many of who had purchased tickets in black, for up to five times the original price, made it into the Wanderers, enthusiastically waving the tricolour.

This was a dream match-up; it was the first final of a World Cup that might rewrite the way cricket will be looked at by future generations. And it was India vs. Pakistan.
Everyone here knew history was being made and that emotional, pulsating crowd wanted to be an active part of it. They cheered the teams as they walked on to the ground, sang Jana Gana Mana with full-throated excitement and made sure India’s Boys in Blue never felt they were away from home. And as for Dhoni’s devils, the men they were rooting for, well, they just do not cease to amaze us.

When this day is done, when the parties are over, when the music has died down and the crowds have finally disappeared from the team hotel and all of us here head for home, each one of us who has been on this enchanted African safari, will have to wonder what comes next.

Logic says that being young and restless, confident and talented, will only take the Indians so far. After all, this is only T20. Luck plays a huge role; the margin for error is too little, so great teams have been felled because of one bad session and no time to make up. Could they repeat this in the longer formats?

But seeing this young India on the ground and off it, their enjoyment of the moment, the joie-de-vivre they bring to everything they do, their affection for each other and; their gelling together as a unit has got to make you a believer. There is something about this band of boys that makes you want to laugh and cry with them, embrace them, if only for giving you hope for the future.

When Pakistan needed 54 runs off the last four overs with six batsmen back in the pavilion, India would have thought they had the match. However, such is the fascinating game that when S. Sreesanth accepted Misbah- Ul- Haq’s catch in the last over, Pakistan was just a shot away from winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship.

Misbah and Sohail Tanvir’s five sixes in a space of 10 balls brought Pakistan right back into the match and at one stage they needed 20 off 12 with two wickets in hand. However, R. P. Singh, the pick of the Indian bowlers, brought India back as he conceded only seven runs in his over while picking up the wicket of Umar Gul. When Joginder Sharma was handed the ball for the last over for the second time in as many matches, Pakistan needed 13 of six. “Harbhajan was not sure of getting his Yorkers right. So I decided to give the last over to Joginder. He wanted to make a name for himself in International Cricket”, said Mahendra Singh Dhoni when asked why Joginder again.

The first ball was a super- wide, a result of nervous. Joginder bounced back with a dot ball. Then Misbah hoicked him over long-off for a six.
With six off four needed, Pakistan were almost there. Misbah, who had failed to score the winning run after tying the game against India in the group stage, then exposed his stumps and tried to scoop Joginder over short fine leg. To India’s relief, the ball looped in the air and Sreesanth took the catch. After the run fest in the opening match of the tournament at the Wanderers, 157 might not have seemed as a sufficient total at the end of India’s innings.

However, India, watched by Shah Rukh Khan, among others, still had an upper hand because of three reasons. One, Pakistan was under pressure since they were chasing. Two, India finished first innings on a high. And three, the wicket was not as flat as the one for the South Africa- West Indies opener. Early wickets were the key and R.P. Singh did just that. He first forced Mohammad Hafeez to open the face and find Robin Uthappa in the slips in the first over and in his next cleaned up Kamran Akmal, who was promoted to No. 3.

Then Irfan Pathan, playing for the first time with his sibling Yousuf in an international match, broke the back of the Pakistan middle- order with an exceptional spell of 4-0-16-3. After loosing Hafeez and Akmal, Imran Nazir cut loose and smashed 33 off 14. However, Uthappa’s direct hit from mid-off to the striker’s end saw the back of Nazir and it was time for Irfan to take over. He did it superbly. Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik were mainly on the lookout for singles. But Pathan sent Malik and danger man Shahid Afridi back in one over to snatch the control away from Pakistan.

BRAVE NEW BREED:
Future in the safe hands

The Twenty20 World Cup victory epitomises the prowess of Young India. Clinching the trophy without stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid is a clear indicator of GenNext taking charge of Team India. Peaking at the right time and holding their nerve in tight situations, these youngsters played with freshness and self-belief to take India on top of the world.

Four years ago, it was at the same venue, the Wanderers in Johannesburg, when Australia halted India’s dream run in the World Cup. But the young guns changed the script this time. Oozing confidence, they showed attitude and killer instinct to beat arch-rivals Pakistan in the pulsating final.

They played as a cohesive unit, excelling in all departments of the game. After the batsmen did their job, great bowling coupled with excellent fielding fetched positive results. Be it Super Eight matches against England and South Africa or the semifinal and final against Australia and Pakistan, respectively, they never gave a chance to the opposition to dominate the proceedings. Unperturbed by all the pressure, they carried on.

The best part of the success story is that many of them were playing for the first time at the highest level. With hardly any ODI experience, players like Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma and Robin Uthappa proved their mettle. A slightly more experienced trio of Gautam Gambhir, RP Singh and S. Sreesanth displayed their skills to the hilt.

Twenty-year-old Borivali boy Rohit, who was declared the man of the match in the crucial encounter against South Africa, remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. On a couple of occasions, he came in during the final overs of the innings and contributed valuable runs. His unbeaten 30 against Pakistan in the final helped India set up a challenging total.

If Rohit held his nerve with the bat, Joginder did it with the ball. Cool captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni reposed faith in him and he fully came up to the former’s expectations. Though cricket fans were surprised at Dhoni’s move, Joginder struck when India needed him to fire. He bowled the last over in the semifinal and the final, grabbing two wickets each in both matches.

The defining moment of the final was the run-out of Imran Nazir, who was batting very well. Karnataka boy Uthappa’s magical throw hit the stumps, bringing India back in contention. Earlier, he had made a solid fifty against Pakistan in the group match.

Gambhir and RP Singh performed in high-pressure games. Gambhir played a well-paced 75 off 54 balls in the final, the highest individual score for India in the competition, and anchored the innings in the absence of Virender Sehwag. Among the highest run getters in the tournament, he finished only behind Matthew Hayden.

R.P. Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 12 wickets in seven games at an economy rate of just over six {only Pakistan’s Umar Gul (13) took more wickets than him in the mega event}. His best spell was against hosts South Africa when he struck early, shifting the balance in India’s favour.

If RP proved too tough for the Proteas, Sreesanth troubled world champions Australia. He returned enviable figures of 4-112-2, claiming the prized scalps of Adam Gilchrist and Hayden. Above all, his aggressive body language personified the youthful exuberance of Team India.

It is no doubt a great beginning, but the team still has a long way to go. After excelling in the short form of the game, it’s time to keep the momentum going against Australia in one-dayers.

24 YEARS AFTER THE SUMMER OF’83

Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not carry the burden of history on his shoulders when he led India in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. This was evident when, in his post-match press conference after leading India to victory, he admitted with a wry smile that he did not remember anything of the 1983 World Cup win since he was only two years old then. "It is not fair to compare. Our victory in 1983 was very special and so was this triumph," he was quoted as saying. "I will cherish this till the end of my life." He attributed the team’s victory to determination and desire. Determination to wipe the memories of India’s miserable showing in the World Cup in the West Indies barely six months ago where they failed to make it even to the Super Eight stage and the desire of the players individually and collectively to show the cricketing world what they were capable of. What was so refreshingly different was the manner in which the Indians played. There was fearlessness to their approach which can only come from total belief in their personal abilities.

But as an astute student of the game, Dhoni must have read, or heard, how that victory in the summer of 1983 changed the fortunes of Indian cricket and it cricketers. And this victory, coming as it does after 24 years (and in the meanwhile India did not taste victory in any world championship in any other sport), could well usher in a new era for Indian cricket. While there is no doubt that no two sporting victories can be compared with each other (given that the format was totally different), there is no denying the fact that history could well judge the Johannesburg victory as the catalyst which ushered in a new era in Indian cricket. One waits to see if that were to happen.

The victories in 1983 as well as the current one have come against all expectations. In 1983 Kapil Dev himself had, prior to the departure of the team to England, promised that the team would do its best. In any case, Kapil, too, was not carrying any burden of history on his shoulders since the Indian team had never done anything of note in the two previous editions of the World Cup (then held only in England every four years). And when India did go on to win the World Cup (defending a low total as they did at Johannesburg) getting past the formidable West Indies team, winners of the first two editions of the World Cup, the cricket world was turned upside down. With that victory at Lord’s, Indian cricket had finally come of age.

The Indian squad was lionized both by the board, which in those days was not flush with funds as it is now, as well as sports buffs since they found a new set of heroes to worship in the Indian cricketers. It was an era that attracted more and more players to the game, more spectators to cricket grounds and more money to the board. But more important than the money and awards handed to the players, it was the respect which the players and the board got in the cricket-playing world.

It was on the basis of the victory at Lord’s that the board was able to persuade the international cricket body to rotate the World Cup among all the cricket playing countries (and that is how the World Cup was first played in India in 1987), increase the prize money as also the appearance money for the various teams and draw more and more sponsorship for the game.

But how times change! In 1983, the players were happy picking up the odd thousands and the Rs 1 lakh the board gave included the prize money given by the international body. This time around the money is simply flowing in. The board has announced a cash award of $2 million for the team besides the Rs 15 lakh to each member of the support staff.

Yuvraj Singh has picked up a cool Rs 1 crore for his six sixes in one over against England as also a Porschesports car gifted to him by the maverick Vice-President of the board, Lalit Modi. Add to this the prize money of $4.90, 000 and one can say the players will have enough to end all their financial problems.

The Karnataka Government has given Rs 5 lakh each to Robin Uthappa as well as bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad while Joginder Sharma has picked up Rs. 21lakh as also Rs 25,000 for each wicket claimed in the championship from the Haryana Government. Other state governments are bound to do the same for the players from their respective states. And now it will be the hunger for greater glory which will drive the young team members of the Twenty20 squad in the months and years ahead as there is so much of international cricket scheduled to be played by the Indian team.

There are stark similarities between the team of 1983 and the team of 2007. Not only have both teams performed beyond expectations but even the performance of certain players was comparable. If Gautam Gambhir was good with the bat in a low-scoring match at Johannesburg then at Lord’s in the summer of 1983 was Kris Srikkanth, whose batting, of course, was much more flamboyant than that of the Delhi opener. Two players from Mumbai (earlier Bombay) also had a role in the two wins. If in the earlier era it was Sandeep Patil then in the modem times it was Rohit Sharma who left a mark after playing in only three matches of the South African tournament.

What probably helped the Indian well in the Twenty20 that Dhoni’s squad had no superstars? Every player was treated on merit. It is this reason why he captain could afford to see Yuvraj Singh opting to miss a match after the record setting knock against England and in walked Dinesh Karthik in his place in the critical match against South Africa.

In two back-to-back matches, the semi-final against Australia and the final against Pakistan, Dhoni called up Haryana’s rookie Joginder Sharma to send down the last over even though the bowler had taken a pasting in the earlier overs, especially in the final. And then in the final against Pakistan when Virender Sehwag pulled thigh strain (sustained in the tie against Australia), he called up Yusuf Pathan, included in the Indian team for the first time and who had not played a single game in the whole tournament, when he had the option of experienced Karthik or even Agarkar. And each time the player included in the playing eleven came good, it only added to the aura around Dhoni’s leadership qualities.

One thing which came handy for the national selectors to select Dhoni as captain for the South African Safari was the fact that the big three of Indian Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, voluntarily decided not to play in the tournament.
They realised that this version of the game was not for them as they would not have been able to keep up with the hectic pace. And how right they were. But more importantly, the selectors could call up players who were waiting in the sidelines in the hope that their time would come. And when it came, they grabbed it with both hands.

The victory augurs well for Indian cricket. With the "big three" slowly approaching their "use by" date, the time is not far when the selectors will go for fresh talent.
Sachin, in fact has already indicated that it will be one-day cricket which he will give up first and the time is not far when Ganguly and Dravid would think in the same vein. And when that happens, a new era will start in Indian cricket. And India, happily, now seems to be preparing for that.

GAY MARRIAGES IN INDIA?

Since the introduction of The Civil Partnership Act in the UK in 2005, thousands of lesbian and gay couples have got married. I have to confess to getting teary-eyed at one of these weddings between two Indian brides. As they walked up the aisle in their saris and the requisite bridal jewellery, I knew this was a culturally significant moment. Here were two women, one Hindu and one Muslim, getting married to each other with all their families, friends and well-wishers in attendance.

Some years ago, witnessing an Indian lesbian wedding was not in my wildest imagination. So change can happen and I would like to believe gay marriages in India will be a very distinct reality in 30 years’ time.

A country advanced on so many fronts continues to criminalise homosexuality with the archaic Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. A cursory glance at Indian history and you can’t miss the countless examples of the accepted existence of homosexuality-Indian literature; temple carvings and architecture celebrate sexual diversity.

ARUNDHATI ROY

Earlier in 2006 , an open letter to the government signed by among others, noted Indian authors, Vikram Seth and Arundhati Roy, human rights activists, film stars and academics asked for the immediate repeal of this law. This groundswell of voices will continue to grow until the law is repealed. But no legislation has ever stopped two people from falling in love and wanting to spend their lives together. Alternative sexualities thrive everywhere, and sooner or later, India will have the courage to give same-sex love legitimacy.

VIKRAM SETH

When a film Nina’s Heavenly Delights (2006), about a young Indian woman who falls in love with another woman, it was keen on creating a cinematic representation of lesbian sexuality that was not a misery fest. Cinema can help imagine different realities and in the films, the mother embraces her daughter’s sexuality because she realises that her life doesn’t need to end when her husband dies. This is a vision of Indian women’s lives where they are in control of their sexuality.

To celebrate the first public celebrations of lesbian and gay unions we may have to wait for 3 or 30 years. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, given the harsh reality of successive governments’ resistance to the repeal of a law written in 1861, a law which is being used to prevent legitimate HIV prevention work in a country with the highest rate of HIV. Decriminalising homosexuality has to be a necessary first step on the way to the altar.

GANDHIGIRI

Leo Tolstoy corresponded with him. Einstein was astonished by him. Martin Luther King emulated him. General Smuts and Winston Churchill were profoundly irritated by him. Orwell tried to analyse him, George Bernard Shaw was intrigued by him and Charlie Chaplin admitted to being nervous about how to open a conversation with him. Even P.G. Wodehouse, arguably the most apolitical of great writers, could not escape making a reference to him in one of his Jeeves novels. Without a shadow of doubt, Mahatma Gandhi is India’s most notable export.

When I started teaching creative writing I realised that my students knew next to nothing about Gandhi. But without exception, they all name: Gandhi. In each course that I teach, I ask my students: "What do you know about Gandhi?" The three most common answers are: "He was an apostle of peace", "He practiced truth and non-violence"; and "He was a spiritual leader”. They only vaguely know about Gandhi’s role as a great freedom fighter against the British. They know absolutely nothing about some of his even greater achievements. His lifelong struggle against untouchability; his role in liberating the women of India; his undying concern for the Indian village; and his total commitment to communal harmony. Similarly, all my students are blissfully ignorant about some of the more controversial ideas of the Mahatma: His abhorrence of family-planning, his distaste for modern medicine and surgery, his suspicion of machines and technology, his nebulous references to the "inner voice".

The exported version of Gandhi is clearly an oversimplified version. Not unlike the one in Munnabhai’s head. However, this oversimplified and version of Bapu is perhaps as useful to the world as the more complex and accurate version of the historical Gandhi.

To a war torn, fear gripped planet, the simple message of being non-violent, compassionate and being civil to your opponent is profoundly important.  What I find most charming in the exported version is his image as a "spiritual leader". Calling Gandhi "spiritual" creates a new definition of spiritualism that is extremely valuable: not necessarily knowing the inner workings of God, but being truthful, fearless, humble and deeply ethical.