Gangulys Patience Has Paid Off

It could well be a pure coincidence that Javed Miandad's return as the coach of the Pakistan team resulted in Pakistan turning the tables on Sri Lanka and winning the third Test after having lost the earlier two.

It could well be that Moin Khan replacing Saeed Anwar as the captain that did the trick for Pakistan.

What is beyond doubt is the fact that the Sri Lankans having won the series by virtue of their earlier victories played as if in a rush to go home and with a lot less competitiveness than was displayed in the previous two Tests. This is not meant to take anything away from Pakistan's victory but just to bring home the point that sub-continent teams do have the tendency to relax and not deliver the knock-out blow.

 

There is no way a team can lose by the margin Sri Lanka did in the third Test having beaten practically the same Pakistan team convincingly in the first two Tests unless the team has relaxed totally.

In fact, the smiles, the shrugs of the shoulder and the casual walk between overs and general body language conveyed the impression that for the Sri Lankans this was just another game and not a Test match between the two countries.

This is what India did a couple of years back when Australia visited India when after big wins in the first two Tests and a fine start to the third one, the Indians played such lackadaisical cricket in the second innings that the Australians were able to romp home to a reputation salvaging victory.

When other teams like Australia, South Africa, West Indies aim to have a clean sweep what is it about the sub-continent teams' mental makeup that prevents them from thinking on those lines and be satisfied with just a series victory?

Sri Lanka deserve credit though for doing what is regarded as a next to impossible task that is beating Pakistan at home. For decades Pakistan were unbeatable at home and over the past fifty odd years there have been only a few teams which can be counted on the fingers of one hand who have beaten Pakistan at home.

It is, therefore, a tremendous achievement by Sanath Jayasuriya and his men. Under Jayasuriya the Sri Lankans have gone from strength to strength after the debacle in the World Cup last year and here one cannot forget the influence of Dave Whatmore as a coach.

His return to Sri Lanka after a couple of seasons with Lancashire has worked wonders as it did when he coached them to that stupendous win in the World Cup in 1996. Sanath Jayasuriya was one of the biggest architects of that triumph and now that he is the captain the combination with Whatmore is taking Sri Lanka to greater heights of cricketing glory.

The self-effacing Jayasuriya hardly looked captain material and with Aravinda de Silva as Ranatunga's deputy it looked at one stage that Sri Lanka were not preparing for the future. As things have turned out, Jayasuriya has not been influenced by anybody and has gone about the job in his own way and because he is such a humble down to earth guy the players have responded to him.

It is also a plus that there was nobody in the Sri Lankan side who fancied himself as a captain for when that happens you can be pretty certain that the harmony in the side will take a beating. Make no mistake, even if Australia are winning everything in sight, the team spirit is not the same as it was in Mark Taylor's time. He was the undisputed captain.

This present team has Warne who has captained Australia in limited overs games and so is hoping to lead Australia in Tests at some stage and that does not make for a lot of comfort for Steve Waugh and with Stuart MacGill breathing over Warne's shoulder for a place in both the one-day and Test side it will be interesting to see how ambition takes a back seat.

Pakistan have a new captain in Moin Khan and he has started on a winning note. Saeed Anwar was like Sachin Tendulkar, a reluctant captain. It showed in his captaincy for the certainty that he shows in playing shots from the word go was altogether missing in his tactics on the field.

Besides, he is not the most enthusiastic of fielders and likes to take time off the field in just about every game. As captain, he could not do that and now that he has resigned, Pakistan can expect runs from his bat once again beginning from Sharjah, a ground he loves so much.

Sachin Tendulkar was smart enough to know that the one thing that would take the shine off his halo was the captaincy for not only was he expected to win everything single-handedly, he was also expected to pick everybody's favourites excepting his own. Once the team started losing, the comments about personal likes and dislikes started but he was again savvy enough to know that the media is never wrong whether those comments were correct or not.

For a man who has scrupulously stayed away from controversy, it was galling to read and hear what was said and his last couple of interactions with the media was just beginning to show his displeasure at what was being insinuated.

He quit just in time before things deteriorated further and though he is not the captain one gets the impression that the unfairness of it all has got to him and he is thus struggling with his concentration while batting.

Sourav Ganguly has never hid his ambition to lead the country and that is not a bad thing. We need more ambitious players rather than those who set small goals and targets. Ganguly's patience has paid off for he did a top job as a deputy and as stand-in skipper.

Now that he is captain by right he is leading from the front and showing the kind of streak that Indian cricket needs.

If he continues in the same vein it won't be long before the 'Prince of Calcutta' becomes the 'King of India'.