Delhi Daredevils take a step towards ensuring India's cricketing future
Over the course of the last two days, we witnessed cricketing world's largest commercial showcase event. ₹431.7 crore was spent on the world's best players of entertaining cricket.
The major, eye-grabbing plot point of this entire event was Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat
's astounding price tags. However, one cannot disregard the plethora of subplots that flowed underneath the surface during the torrid 32 hours. One of the subplots being the emotional homecoming of Gautam Gambhir.
Agreeably, this was a very personal decision by the Delhi southpaw. Nevertheless, it was potent enough to cause ripples as far as Kolkata. But one wonders, is Gauti's return merely a reinstatement, or is there more to it?
If we look at Delhi Daredevils' squad, among the blinding Boults, Roys, and Maxwells, we'll see a little shimmering Shaw. All of 18 years, leading the Under-19 side of his nation to a World Cup campaign, he's brimming with confidence, has an arsenal of shots up his sleeve, and is trying to wrap his head around the strategic guile that is asked of a captain at the international stage. As fate would have it, he will get a chance to witness one of the finest captains, Gautam Gambhir, from close quarters.
To someone like me, who believes that sports can be as elegant as poetry, as melodious as a lullaby, this unison of Gambhir and Shaw is not a mere coincidence. There is a higher power that supervises us all, and every once in a while manipulates destiny just enough, so as to create a perfect symmetry inexplicable to the untrained mind.
Prithvi Shaw is already adept with the willow, and can only get better. We might even get to see him opening the innings with Gauti. However, beginning on April 7th, we are about to witness the planting of a seed, that could potentially bear fruits for years to come. It could be the dawn of another golden era of Indian cricket.
Years later, when a billion fans are revelling in a World Cup triumph, there might be a few readers of this article, who would think that it all began on January 27th, 2018, with a fateful bid from the Delhi Daredevils contingent, a timely nod from another all-time great, Ricky Thomas Ponting.