Virat Kohli has got Ravi Shastri and now India cannot falter
I am a hidden meaning made to defy. The grasp of words, and walk away. With free will and destiny. As living, revolutionary clay.
Muhammad Iqbal
Amidst the clamour, the muddle and the frenzy surrounding Indian cricket, Virat Kohli is no longer walking alone. He wanted Ravi Shastri to accompany him, the BCCI made a mockery of the entire process but gave the captain his wish. The Kohli-Shastri combination have broken away from the pack, walking at their own pace, setting their own terms; their will is free, the journey has started, the destiny is still awaited!
There is something remarkable about being handed a brand, a stereotype, and in many ways one keeps either living up to it or trying to defy it. This is perhaps where the inherent characteristic of the person withers away.
And this is where individuals need to shrug off the bubble and wade out; this is where they need to stamp themselves and not give two hoots about labels. This is where Virat Kohli needs Ravi Shastri and Shastri needs Kohli.
Two men who have gotten what they desired, two men who are not entirely the toast of the nation right now - they have been branded a whole host of names and they can now either look to defy the naysayers or just chart their own path and chalk out a common destination.
Ambition is a word often strewn around these days, everyone loves speaking about it, so much so that it has become jarring to the ears. But having said that, a man is only as good as his ambitions!
Kohli is ambitious, Shastri is vocal; Kohli is passionate, Shastri is driven, everything seems hunky-dory, well the cover is bright, it is radiating!
They fly across the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka awaits them. This series could not have come at a more opportune time for both the teams.
Indian cricket is trying to get its house in order, a million committees are trying their best to sort out the mess, irony in the entire process is smiling along in the corner, there is hara-kiri within the BCCI, and the reasons around them can be debated upon later, but the Indian team have managed to select 15 players and they will want to get onto the field to hopefully usher in an era where there is trust, communication and no room for mediocrity.
Sri Lanka are in a mess too; there is something always wrong with their cricket board, the power tussle never abates and now the muddle has spilled over to the cricket team.
They melted in the Champions Trophy match against Pakistan, slipped, stumbled, scorned and scuttled out of the tournament when all they needed was one wicket to advance into the finals. The murmurs began back home, Angelo Mathews cut an isolated figure.
Zimbabwe paid them a visit and surely this series was scripted to apply some soothing balm to the wounds, but what transpired was gut-wrenching. The outsiders, a bunch of players from an economically and politically ravaged team shocked Mathews and the entire nation.
The loneliness grew, excuses dried up, Mathews had enough. The baton was passed, Sri Lanka gaped with apprehension.
"Quo Vadis Sri Lanka cricket?" asked Kumar Sangakkara.
"My final goal is to take the team to No. 1 in the world," answered Dinesh Chandimal, the Test captain, ahead of his first assignment as skipper.
Zimbabwe just sat and watched it all. They were busy celebrating their triumph, but by no means were they done.
The Test followed, Zimbabwe decided to issue a statement to Sri Lanka, to the International Cricket Council, to the world, to themselves!
At the end of the fourth day, Sri Lanka needed 221 runs and had 7 wickets in hand. Graeme Cremer believed; Sri Lanka were jittery.
Cricket is no fairytale, and some semblance of normalcy returned when the hosts decided to dig in and assume prominence. It was only fitting that a sumptuous 121-run stand for the sixth wicket between the two newest entrants in Asela Gunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella sealed the deal for Sri Lanka.
They won yes, they never dominated. Chandimal was happy, he was not satisfied, how could he be?
His team breached the total, but there were far too many flaws; a superior team would have kicked them in the gut when they presented the opportunities in a gift wrap. Zimbabwe were promising, they were exciting, but they have lost the touch to close out games, and Test cricket does not give you too many opportunities to right the wrong!
India, despite all the vulnerabilities back home, are no Zimbabwe; they are a solid Test unit. They smoked Sri Lanka 2-1, three years ago. Oh, and Sri Lanka had a certain Kumar Sangakkara back then!
Panic buttons, again!
This is a contest between two capricious teams, both are grappling to pacify troubled waters, the two captains are not entirely comfortable, and although flawed pieces have seldom fit together to make a complete picture, this is what we have on the cards!
Well, a sailor can never complain about the winds; they could be his friends, but then they could well be notorious. He can never change the direction of the wind, but he can, at any time, change the sails to reach the destination.
Bear in mind, India cannot afford to falter. Kohli wanted Shastri, he got him, Shastri wanted his own support staff, he got them; stumbling here is not an option. Tongues will start tutting, eyebrows will be ripped apart, the BCCI may well have to form another committee to decipher the shortcomings!
India-Sri Lanka contest have never ignited fiery passions, no one quite writes eulogies in and around the series, it is often sandwiched between two high-stakes series and teams experiment with their combinations.
Not this time; it is all different this time, nothing is the same!
And as the world is coming to grips with Game of Thrones, it is fitting to say: "Winter is Here".