Team India

Let me admit this first, I am not one of the most enthusiastic cricket watcher, partly because it takes forever and partly because I belong one of those rare males who do not feel any surge of hormones, when cricket statistics are recounted.

One of the most striking change that Sourav Ganguly brought to Indian cricket team is the the new found confidence and aggression.

It can be argued that Indians were always this talented, that they always had potential.
Unfortunately road to success in competitive sports is littered with potentials.

And such has been the case with Indian cricket for most of times in the past. The reasons all too well known.

As a spectator, it was exasperating to watch boys in blue snatch defeat from jaws of victory in match after match, the meekness and timidity on full display in match after match.
There was a maddening fatalism in the way games were lost, a morbid combination of non chalance and defeatism. A lack of killer instinct , singular for someone in Cricket.

Much of this can be blamed on the politics and groupism in Indian cricket, when connection mattered more than merit, but in my view this meekness was a symptom of malaise which went much more deeper in Indian psyche itself.

After centuries of suppression, we had accepted a role of underdog for eternity to come.
The meekness and the fatalism was sign of nation who has lost its vitality and is resigned to a never ending cycle of misery and inferiority. When this happens to a nation, even the giants turn midgets and even the highest ideals are reflection of people.

Freedom struggle gave us a new stride but anglophile policies of our beloved leaders ensured that we remain laggards. Five decades of stagnation and intellectual befuddlement were enough to strip India of the vitality and cover it with a feeling of despondency.

I know this may sound too philosophical and absurd for cricket, but I am convinced that I am correct.

That is why, the role played by Saurav Ganguly can not be overstated. By defending the young players like Yuvraaj Singh , Harbhajan Singh etc. from whims and intrigues of BCCI, he ensured that merit instead of recommendations is the criterion to be in the team.

Along with this , his natural assertiveness as a leader as opposed to pliancy of earlier players encouraged the younger generation. This was the spark which resulted in upsurge of confidence and killer instinct.

The recent performance proves this. Every time one of the players have played the lead the charge to ensure victory, and even in the matches India lost, it lost fighting hard, unlike the past when it forfeited match before the actually defeat itself.

Contrast this with recent past when the only person that stood between victory and defeat, or to be more precise between life and a ignoble death was Sachin Tendulkar. His contribution is immeasurable for the reason that more often than not he was a strength of pillar for the the team. Now, he has been either out of team (owing to the injury) or out of form for the most part, it has not affected the performance or the morale of the team.

Isn't it somewhat of co-incidence that Team India turned a new leaf at the same time Indian IT industry took tentative steps towards global recognition and NDA came to power.

Ofcourse I am not suggesting that it was due to BJP that Team India found its confidence.
What I am saying is all of three have a common cause. That cause is a rise of a new mindset, impatient to forge ahead, no longer needing meekness or level playing field or moral pontification by secular brigade.