The Indian Team dressing room had greater overcast conditions than the English weather. It was a prelude to a storm. The squad of 1996 sans Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar, had Navjot Sidhu as the only senior cricketer. A cold war was going on between Azhar and Sidhu. Sidhu was continuously being provoked by the “yes-men” of Azhar like Jadeja and few others, with the tacit support of Azhar. Finally Sidhu could take no more. He returned to India, in between the tour and announced his retirement. That gave rise to a series of criticism and controversies back home.
Sourav’s inclusion had raised a lot of eyebrows. Cricket pundits across the country had already cried foul, and pronounced his selection as an evil outcome of political lobbying in BCCI. He knew his window of opportunity will be very small. But, somewhere deep down he knew the opportunity will surely come.
The touring side started off by playing five matches against the county cricket sides. Sourav did not get a chance to play in the 1st match. In the remaining matches against NCS XI; Wistars, Glostershire, and Susex; Sourav wasn’t able show any outstanding performance. His best score was 64 n.o. in the second innings against Glostershire. This innings earned him praise from Richie Beno.
The 3 match one-day series against England started. In the first match England batted first and scored 291. In reply, India was 16 for 5 at the end of 17.1 overs when it started raining. The match was abandoned. England won the 2nd One day by 6 wickets. Sourav was not in the playing XI for the first two matches. He got a chance to play in the 3rd match, where he scored 46 runs. India lost the 3rd match as well by 4 wickets.
Sourav was selected in the playing XI for the 1st Test Match. In this match Sachin scored a brilliant century (122). But, India lost this match as well to the Atherton team by 8 wickets. By this time Navjot Sindhu has returned back to India. Sanjay Manjerekar was sent as a replacement. Vikram Rathod after scoring some impressive knocks at the start of the series had also begun to fail. Above all, the Indian team was plagued by injuries. Manjerekar injured his thumb in the practice matches. Left with no other option, the team management was forced to play Sourav and Dravid in the 2nd test match at Lords.
Sourav knew the time had finally arrived. This was the opportunity for which, he had waited for four long years. He remembered the words of Arun Lal and Mike Stuart. The opportunity to settle all scores had unexpectedly come knocking. It is now or never!
Sourav’s inclusion had raised a lot of eyebrows. Cricket pundits across the country had already cried foul, and pronounced his selection as an evil outcome of political lobbying in BCCI. He knew his window of opportunity will be very small. But, somewhere deep down he knew the opportunity will surely come.
The touring side started off by playing five matches against the county cricket sides. Sourav did not get a chance to play in the 1st match. In the remaining matches against NCS XI; Wistars, Glostershire, and Susex; Sourav wasn’t able show any outstanding performance. His best score was 64 n.o. in the second innings against Glostershire. This innings earned him praise from Richie Beno.
The 3 match one-day series against England started. In the first match England batted first and scored 291. In reply, India was 16 for 5 at the end of 17.1 overs when it started raining. The match was abandoned. England won the 2nd One day by 6 wickets. Sourav was not in the playing XI for the first two matches. He got a chance to play in the 3rd match, where he scored 46 runs. India lost the 3rd match as well by 4 wickets.
Sourav was selected in the playing XI for the 1st Test Match. In this match Sachin scored a brilliant century (122). But, India lost this match as well to the Atherton team by 8 wickets. By this time Navjot Sindhu has returned back to India. Sanjay Manjerekar was sent as a replacement. Vikram Rathod after scoring some impressive knocks at the start of the series had also begun to fail. Above all, the Indian team was plagued by injuries. Manjerekar injured his thumb in the practice matches. Left with no other option, the team management was forced to play Sourav and Dravid in the 2nd test match at Lords.
Sourav knew the time had finally arrived. This was the opportunity for which, he had waited for four long years. He remembered the words of Arun Lal and Mike Stuart. The opportunity to settle all scores had unexpectedly come knocking. It is now or never!
2 comments:
It was Vikram Rathore dude....
Why do I feel that U r Snehashish ;)
FIP has left us guessing the source of many blogs... :)
Great article... Well done Sir.
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