Holding forced Imran to wear a helmet

            Michael Holding was on the microphone in Guyana watching the Pakistanis bowl on day one of the first test match. Nothing unusual about it for sure – but what definitely was the fact that the new ball was shared with Umar Gul by Mohammad Hafeez! And guess what, I had just started reading Imran Khan's autobiography a couple of days earlier where, as expected, he raved about the West Indies pace attack. Not that we didn't know about the potency of Malcolm Marshall or the gliding presence of Michael Holding, but just that the circumstances under which I was watching this match made me pen this piece. An express fast bowler talking about the very best in the business in a land that was introduced to us, thanks to their pace battery, was not quite what we expected to see!





Spare a thought for Holding who forced Imran Khan to wear a helmet! Spare a thought for all the fans who used to throng to see their pace bowlers at work. By the way, I could hardly count twenty people in the stands on day one – a day that made for some lackluster cricket, at least for everyone who admired Test cricket and more importantly, West Indies cricket.
Staying with the Caribbean, very pleased to see the team that’s been selected by the Indian think tank for the T20s and the ODIs. Pleased specially for Subramaniam Badrinath – not just because we both went to the same school but primarily because of the work rate he has put in day in and day out. Every time I met him, he had hope and he is always prepared for the call up, and that attitude has kept him in good stead. His belief was laudable – Michael Hussey didn’t make his Test debut before 30, he used to say and I can tell you Badri is a massive fan of Mr. Cricket. The other thing that’s always struck me about the Tamil Nadu cricketer was his love for fitness. That's something Badri prides himself on. Add to that the array of shots that he has added to his repertoire, it was perhaps only natural that he got a call up. Not too sure if it’s only me but then I remember a point in time when Badri used to get bowled by quicker bowlers with the ball ricocheting off his bat. That seems to be a thing of the past. His performance in the Ranji Trophy has always been good but his performance in the Vijay Hazare trophy has been better. An average of 60 and a strike rate of 99 in eight innings means he has gate-crashed into the Indian dressing room.
The team led by Gautam Gambhir is about to open a new chapter in the history of Indian cricket. The World Cup win has been achieved – so its time to prepare for the next crown starting now. Surely, there will be a few changes four years from now but then there should be a start and earlier, the better. And with no disrespect to West Indies cricket, with the kind of wickets dished out these days in the Caribbean, I can’t see the Indians being troubled. Some might say the Indian team is not at its strongest; but then, this is where you can start finding the strongest candidates to represent India in the future.