India's losing miserably in Australia. The knives are out for the great oldies: Laxman, Dravid, and, who knows, maybe even Tendulkar. The captain, M. S. Dhoni, nonchalantly said it was time to think of phasing out the oldies. Before Adelaide, or after Adelaide?
Perhaps, he'll toss a coin and figure that one out. But before he does that, he could, perhaps, reflect for a moment on his Test cricket career. For a person who has picked up the World Cup and all kinds of T-20 cups, this is one less eventful side to his career. No recent heroics come readily to mind.
Yes, he happened to be around — as captain — when the team got its No. 1 ranking. The television beams him out as a self-assured leader, a seemingly non-abrasive sort of chap who kind-of understands his limitations and gives everyone their space. Is that how we got to the top? Can't say, when television mixes up image and reality.
PHASING OUT THE OLDIES
But was it this predictably pleasant Dhoni who spoke for phasing out the oldies? Perhaps, the answer is ‘yes' — Dhoni was addressing the mind of the cricket viewer, as any sharp marketing man would. The fans want at least some of the oldies out, and Dhoni cannot easily betray them. His brand value depends on tuning in to them. So, what is the Dhoni era of Indian cricket all about?
Going by TV images, he is the first Indian captain to have shown a marked preference for the shorter forms of the game. To be fair, he accurately executes the mandate of the fans and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
In One-Day Internationals and T-20s, he belts the ball with a relish he scarcely betrays in a Test match — and the crowds love their cool, chunky and most of all, successful, guy and his controlled machismo.
He is uncluttered — World Cup and T-20 greatness seem no worse than Test success, no matter what the crusty old-timers might say.
Such has been the tide in favour of One-Day Internationals and T-20s that his individual performances in the five-day version have gone relatively unnoticed, especially when you compare that with the attention that Laxman has drawn of late. It helps to be an ad icon when the chips are down.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE
But let's not blame Dhoni or cricket administrators for promoting One-Day Internationals and T-20s at the expense of Tests. The couch-potato cricket viewer has created a Dhoni and a BCCI. He, rather she, doesn't watch domestic cricket, wants to see the ball flying above the boundary ropes all the time, over chips and cola.
She makes a bigger star out of Yusuf Pathan (that unambiguous belter of the ball) than Laxman (an intense, enigmatic, confused, fuddy-duddy fellow who stumbles into excellence). When she watches the first session of a Test match, she wonders why a Dravid took 40 balls to make 10 runs.
Why have we come to this pass? This is essentially a bored generation; it cannot endure slowness. Our modernity has sucked out the ambivalences of the game — and introduced ‘entertainment' instead.