The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Into the heart of greatness

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Into the heart of greatness

An attitude of blasé indifference to sporting domination may rob people of their ability to appreciate athletic greatness, writes Nirmal Shekar

Sports events quite often help re-awaken our dimmed perceptions. So, it was a sort of Eureka moment for me on Monday night when it struck me — while watching the world champion hand out Sri Lanka a routine hiding — that the biggest surprise packet of this ICC World Cup was not Ireland or Bangladesh but Australia.

Yes, Australia, the same Australia that was almost written off after a series of defeats at the hands of England and then New Zealand a few weeks ahead of the World Cup; the same Australia that struggled to put together a decent bunch of willow and leather wielders in defence of a trophy it has owned for eight years; the same Australia that came into the event with more questions — Will Andrew Symonds get fit in time? Will the bowlers be up to it? — than answers.

Only unbeaten side

The one thing that many cricket people were sure in their minds about before the opening of this World Cup was this: there will be a new champion. Yet, a little over a month from then, as Ricky Ponting's men remain the only unbeaten side left in the competition as it heads towards the climactic week, we have once again begun to take Australia's supremacy for granted.

Australia whipped Sri Lanka? Oh, yes, you might have expected that, right? After all, the Lankans did not play their two best bowlers and the Aussies are the world champions, aren't they?

Whether we attempt to understand athletic greatness or not, many of us sport an attitude of blasé indifference and readily take sporting domination for granted — which, of course, means that in an indirect sort of way, we are denying greatness its due.

Now that the Aussies have stretched their unbeaten World Cup run to 26 matches, it may be appropriate to ask this question: What does it take to become the best, and then remain the best, match after match, week after week, in tournament after tournament?

Result of hard work

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place,'' wrote Lewis Caroll in Through the Looking Glass. The Australian cricketers know all about the hard yards that they have had to put in to stay where they are. So will Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.

In a world where it is very easy — and tempting — to settle for less, these are men who are consistently willing to pay the heavy price that needs to be paid to maintain stratospheric levels of achievement.

We are often prone to be unexcited about such things, dishing out clichés such as "rising to the occasion.'' But a moment's thought vis-à-vis the resources needed — mental and physical — to do this day after day would help us realise the mind-boggling mix of rare attributes that underpins such achievements.

Enjoyable lesson

As a student of sport, for me the most enjoyable lesson learnt in this World Cup was during the Australia-Ireland game. Take all the marquee heavyweight contests you want. Give me something like this any day. What a pleasure it was to watch the world champions clinically dismantle the cavorting Irishmen's game!

In sport, greatness is best reflected in the professionalism and skills that a team or an individual brings to the table when facing the minnows. This is quite the most astonishing aspect of athletic greatness, a quality that has often proved elusive to Team India.

These Aussies may yet be forced to part with the Cup next week, but that would hardly take away from the greatness they have achieved over eight long years. They have time and again displayed resilience and courage to wriggle out of tight situations and reassert their superiority.

A surprise

Seven years ago, at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, Pete Sampras, hobbled by a foot injury, did not hit a single ball in practice between match days. After he surprised everyone, including himself, by making the final — where Pat Rafter awaited him — he was asked how he managed the feat.

"You somehow have to find a way. If you can't do that at Wimbledon, where can you? This is the biggest of them all. You have to find a way,'' said the great man.

It is not a `way' you can find on Google-search, or even in an hour's strategy session with your coach. You have to try and find it in the depths of your own heart and mind.

A day later, Sampras did exactly that. Down a set and two mini-breaks in the second set tiebreak, Wimbledon's greatest champion went on to take his seventh title in eight years in the gloaming, shortly after 9 p.m. on that July Sunday evening.

It would be a shame if such greatness — as well as the brand patented by the Aussie cricketers — is seen as routine stuff. For, sport's greatest surprise, one that is truly worthy of celebration, may well be its lack of surprise — when, no matter what, the big winners win, win and win.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport