When Brazil win in football or West Indies cricket, there is much rejoicing and a feeling that god’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world.
These teams play their sports with flair and communicate their enjoyment to the audiences. There will never be another Pele, just as there will never be another Garry Sobers, geniuses both. But each player in these teams has it in him to become a short-term genius. Like Carlos Brathwaite on Sunday night.
In seven matches before that, he had made 25 runs in five innings. Few people outside the West Indies had even heard of him. And now he is the toast of the cricketing world.
Doing the unexpectedThe West Indies were the first great team in one-day internationals, winning the World Cup twice in a row (‘75, ‘79). Now they are the first great team in T20 cricket. Champion sides must be capable of doing two important things — the expected, and the unexpected. Four sixes in the final over to win a match is about as unexpected a denouement as one can get in any class of cricket. If six were needed, Brathwaite would have provided them, such was his command.
But spare a thought for Ben Stokes who demonstrated once again that cricket is a game of centimetres. The difference between a run-choking yorker and an invitation to send the ball into the crowd is almost negligible. Almost, but not quite. In the end, Stokes sat clutching his face, his aspect that of a man who had accidentally blown up the bridge carrying his mates across a river. It wasn’t just disappointment, there was horror.
Sport can be cruel, imposing on young men — Stokes is only 24 — a strong sense of guilt for a moment gone wrong. Stokes didn’t lose England the World Cup, no one believes it for a moment, but it will be difficult to convince Stokes himself.
Stokes and solitudeGreat footballers have missed crucial penalties, golfers have choked at the final putt, Tour de France cyclists have been overtaken just when they thought they had won. None of that will be consolation for Stokes. He won’t want anybody’s sympathy, nor even anyone’s understanding. He will just want to be left alone. And pray that redemption is around the corner.
In the end, the best all round team won the World T20, and in doing so, underlined an important lesson for India: A team needs six-hitters. Sharply run twos are no match for the well-struck sixes, a lesson that became obvious when India lost to the champions in the semifinals, the six-hitting there being done by a different set of batsmen.
Both England and India were short by around 15-20 runs. You can over-analyse that or enjoy the West Indies response in each case. Did India relax a bit after they dismissed Chris Gayle? Perhaps. Did England believe they had it in their pocket when Chris Jordan’s final delivery of the 19th over was a dot ball? Perhaps. How boring would sport be if everything went according to plan!
Amazing AfghanistanOne team, Afghanistan, beat the champions. And for many, the story of the tournament is the story of Afghanistan, whose entry into the main draw had all the romance and fantasy connected with sport.
A collection of enthusiastic amateurs had earned the right to sup at the high table with the best in the world. No team celebrated with greater abandon, not even the West Indies, no team could have inspired their beaten rivals to join them in celebrations as they did. T20 suddenly seemed to be the upholder of the spirit of cricket.
And just as suddenly, West Indies cricket, at least of the limited over variety, seems to be on the road to rejuvenation. It was the English poet George Herbert who said the best revenge is living well. For Darren Sammy and his men, the best revenge was playing well, and winning the Cup.
The West Indies Cricket Board is forced to talk to the players, sort out the money issues, work towards getting the best to play. The team nearly did not make it to India, and it might be overly optimistic to expect a turnaround given deeper issues especially in the Test arena. But who knows how many youngster this will inspire?
Sportsmanship“Marlon (Samuels) told me to swing for the hills,” Brathwaite told Cricinfo after the final. More significantly, he had a message for Stokes. “To Ben, tough luck (and) commiserations. Wish he has a long and successful career ahead of him.” Four sixes in four balls and such compassion too!
This was a marvellous tournament, full of character and characters, and with signposts to the way the game is evolving. The format has room for both Kohli and Brathwaite, Root and Finch, Badree as well as Willey.
Cricket-wise, this has been the most inclusive of World Cups, with enough in it for all age groups from seven to seventy (and beyond).
