Pakistan vs England – Pakistan ready to surprise England

These two Pictures of Ponting and Kohli reveal the respective states of their teams >

During the ongoing Test match at Sidney Cricket Ground (SCG) between India and Australia, two images struck me hard apart from sparkling batting by the home team. One was of Ponting, celebrating after reaching to his hitherto elusive hundred, and the other in which Kohli was gesturing obnoxiously to the crowd. These are not just two images; these are reflection of the state of mind the two teams are in at the moment.

Ricky Ponting was once the leader of Australian cricket scheme. After years of unparalleled success, both as player and captain, fate turned on its head for him. A back-to-back Ashes defeat in England coupled with a halt to the world cup victories marked the decline of a team that ruled international cricket for well over a decade. Ponting as a batsman fell away as well.

His leadership suddenly turned into a stumbling block for Australia to move forward. People were asking for his head. The man who always played the game for pride did not want to bow out as defeated. He wanted to quit the game on his terms not the other way. For this he had to make sacrifices. He obliged.

He handed over the captaincy to Michael Clarke realizing his time was over as Australia needed to get going. The fact that he gelled so well with the new management only raised his caliber as a sportsman. In and out of the team his stature as a mentor and a senior pro grew even stronger.

His continuous failures with the bat necessitated a move down the batting order. He quietly slipped to number four. He knew his reflexes have waned with age. The pull shot that he had made his own turned into a nightmare for him. You bowl to him short and he would perish playing the pull shot. He started to pull out of a few especially early in the innings and even ducked bouncers more frequently than he ever did.

The result was sweet. His timing came back, and runs too. After two lean years he started feeling at home in Test cricket, and at SCG he scored a scintillating hundred to thrill the packed crowd and fans around the world once again. His last hundred was at Hobart, in January 2010 against Pakistan 33 innings ago.

He had to dive desperately for the ‘wining’ run – the single that gave him the most awaited hundred. When he raised his arms aloft, a remarkable tale of perseverance and struggle was complete. Great men do not lose heart. They raise their resolve in adverse circumstances and fight back with persistence to achieve the lost ground.

Ricky Ponting proved why he is a great sportsman and a great human model of success.
 
Virat Kohli is a shining star for India. He has proved his worth in ODIs but has potential to become a great batsman in Test cricket too. He is admired by cricket pundits for his talent and his aggressive style of play. But that aggressive nature also makes him vulnerable to commit errors, fatal at times.

When you are being looked at as a role model for upcoming cricketers in India to come forward and replace the ageing stars, it adds extra bit of responsibility. India will soon lose icons like Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. People like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina are tipped to replace them in future.

In this phase of transition, when the team is on a downward slide, positive attitude and sincere hard work is needed by the younger recruits. Aggression on the field bears fruits only when you back it with your performance. And being aggressive is different from being bigheaded. One remembers his celebration after winning the under-19 world cup in Malaysia. It was forgotten because he was young at that time, and an apprentice as a professional. But now he is an important member and a future backbone of his team.

He has been fined previously but on Wednesday at SCG his showing of middle finger to the crowd was disappointing and a colossal idiocy to say the least.

The impact would be slightly different had his team been in dominant position, but with the position you are in the match this act was nothing but like a frustrated cat scratching the pole. When a person is irritated he becomes irrational in his acts and behaves with such defeatist and lame gestures.
In the company of players who confronted mighty Australians with pride in the past, Kohli’s frustration is understandable. But this is not the way to answer.

Virat Kohli must learn and he must be made to learn if he is to go on and become an icon himself.


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