West Indies v India – “Youth is not always wasted on the young”

Jun 05, 2011 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
If you live in Trinidad & Tobago, this weekend could be sweet sorrow, even if there is an unlikely West Indies sweep; winning all games scheduled for Queen’s Park Oval.  That should, at least, up the spirits!
The let-down would come as one realizes, and accepts, that Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle will never represent their respective international cricket teams at this hallowed West Indies cricket arena again.
“The Little Maestro”, understandably, decided to remain home; family commitments; for India’s entire tour.  He has been playing cricket so much already that his body and especially his mind must be tired.   Also, as India must show its best combination for the massive series against England later this year, after West Indies tour, Sachin would want to be at his peak for what must be his last tour to the UK too.
Conversely, “The Big Man” is again at loggerheads with West Indies Cricket Board, via recent unhealthy exchanges of ideas and ideologies; left out; even as he may be in the best form of his long cricketing life.
Having not toured West Indies in 2006 either, Sachin will never represent India in the Caribbean again.  Meanwhile, unless the drastic happens, it is very possible that Chris may not play for West Indies again!
Yet, this may not be such a bad thing, overall.  No-one, especially cricketers anywhere, is indispensable. Things, and personnel in sports teams too, must and do change.  That is why this is so very fascinating!  With this new generation emerging on both sides, the time is opportune for continued rebuilding of these teams.  West Indians must also believe that from our depths, excellent cricket could still come!
With Sachin, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and Cheteshwar Pujara all out; rested or injured; of the one-day series, Suresh Raina, India’s stand-in one-day captain suggested:  “Do not underestimate our new players.  We are here to win, and to expose our next generation to the world.  It is a great opportunity for the youngsters who have done well in domestic cricket, players like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary and Shikhar Dhanwan, to try to cement their places in our senior teams!”
Look, Saurav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev, all real stalwarts, are no longer playing for India.  Yet India did manage to win, quite convincingly, the last ICC World Cup too!
Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Jimmy Adams are also long retired.  Hopefully, there are new players aspiring to emulate them, perhaps outshine them, trying to win something significant!
Personally, last week was very disappointing.  I watched Manchester United being torn apart, terribly, by ‘Futbol Club Barcelona’, at Wembley Stadium.  It was an experience to cherish, even as “my team” lost!
Gary Neville and Roy Keane, two players who had done much to make Man U. feared, were as stunned as anyone.  According to Neville; “Barcelona played like Brazil in disguise!  They were really fantastic to watch, playing real total football!  Lionel Messi was absolutely magnificent, best player in the world!”
I agree with Gary Neville.  Only by Brazil, in FIFA World Cup 1970, have I seen football played better!    No club team anywhere has ever come closer to absolute perfection; not 1960’s Benifica (Portugal), with the outstanding Eusebio, or even Santos (Brazil), with the incomparable Pele’.  MUFC had no answers!
So, having drawn the recent Test series against Pakistan, buoyed by winning the last two of five ODI’s against the same opponents, the youthful West Indies could even think that they are on a roll, by recent standards – winning three of the last seven games played.  Ambition must now take over – win a series!
One thing noted by Gary Neville about Barcelona was that seven of the team that played against Man U. had come through youth ranks at ‘Camp Nou’, making them a knowledgeable and unstoppable force.   He should know.  He was one of United’s ‘home-grown generation of excellence,” year after winning year, which included brother Phil, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and now retired, Paul Scholes.
Santos’ excellent youth programs also gave us Pele, Pepe, Coutino, Clodoaldo and Elano, among others.
With the new Sagicorp West Indies High Performance Center, expectations are high that it would not be too far in the future that West Indies cricket could compare to those sporting abilities, and emerge!   It would be momentous for West Indies cricket to emulate both Barcelona and Man U.  This continued bickering between players, WICB and West Indies Players Association distracts from unity and progress!
Perhaps the most poignant scene at Wembley last week was to see Barcelona’s entire coaching staff, hierarchal club management, and all players, including reserves and even those not selected at all, join hands around the centre circle, after the Champions League 2011 Final had been completed.  Priceless!
Continually, noises emit from everywhere that India’s management; Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI); is too powerful in world cricket.  That is not their fault.  Indeed, they have a right to be arrogant!
India has much going on; gazillions of dollars, a billion people, and most importantly, almost universally recognized, except a No. 2 rating by ICC in ODI’s, as now the best one-day, and Test team in the world!  They have managed, despite everything thrown at them, to survive well and be very successful.  As “The Greatest”, Muhammad Ali, said often; “It is not truculence, boasting, or arrogance, if it is true!”  What other country cricket boards need to put into place are situations to produce excellence, not continued excellent bickering and complaining, as obtains especially now in West Indies cricket.
It should be noted that even without the extensive coffers that India has, world sports teams, including West Indies, had managed to beat the rest of the world too in the past.
Therefore, this can be repeated, if everything is properly planned.  Great performances only become manifest with great preparations!
West Indies, especially in one-day cricket, can be a good evolving presence.  With both Dwayne and Darren Bravo included, and Keiron Pollard, it is not only political, with the first set of games being played in T&T, but practical, for all concerned.  Pollard also has a magnificent opportunity to show his stuff!
These, Darren Sammy, Devendra Bishoo, even though he must be protected from evolving into what Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis has become, Kirk Edwards and Andre Russell, must be the making of that force!
With so many of India’s normal senior team unavailable, there is the feeling that West Indies can hold its own this series.  Like the series against Pakistan, West Indies have nothing to lose; all to gain!
No-one complained much about losing ODI series, and drawing Test series, to Pakistan.  Hoards will attend this weekend’s games in T&T to see if West Indies could do similarly against India.
If they can, they will have come a very long way from what they were as recently as twelve months ago.  They certainly would have surprised many, if not, indeed, themselves!
The next six weeks will show what West Indies youth are worth.  George Bernard Shaw did suggest that “Youth may be wasted on the young”.  Bring them on anyway!  Enjoy!

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