K's last strike

I know, I was supposed to post a different story (guy loves girl's eyes, she goes blind) but I got writing about Cricket instead.

So here goes..

:: K's Last Strike::


When the Swingin Yorkers took on the Mad Maxers in the Plate final in '97, it was a dull, cloudy
day which promised lots of rain. At a green pitch where the ball swung in a vicious curve 'like Arabian swords' (so said the lad running the tea-stall in the grand-stands), the captain of the
Mad Maxers chose to play three off-spinners. And created history.

I was visiting my uncle in the princely city of G, taking a respite from my corporate life. I had
picked up a cricket bat after ages, and my uncle had been caring enough to allow me to make ample use of his largish lawns for my rendezvous with nostalgia Finally, on my third consecutive
failure to read my nephew's googly, he smiled and said, "Are you really not picking those googols
(sic) or are you pulling off a wise one like K did in the Plate finals in '97?"

Naturally, I was not pulling a wise one. I earnestly convinced my Uncle of my innocence, and then requested him for the story of Plate finals of '97. He smiled, put down his copy of The Famished Road and said, "It was a brilliant strategic move by the captain of the Mad Maxers. He went into the plate finals knowing that the Swingin Yorkers had reached there due to poor umpiring and even poorer lights. They had lost the Championship after holding it for seven straight years, and they would come at him very hard for Pride."

"A proud man respects another", I remarked, at which my uncle nodded in appreciation. "Yes", he said, "They knew it was his last Championship, and that only a poor talent pool held his team
back from glory. Sort of like you respect Mohammed Rafique when you play Bangladesh. On his day, he can spin you out of the game."

"Or Heath Streak when you play Zimbabwe", I ventured. Uncle frowned, "Streak has been murdered by the ZCU. Cut in Half. I think the Indian board should have invited him over long ago, especially when he had pace. But, getting back to the story - the match was held on a dull cloudy day in August at the Corporation Grounds. Its near the street-vendor we had ice-creams from the night you arrived. Not too many people can be seated, and very few can be seated comfortably. So not many saw it, and not many remember it. Since I was on the field for most of the match, I saw it closer than anybody else, perhaps with the exception of K himself."

My nephew had brought out another chair by then for himself and was listening carefully. He adores his father (which little kid doesn't?) and tries very hard to learn from him. And with Anil Kumble retiring soon, he hopes to find a spot in the Indian team. He's a leggie, you see. Oh, and uncle used to be an off-spinner himself. Played for the Ranji team for a couple of seasons, too. I've heard stories about him being kept at bat-pad for the whole day, because he was good at chatting up the batsmen. He told stories to the wicket-keeper, and of course the batsmen had to toughen up and ignore them, or get upset and make a mistake.

"We were three spinners in the Club at that time. All bowled orthodox off-spin. And usually only one of us got to play. We had two days to prepare for the Plate, after we lost the Championship semi-final, and for some reason K got all three of us to bowl a lot. I had a poor game in the semi, and so I thought maybe I had lost his confidence. Wicketless for thirty-nine runs, in five overs. I would've lost confidence myself, but I kept the three dropped catches in mind. It could've been very different. Captains think differently, though. Especially someone like K. He worked up a strategy that day, and it got all of us surprised. I tell you, when he announced the team on match-day, there was commotion in the dressing room. He'd picked only four bowlers, and all the three off-spinners. K himself could bowl a bit of leg-spin, but surely we needed all of our pace bowlers on that green-top?"

"You mean it was a grassy pitch?", I asked. "Grassy? It was naught but grass. And green, live grass at that, which would make the top soft, and trap the morning dew, and make the ball skid and swerve. On top, it was a cloudy day with a medium breeze."

"Then why did he pick three spinners?"

"None of us knew at that time. All of us tried to convince him against it. He stuck to his point. So we packed our kits and climbed into the Club jeeps shaking our heads. If that's the way he wanted to go out, so be it."

"K lost the toss, and we were put in to bat. You can trust me that the opening batsmen cursed K as they walked out. And cursed him some more when they were both back within the first over, their defense cut open by the prodigious swing. I was sent in at number four, and that's when we started getting some idea of K's tactics"

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Yes, I'm sorry. It's incomplete. If you have any comment about what K's strategy could be, do post in.