Kapil to Kohli: Belief, aggression on road to No. 1

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, September 30

India are on the cusp of the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket once again — a win over New Zealand here would make them Test cricket’s top team.

Becoming No. 1, Kapil Dev said today, was quite unthinkable in his time. Kapil retired in 1994 and the high point of his captaincy was India’s 2-0 win over England in England exactly 30 years ago. But there was little else. “We never thought we could be the top team in Test cricket,” said Kapil. Four key men in India’s recent cricket history today talked about the road to the No. 1 ranking — they were Kapil, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag. Unsurprisingly, it became a mutual admiration society — they praised the contribution of each other to Indian cricket. But since what they said was absolutely true, none of their words had the least trace of flattery.

Game-changer

Sehwag was hailed as a game-changer by all. “We used to get 220-250 in a day,” said Kapil. “But then Virender Sehwag comes and gets 300 in a day! That changed things completely.” “We had Rahul, Sachin, Sourav, VVS Laxman,” added Kumble. “But when Viru came, it changed the way these four batted. For the opposition, they first had to worry about only these four. But then came Viru, and he changed the mindset. The way he batted, he ensured that the other four batted more freely.”

Sehwag said he owed his success to being backed by Ganguly and Kumble. “I was fearless because I had the backing of my captain,” he said. “The captain is very important, and he can give a few players extra innings... In England in 2002, I hadn’t got a 50, but Sourav was supporting me all the time.”

“Once when Anilbhai was captain, he came to my room,” said Sehwag. “I and Gautam were having dinner, and Anil said ‘You two are going to play the next five Tests, performance doesn’t matter. Just give your best’. So we were comfortable that we’d not be dropped. That time we made a lot of runs... I got my second 300 under Kumble. Dada started it all, and we did well under Kumble, and then MS Dhoni took it further.”

Dada said he himself was inspired by Kapil. “My interest in playing for country started with this man, Kapil Dev, at the 1983 World Cup,” Ganguly said. “I was 10, and I thought I’d thought that some day, I too would play the game, win a game for India, and hold a trophy for India.” The same dream was nurtured in the heart of Kohli when Ganguly and Co. started to do well in Tests outside India. Kapil to Kohli, that’s a fine journey indeed.