The nearly men

Australian cricket tragics often talk of the man who touched infinity - Stuart Law [54 runs in his only Test innings]. But in a sense, Law was lucky. At least he had a taste, however fleeting, of international cricket. Amol Muzumdar, the boy who waited while Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli added 664 runs, was on the fringes of the Indian team for years, but never quite made it. Every country has its share of such hard-luck stories, and it's these men who walk down the boulevard of broken dreams that encapsulate the real spirit of sport. Even when it seems that they have no reason to carry on, they do, for the love of the game. You can read Sriram Veera's wonderful interview with Muzumdar here.

Comments

[Tan Pawar]

Talking of nearly men, one berth that was available for a long long time in the late 90s and early this decade in the Indian team was a wicketkeeper/batsman spot. India continued with Nayan Mongia for a prolonged period and then a few others had a chance like Karim, MSK Prasad, Dasgupta, Dahiya, Dighe and Ratra. But one man who should have been given a go was Pankaj Dharmani. He would have been the answer to India's number 7 slot and was good enough to bat in the middle order. He was given a solitary ODI against SA and also toured SA but should have been given a good run in the longer version of the game. Had he succeeded he could have occupied that position from 1998 to arguably now (he's 33 now!)

[Homer]

Dileep,

Why doesnt anyone sit Pravin Amre and Amol Muzumdar down and pick their brains on how they engineered the greatest ever turnaround in the history of India's domestic cricket last season?

A loss to UP in the semis, the coach leaves before the beginning of the season, their best spinner defects to Maharashtra, selectors slag the team midway through the season, new coach, new captain, a new opening pair, no Vinit Indulkar, no Vinod Kambli, a rookie team for the most part and yet the silverware came home.

There is so much to learn about leadership and man management and dressing room dynamics and should be more than useful when we plan the succession for the Fab 5.

Now, if only someone would take the effort.