By winning their first series on Indian soil in 28 years, Alastair Cook & Co capped a wonderful year for British sport.
Bradley Wiggins, Andy Murray and Seb Coe. Alastair Cook has now joined this elite list.
British sport in 2012 has been dominated by cycling, tennis and the Olympics. Murray’s incredible victory at the London Games and his subsequent triumph at the US Open, the first for a Briton in a Grand Slam in 76 years, have been the toast of the nation. Wiggins matched Murray’s feat by completing a rare double by winning the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year. Coe, of course, was the star of the London Games’ stunning success.
Cycling, tennis and the Olympics have buried cricket in England. The Poms’ 0-3 defeat against Pakistan did not exactly help the sport. There was no time and space for the men in white in the English media.
Now, it has all the time. The Test series victory over India, coming as it is after 28 years, has inspired the nation. There is no word yet if there would be an open bus parade — like there was after their Ashes win in 2005 — for Alastair Cook & Co but the win is being equated to Ashes triumphs. Cook said that in as many words when he compared this win to an Ashes win. “It’s at par with winning in Australia. As an Englishman, winning in Australia meant a huge amount, but here the dressing room, especially in the last half-hour or so, knowing what we had achieved, was a very special place to be in. It will stay in my memory,” the England captain said.
The captain led from the front, scoring 562 runs in four Tests at a stratospheric average of over 80. He was unlike other captains who had toured India. The team was positive, not ‘defeatist’ and perfectly prepared. They had landed 18 days before the start of the series and played three warm-up games before the Ahmedabad Test. The Indian players, on the other hand, were under-prepared, finding time to go home and attending promotional events in between matches.
The English team also exhibited tough character. Bouncing back from 0-1 deficit calls for extraordinary mental abilities and England had all that and more. “I give credit to the backroom staff,” said Derek Pringle, the former England all-rounder who played 30 Tests and 44 ODIs. “The team stayed positive, believed in itself and was less defeatist. The team is headed by very capable persons like Andy Flower and Graham Gooch. A lot of credit goes to them,” Pringle said, although refusing to equate this to an Ashes victory.
Both Gooch and Flower were India’s tormentors in their playing days. And they knew a thing or two about playing spin on the subcontinent. India banked on spin but Gooch and Flower knew how to prepare their wards to the challenges of playing spin in India. “There are some very capable people in the dressing and I know they would take the right calls,” Cook said of the two stalwarts in the English camp.
One wished similar things can be said of India coach Duncan Fletcher but that is a topic for another day.
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