It’s not often that one gets to see Shaun Pollock at the receiving end. The image embedded in one’s mind is that of a confident, aggressive Pollock rattling the stumps of his opponents. But it was a different scenario at the H2O Water Sports Centre on Monday as the South African set foot on Mumbai waters for his first lessons in kayaking. And intimidated he was for his teacher was none other than 11-time world ocean racing champion Oscar Chalupsky, also from the rainbow nation.
Following his brief stint at the Chowpatty, on the eve of the Mumbai Ocean championship which gets underway on January 27, Pollock said the last thing he had intended to do was step into the Mumbai waters.
Switching to the India-Australia series, Pollock said he was looking forward to India performing well in Adelaide. “Things haven’t gone well but India have the opportunity to set things right now. Being the world champions, they have a huge point to prove,” he said.
Pollock felt India had failed to grab on to the opportunities that came their way. “India have never done that well abroad. And to beat Australia at home is never easy. There were rare moments where the game could have gone differently, but they failed to get it right.” He also felt it was unfair to put the entire blame on MS Dhoni for the team’s dismal performance. “Recently there were talks of Dhoni being India’s best captain ever. He has taken India to No 1 position in Tests and won the World Cup. You can’t judge people series by series. A captain turns to his troops, and if the troops aren’t performing, there’s nothing much he can do,” he added.
When asked if it was time for Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to call it quits, the former SA skipper said, “These guys have always been level-headed and I am sure they will make the right decision.”
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