Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | April 15, 2024

Hardik Pandya is being belted on the ground and off it. It is easy for anyone to pound a person already on the ground. But it takes a special person to reach out to a person who is down and out and lift him.

The dismay and trauma of being trolled within and without is there for all to see in Hardik Pandya’s eyes. The man is suffering, and soldiering on alone. Anyone who has crossed 30 years of age knows what trauma is and knows how to detect it in a fellow being. Instead of reaching out to Hardik Pandya, past cricketers are taking potshots at him. Case in point is Sunil Gavaskar, who has crossed 70 and knows what trauma is and, I am sure, can detect a suffering soul within the confines of his ambit.

In cricket, and a match, there are winners and losers. Both teams cannot win a game. This is not the first time Mumbai Indians have failed at the start of the tournament. In the past, they have lost five matches on the trot and went on to make it to the playoffs. No one individual was blamed then. Cricket is a team game and everyone’s contribution counts.

In India, however, we are prone to glorifying an individual for a win even though 11 men are playing, not forgetting the support staff.

Cricket is a team game, not a one-man show

For EG: Ravi Shastri goes ad nauseam whenever Mahendra Singh Dhoni bats in the IPL. He keeps speaking about his six that won India the World Cup in 2011. Yes. MSD did hit a six. What were Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan doing? Did they not bowl brilliantly? Was Gautam Gambhir not on the team? Did Yuvraj Singh not dig himself in the semi-final and play that glorious cover drive to take India to the finals, against Australia? Was he not the Man of the Tournament? Have we forgotten Nehra’s immortal quote, “Injury mein body hain?” He played in the World Cup, right?

The problem with us is we glorify an individual above the game, which is why we should learn from the Aussies. They play as a team and celebrate every teammate’s success.

I distinctly remember the one-day match between India and Australia in 2001, in Goa.

On the night of the match, I passed by the Aussies in the pool with beer in hand. This was at Taj Exotica at Benaulim. Sitting outside on a pool chair was Steve Waugh. I sauntered up to him and asked, “It’s past 11 pm and your mates are in the pool having a party. Aren’t you worried they have to play tomorrow?” He smiled and answered, “As long as they perform tomorrow morning, I have no problem.” Right enough, the Aussies won that match the next day.

The point I’m trying to make is that they (the Aussies) bond as a team—a trait I did not see among the Indian team then. Harbhajan Singh was watching the Aussies having fun in the pool at 11 pm, all alone. Hemang Badani was on his own. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, and Ajit Agarkar had formed a team of their own. Robin Singh, Javagal Srinath, and Rahul Dravid were all minding their own business. So were Sachin, Sourav, and Laxman.

Coming back to Hardik Pandya

Coming back to Hardik Pandya. We need to give the man a break and walk up to him and speak to him. Sunny Gavaskar (after MSD belted him for 20 off 4 balls) does not have a kind word to say about Hardik.

He says… “Oh, absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy it was bad bowling.” Did Sunny not see the brighter side… that MSD was on song and in a zone of his own. It was brilliant batting from MSD. Even if Philip DeFreitas was at the other end, with MSD in a form like this, sixes would have blazed from his bat. And did Sunny not see Daryl Mitchell struggle whilst facing Hardik Pandya, in the same over? Was not that brilliant bowling?

According to Sunny’s logic, Ben Stokes is an ordinary bowler because Carlos Brathwaite carted him for four successive sixes in the 2016 T20 final. This also means that Stuart Broad is an ordinary bowler since Yuvraj Singh smoked him for six sixes in the T20 World Cup in 2007. This also means that Sunny himself was a poor batsman since he lost his off-stump to a Philip DeFreitas bullet, in the 1987 Reliance World Cup semi-final against England at the same venue. Sunny scored just 4 runs!

No. Sunny is not a poor batsman just because he had a bad day in office in that match. There were other teammates also who had to perform. But did they? What was the result? Kapil Dev was sacked as skipper after the defeat. Why? Because, Ravi Shastri, Kiran More, Manoj Prabhakar, and Chetan Sharma all gave the Englishmen catch practice. That was pretty ordinary batting, Sunny, from the Indian team, and disappointing for a fan to see. 

Sunil Gavaskar should reach out to Hardik Pandya

It would be nice if those who have played cricket, and know the drill, and have been through ups and downs understand what Hardik Pandya is going through. Sit him down. Talk to him. Tell him things will get better. Tell him he is a good cricketer going through a bad phase. I saw Sunny give a pep talk to the Nagpur players after they lost to Mumbai in the Ranji final last month. It was heartening to see a stalwart of the game do that. Do that with Hardik Pandya, Sunny.

Give Hardik Pandya a break, he is going through a tough time. This began after he was made the captain of the Mumbai Indian team. What’s wrong if he is made captain? The whole team is failing now. The management of MI knows what they are doing.

Kevin Peitersen is bang on when he says, “Pandya is smiling too much. He is suffering.” Player to player he knows what negative emotions are washing over Hardik Pandya. This ridicule on a gigantic scale is affecting him. His teammates should surround him and say, “We’ve got this mate. We fight this together.”

Someone needs to reach out to Hardik Pandya.

Not Karan Johar, please!

[Moody Marty: Sometimes funny, sometimes informative, always downright forthright!]

Also Read: Karan Johar: Wake up and smell the Koffee!

Also Read: Ravi Shastri ‘delivers’ for MSD!