Cricket fans across the world woke up to or went to bed watching one of the greatest heists in the history of cricket. There were too many subplots or parts to this story, but the sum is still greater than that of the parts. This was no less than a movie. So much so, can be called Jink’s Sixteen a la Ocean’s Eleven Twelve or Thirteen.
Australia’s fortress of 32 years breached; India’s team of 20 men played the series – highest ever; boys became men on this tour; India’s greenest bowling attack got the mighty Aussies out twice; Never before Aussies may have played such inexperience after their first ever tour. All these and many many more could make a story in itself. But they don’t make an epic that unfolded on Tuesday at the Gabba.
Tale of two 19’s – December 19th when Indians hit their ultimate bottom and January 19th when the phoenix rose from the ashes. This one month has truly made Indians world over and mind you, there are lot of them and successful to stay up and applaud the efforts of these sixteen men who not just obliterated the black mark but wrote their name in golden ink. These has been a lesson for parents to teach their kids who want to pursue sports or not. Kids and people world over need to realize and appreciate the resilience shown by these men and their support staff.
In this battle of truly David vs. Goliath, it was the proverbial David which emerged victorious again. This was the team made of fearless boys who hadn’t even lost their baby cricket teeth yet. These boys had not just been away for last 5-6 months, they had been living in a bio bubble and dealing with their isolation with aplomb. Number of them had missed out on most important events in their life – one of them lost a parent and other hadn’t seen his newborn. Loss and welcoming new life in their families was treated in the same manner. They had no one but this motley band to cry/laugh to. How about the unruly Aussies both on and off the field who constantly reminded these men of their inferior color and called them names.
Life in bio bubble had been challenging as the last test in Brisbane, the team did not have room service available in their hotel rooms. Oh, and mind you, these men from India despite their flexibility and adaptability world over are picky eaters and most of them pride themselves in being vegetarians. American movies over the years have always shown Brown Men as Doctors who are heroes and here, they had their own kind who was no less wanted than a movie star. No doctors can ever pack extra hamstrings or fingers or bones, so they had to mend them and get them match ready. They did what they could and where they failed, another toddler in the cricketing terms was ready to go.
Previous time, Aussies had tried to malign Indian victory by applying an asterisk that we were without our two best. Trend reversed as they got those two back and had the best defense (bowlers) in the world which was revalidated by the paltry 36 that the Indians collectively put on the board. Indians continued to lose a couple of players each game including their captain and the leader of the pack who was experiencing parenthood for the first time.
Why this performance is so noteworthy is because there was no one man who could claim the victory pie. This pie was baked by many chefs and these chefs put all their body parts on the front. Chefs were led by a master chef who himself was the lead guy for the second or the third time in his career. Some of these men had been served a humble pie in Adelaide and fittingly, the next game was on Boxing Day and these boys took that word to their heart and put in a performance that would have made boxers feel proud. They were near KO’d few days back and they stood up and not just took the body blows, gave them back and how.
Indians have excelled world over in the field of science and math and no one has an iota of doubt over their abilities on that front. Resilience, Fearlessness and Fightback in the sports arena are not the terms you would name an Indian first especially when pitted against the mighty Aussies who boast of populace lesser than the city of Mumbai or Delhi but are amongst the top 5 in performances on the field. This bilateral series was also a true test of character and the cricketers were truly tested during the series. It also served as the biggest vindication of the test cricket which is the ultimate connoisseur’s delight and while the fast food is great on a regular night but the sumptuous 5-course meal is what someone would want for their special day and this series served them galore.
I would like to sign off by lauding Jink’s Sixteen and would urge some of the deeper pockets to bring this to life either in the form of a book or a movie or both and request the school history books to add a chapter to teach the younger ones that in life you may be down, but you are not out and it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
