Indian Cricket: Why Good will Never be Great (The Greatest Celebration of Indian Cricket)

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In India, cricket is a religion and cricketers are Gods. This book is a pure celebration of India's cricket history and the players who took Indian cricket to great heights. Yet unlike other books that are one-dimensional, this book also looks at the flip side and asks the 'why' questions that are seldom asked in India. The book offers great insights into why India has never managed to reach the peaks that the great Australian and West Indian teams of the past did. More importantly, it offers great suggestions to make Indian cricket truly great.

The author has passionately followed world cricket and Indian cricket for the last 30 years. He has also followed other sports such as tennis and football amongst others.

The one essential ingredient of sport is the innate ability to lift yourself at the biggest stage, at the biggest moments. In individual sport, it's the power of one woman or one man, and in a team sport, it's the collective powers and the collective resolve of those involved. While many individuals or teams become good or very good, a precious few achieve "Greatness".

Greatness in sport is the act of achieving, repeating, and sustaining, excellence. It is the ability to wake up every morning and be hungrier than the previous day, even if the previous day was a massive success story. It is the inherence of a state of mind where complacency doesn't exist, mediocrity is unacceptable, and losing is akin to disaster. Greatness is never an end result - it's a pursuit, it's a journey. The burning question in my mind has always been, "does Indian cricket have what Clive Lloyd or Border-Taylor-Waugh-Ponting had in their minds - total dominance?"

In India, Cricket is a religion. This cliché is the most common description read definition of this great sport in this cricket crazy nation. And, in any religion, you don't raise your finger at the God. Or, in this case, Gods! And any criticism, be it solely for the best interest of this religion, is perhaps Indian fans' greatest bête noire. And, perhaps, that's the reason why every word that's spoken about cricket & its emissaries, every piece of literature on this bat vs ball game, played everywhere from the narrowest of streets to the most princely bungalows in India, is about how great our players are, how good our team is and why our players are the best batsmen, the best bowlers, the greatest superstars in the world. The image of a superstar is bigger than the efficiency of the team. What we tend to forget is that these are human beings playing the game, not Gods. And every human being, however great she or he may be, is not flawless. What Indian fans tend to forget, perhaps, is that the love for the game or the players doesn't guarantee greatness.

25th June 1983. David vs Goliath. The great man, Sir Vivian Richards, mistimes a pull. Another great, Kapil Dev sees the ball go up in the air, turns quickly and starts running after it, eyes always on the ball, like a man possessed. A heart stopping moment for the few fortunate Indians who had access to television & millions who'd tuned into All India Radio. He would go on to complete what would remain the most famous catch in Indian cricket for 24 years. The highlights of the catch would probably be the most watched in Indian cricket history. That moment was the first step in what would be a symbolic step up for India as an emerging World power, since Cricket & India go hand in hand. That day, Kapil's Devils would script history and India would go on to conquer the 2-time World Champions, the mighty West Indies. Let the celebrations begin!

15th Mar 2001. David vs Goliath part 2. The great Aussie team who'd steamrolled all who'd crossed their paths for 16 consecutive test matches, including India in the previous match, had all but laid the final nails in the coffin that would help them conquer the "Final Frontier". Then, all of a sudden, almost miraculously, the coffin door and the nails were pushed out by a magician called Very, Very Special Laxman, fantastically supported by the "Wall", with the last rites being completed by a young "Turbanator". The lows, the highs and, most importantly, the aftermath of this win would go on to define the New India led by the irrepressible, incomparable Sourav Ganguly. Cometh Dada!

24th Sep 2007. Close on the heels of possibly India's worst ever cricketing moment, a horror World Cup performance which resulted in players' homes being targeted and the end of the "Darkest Phase" under Greg Chappell, came this win, completely out of the blue and something no one in India or the rest of the world had ever anticipated. Under immense pressure, and the match all but stolen away from them, Santhakumaran Sreesanth held on to the catch that would go on to rival Kapil Dev's marvel 24 years ago. Not that the quality of the catch was comparable, it was just the pressure, and the result! After all, this was a small matter of a World Cup final, albeit T20, versus perennial rival Pakistan, to whom India had an unbeaten record in World Cups. There were no nails left to chew, the hearts were just about beating. Epic!