African Safari: The tour diary
Ashish Shukla - 22 October 2001
At dinner with the big boys
Sunday found the Indian team attending a dinner at High Commissioner
Manjit Puri's Cape Town residence. They seemed a jaded lot after the
exertions of practicing at Paarl earlier in the day. "It's very far,"
says Ganguly as he and the other players mingle with the local Indians
and the host's family.
The Indians had earlier tried to have their nets at Newlands in the
morning, but their request was not entertained. The officials of the
Western Province Cricket Association, it seems, dearly wanted to host a
India-South Africa one-dayer at Newlands, as this would surely have
ensured better gate receipts than the upcoming match against Kenya. The
rumour is that they are now taking out their anger at the United Cricket
Board of South Africa (UCBSA) for denying them their wish, putting the
Indians through the wringer as well.
The Indians, after their first look at Paarl, were unanimous that the
strip was going to be batsman-friendly. "The facilities, nets and
dressing rooms are also superb," says Sundra Reddy, a liaison officer
with the Indian team.
Reddy, one learns, is one of the tireless crusaders who have promoted
cricket in Chatsworth (a suburb of Durban). All that hard work is to
bear fruition soon; Chatworth is now hosting a three-day first-class
game between the Board President's Eleven and the Indians on October
29-31, a prelude to the first Test at Bloemfontein on November 3.
As the time for dinner nears, I find myself with Yuvraj Singh, the young
Indian dynamo. In between large helpings of the buffet, he says that he
wants to make amends for his failure at East London in the remaining
games. Talking of his dismissal at the hands of Lance Klusener in that
game, Yuvraj said that particular delivery turned out to be a genuine
off-spinner. "I wanted to build my innings and hence was cautious to
start with," says Yuvraj, recounting that dreadful dismissal.
Virender Sehwag, the other young gun who was expected to fire, also fell
to Klusener, holing out at mid-off. The stocky middle-order batsman from
Delhi said he "middled" the ball well but couldn't get the expected
elevation. Both Yuvraj and Sehwag, though, will have a chance to prove
themselves in the remaining matches. "Our failure would not matter much
if we can make up for this loss by winning the finals," Yuvraj says.
Meanwhile, John Wright, the Indian coach, is enjoying his first trip to
the Rainbow nation. We caught him in one of his nostalgic moments.
"Peter Kirsten, the batting great from this part of the world, also
played for Derbyshire for a couple of seasons when I was turning out for
the same county," recalls Wright. "In one of the seasons, I hit nine
centuries while he only managed eight."
Wright says the elder Kirsten had, on quite a few occasions in those
years, asked him to come down to South Africa, and Cape Town in
particular. "Now that I am here, he does not forget to remind me that I
took a long time in coming," the Indian coach says with a hearty smile.
As the time for taking leave approaches, one cannot help but observe
that, though Wright may be tough on the field, he is very sociable and
charming off it.
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