’’Ae paan ki dukaan, chal ek thanda de.’’
Pandemonium reigned as Mr. Perfection, Aamir Khan decided to visit the canteen of Mithibai College. At that time, I was digging into a dosa and trying to experiment how a Sprite, mixed with a Capuccino would taste.
Not a single student could believe that Aamir Khan had strutted into our canteen and they excitedly got up, trying to speak to the superstar. The canteen head surfaced out of nowhere and flashing his 28 teeth (his 4 front teeth are missing!), he asked, ’’Yes, sir?’’
’’Abey tu aadmi hai ki andaa, tujhse thanda maang raha hoon thanda!’’
One of the waiters brought a chilled Pepsi.
’’Ae bina terrace ki building, phodoon kya hand-bomb?’’
The manager screamed at the waiter, ’’Haven’t you seen the Coke ad? Thanda means Coca-Cola.’’
’’Wrong, ’’ said Aamir. ’’Thanda matlab Steve Waugh!’’
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Seriously! It’s not for nothing that Steve Waugh is nicknamed ’Iceman’ ! A cricketer with a fine temperament and an astute cricketing brain, Waugh Sr. has been one of the best players in his generation. Which is why it grieved me no end when I learnt that Steve will call it a day after the forthcoming series against India.
Zzzzzzzzz. Kumbharkarna’s sole descendant aka Raj - the nikamma, was snoring away early morning. Er ... actually it was the period which others call noon, but 12 pm is like early morning for me. And my cell beeped. True to my mom’s belief that the only thing that can wake me up is my girl friend’s call on my cell phone, I woke up with a start, expecting a message from my special someone. Which is why it turned out to be a damp squib that it was my father’s message, who had gone out. Five simple words, which I refused to believe ...
’’Waugh retires after Sydney Test.’’
And across my eyes, a typical Hindi-film flashback began.
I was never too fond of Steve Waugh earlier. I somehow prefered the more elegant twin, Mark. Mark Taylor announced his retirement after the ’98-’99 Ashes, and Steve Waugh was to take over. He went on to draw the series against the West Indies 2-2. ’’Big deal’’, I thought. And after some bad losses and a few wins in the league stages of the ’99 World Cup, came the moment when I became a pankha ... er ... fan.
Australia required a stiff target to enter the semi-finals against South Africa and they had lost a few early wickets. Enter Iceman. What followed was a gritty innings, as he built runs gradually. But the moment which truly made me sit up was a six Waugh smashed, sitting on one leg, over long on. That, I learnt later, had been his trademark shot since the past decade.
’’You just dropped the World Cup, son.’’
Whether it’s on the field or off it, Waugh never minces any words. In that match-winning innings against South Africa, Herschelle Gibbs, one of the best fielders in the world, dropped a sitter. Rather, he caught it, and while celebrating, couldn’t manage to control the ball. Rumour has it that Waugh walked up to and uttered the above words. Awe-inspiring. Other players just spew venom from their mouth when they are frustrated. Waugh gave Gibbs a challenge, and won it.
People I know love to watch players like Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting in full flow. However, when it comes to my own personal preference, I love the sight of an uncomfortable Steve Waugh being bruised and battered by the likes of Shoaib, Bond et al. He hops around, takes blows aplenty, fends the ball, lets the bowler enjoy a bit ... and then takes over. I have simply lost count of the number of times he has walked in at 30/3, and with a ’What’s the fuss about?’ attitude, gathered runs to save his side.His batting highlights have been a double hundred against West Indies, the century against South Africa in the Super Six and a thrilling century against England in Sydney, earlier this year. Reportedly, even Channel 9, which has never shifted its 6 pm news to show the last moments of the day, made an exception to display Waugh’s brilliant last-ball-of-the-day century.
In Waugh’s cricket, Waugh the person is reflected. As a player and captain, he worshipped his Baggy Green. Wherever the team went, Waugh went out of the way to make his players aware of the beauty and culture of that particular country. He took them to battlefields and to meet relatives of martyrs in war to inspire them. And the results show ...
He’s not like Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to speaking to the media. While the oh-so-politically correct Sachin says, ’’Ailaa, we definitely played well/definitely could have played better, ’’ Waugh has been known to shoot from the mouth, a bit irresponsibly as well, at times. When the Mike Denness fiasco had taken place, Waugh had commented that if Sachin is guilty, he should pay. Not surprisingly, an equally politically incorrect Saurav Ganguly had said, ’’Tell Steve to shut up!’’
His views on sledging have garnered a lot of criticism. He provides a whole new outlook. He calls it ’psychological disintegration’, and doesn’t condemn it. An interesting way of looking at sledging, though yes, basically, it’s just a captain who is defending the very acts his players are (in)famous for.
A useful bowler (91 Test wickets) and a safe fielder, who has pulled off some spectacular diving catches even at his age, Waugh is an all-rounder in the true sense of the term. Add to that his brilliant captaincy, which makes him the most successful captain of all-time.
I have admired only three captains in cricket - Wessel ’Hansie’ Cronje, Saurav Ganguly and the Iceman. His leadership skills are exhibited in the fact that when he took over as captain, the Australian team was nowhere near the top. Mcgrath had just come back from injury, Ian Healy had just retired, Gillespie kept getting injured and Warne was recuperating from a major shoulder injury. More importantly, Ponting was in his early days then, and there was no Hayden. The entire batting depended upon the Waugh twins, and inspite of so many obstacles, Waugh brought his team from nowhere to the top, where it is even today. No, I think that Ponting is no great shakes as a captain inspite of his brilliant record. When Ponting took over the captaincy, he was presented with a champion side on a platter, he didn’t have to go through the struggles that Waugh went through.
In addition to his immense cricketing talents, strategical prowess and grit, is his human side. A regular supporter of Udayan, Steve Waugh is even paying the entire sum of money for the education and later life of a poor girl from Udayan.
Steve earlier wished to retire after conquering ’The Final Frontier’, as he called the tour to India, since that is the only blemish on his brilliant captaincy record. I had even made my dad promise that wherever the final Test is played in the country, we would travel there and watch all five days of the match. Alas! A desire is left incomplete, as Waugh has announced that he would rather bid goodbye at his home ground, Sydney. Yet, my everlasting memory of him remains him coming to the boundary, folding his hands and saying, ’’Namaste, Mumbai’’ to the North Stand, where I was watching the Aussies trash India, a couple of years ago.
Saif Ali Khan is always confused about which girlfriend his priorities lie with. I am faced with a similar problem. Although I know that it’s improbable, I desperately want India to beat the Aussies Down Under ... But then, I desperately want Steve Waugh to win his last series ...
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