Only time will tell if Vihari slips through cracks

Watching Hanuma Vihari being thrust into an opening position in Australia after having done reasonably well in the middle order, set off a chain of thoughts.

Watching Hanuma Vihari being thrust into an opening position in Australia after having done reasonably well in the middle order, set off a chain of thoughts. Why would a talented cricketer just about making his mark in international cricket, all of a sudden be asked to perform the most difficult job in testing conditions for which he is possibly not prepared.

Not that it is a rare occurrence in Indian cricket. This has happened to many cricketers in the past, whose careers have been risked at the altar of selection conveniences. Not everyone is as talented and brave as VVS Laxman, who was forced to open but later took a career defining stand and put a condition for his selection to the Indian team. “Pick me in the middle order or don’t select me” was his condition. In a system that discourages defiance of any kind, Laxman should consider himself lucky that his wish prevailed, otherwise India would have been deprived of a truly outstanding batsman.

Whether Vihari’s failure in the MCG Test could put his nascent Test career in jeopardy or fate has ordained better things for him only time will tell. Is he going to end up cursing the world he lives in or find a place in the sun and become the star he must aspire to be? A star like all those who have begun their journey in domestic cricket, kept churning runs and wickets and have successfully played for the country. For even if you are picked to play for the country, there is no guarantee of success and every possibility that the stars may conspire against you, just like Vihari may be thinking at the moment.

There are scores of cricketers who were on the fringe of Indian selection or have had a brief flirtation with the national team and then been forgotten. They go back to the grind, which could be as demanding and tough as international cricket, minus the perks that go with it. Worse, it could lead to frustration and a restlessness that could be debilitating  for ones mental health.  Just like what Shreyas Iyer is going through these days. This Mumbai first class cricketer, who played for India in a few ODIs this year, is an India A player and has now become, according to his own admission, robotic as a player and a lonely, frustrated figure as a person.

In a heart-rending interview to Devendra Pandey of the Indian Express, he sums up his emotional mental make-up in these words: “I don’t feel anything from the inside these days. Koi feeling hi nahi aa rahi hai. For me somehow it (fussing about an India recall) isn’t important. I am emotionless now.”  For a man who has had a close look at the big, adult glamorous world of  Indian cricket, he finds it hard to live with little hope in the “condemned” world of an “aspiring” India candidate.

It is not hard to understand why there would be a majority of cricketers who dot the domestic league, leading anxiety-ridden lives and  feeling like Iyer does. In a world that worships success and rewards the young and talented with fame and riches, failure to make it to the top is bound to scar a young mind.

For every icon who has made it big, there are many more equally talented falling by the wayside. They are called the journeymen who keep on battling in the hope that destiny may be kinder to them some day. For most, that day never arrives and in the end they have to live with what they get and not think of what they had aspired for.

Even among this large crop of  “failed” sportspersons, there are some who come close to achieving their dream of representing their country, but somehow slip on the big stage. A combination of nerves, bad luck, lack of temperament, selection foibles leads to their early exit from the international stage.

They are back to the grind, playing in a plethora of domestic tournaments, making a decent living till it lasts and fretting over what could have been and is not. Real life, apart from the few who get to live their fantasies, is a hard, harsh grind even if playing cricket is their main occupation.

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The New Indian Express
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