In any sport, there is always a swashbuckler, and there is a dark horse at the same time. If there was a dazzling, long-haired genius in the sport of tennis, John McEnroe, known for his spellbinding serve and volley play, there was a dour Bjorn Borg. A few years down the line, if there was the ‘boy wonder’, Boris Becker, known for his blinding aces and acrobatic volleys, there was the consistent baseliner, Andre Agassi.
The annals of hockey, our national game, are replete with similar examples. Who can forget Ajit Pal Singh, the workman-like half-back of the 1975 World Cup-winning team, and the duo of Ashok Kumar and VJ Philips, the mercurial forwards and goal-scorers for India? Fast forward to the 1980s, and the dazzling dribbling of Mohammad Shahid was so well complemented by the solid play of MM Somaya that will always be etched in the minds of all hockey lovers.
Talking of the most popular sport in our country, if there was the ever-so-dependable Sunil Gavaskar, there was the swashbuckling stroke player, Salim Durrani, who was known to hit sixes on demand. The batting maestro, Sachin Tendulkar, was complemented by ‘The Wall’, Rahul Dravid.
The recent retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket has echoes of this interesting facet of sporting history. We all adore Rohit Sharma, who has the ability to rip apart the best of bowling attacks. The thundering straight drive that came from his bat in the recently concluded Champions Trophy, which virtually “grounded” the umpire, exemplifies the batting of Rohit Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}The recent retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket has echoes of this interesting facet of sporting history. We all adore Rohit Sharma, who has the ability to rip apart the best of bowling attacks. The thundering straight drive that came from his bat in the recently concluded Champions Trophy, which virtually “grounded” the umpire, exemplifies the batting of Rohit Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}Virat Kohli is almost a study in contrast, going by the standards of modern slam-bang cricket. He may not hit every ball out of the park, but he provided the bedrock on which Rohit Sharma could go berserk, often with spectacular results. Virat Kohli had the ability to change gears, dour and sedate one moment, and firing like a gun the next.
These interesting pairings made me think of parallels in life. Very often, we are tempted to take the “swashbuckling” and “spectacular” way, only to realise that this approach doesn’t always work. What works is the staid and steady approach of a Sunil Gavaskar! What works is the survival skill of Rahul Dravid. We need to develop the ability of Virat or Sachin to shift gears for navigating the rough waters in the course of life.
Thank you, Virat and Rohit, for giving us moments to savour on the cricket field and for giving us lessons to walk the path of life with success. gulbaharsidhu@rediffmail.com
The writer is a Jalandhar-based psychiatrist