A year of unforgettable vintage for Indian cricket

You would think all Indian fans would hail 2002 as the year of the Tiger. The year of the man they call the Royal Bengal Tiger - Sourav Ganguly.

There has seldom been a year when the super-charged, often unreasonable Indian fans expected more of their team. Every time the Indian team left for foreign shores, the chorus sang of an elusive Test series win abroad. Like a poker game spinning out of control, the stakes rose unimaginably every time India went out to bat in a one-dayer. The small matter of 300 runs was chased more than once. And then the inevitable happened. India were brought thudding back down to Earth from seventh heaven in the land of the long white cloud.

© CricInfo

India has been comprehensively out-played in two Tests that lasted less than six days put together in the course of crashing to defeat. The first two one-dayers have cruelly exposed the Indian batting line-up's tendency to play every ball like it's destined to be thrashed to the fence. A little seam and sound of timber as the stumps are shattered, a little swing and the sound of a slip fielder exulting. These are the sights and sounds filtering through from New Zealand - not the resounding thud of willow striking leather.

The cynics have begun to chime in from the sidelines in their grating tones. Ganguly would not be in the team if he wasn't captain. VVS Laxman plays too far away from his body. Anil Kumble is a shadow of the bowler he was. And the conspiracy theorists are not too far behind either. Tendulkar is crying off from certain tournaments because of sponsor conflicts. The players and the board are scheming to defy the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Sadly, this is a site read by mixed audiences and the appropriate response to these preposterous claims cannot be printed.

Suffice it to say that Indian fans are becoming so demanding and so excitable that no amount of success will sate them.

India kicked off 2002 by allowing England to level a one-day series 2-2 where Andy Flintoff established the dangerous precedent of whirling around the Wankhede stadium like a shirtless dervish.

Then India toured West Indies and pulled of a win at Port of Spain to go 1-0 in the series only to falter, flicker and fade out, losing the series 2-1. Fortunately for fans, the slam-bang fast food version brought India consolation.

Then was the trip to the Old Blighty. And which Indian fan can forget the NatWest one-day series? A string of strong performances from a resurgent, energetic group of youngsters in the Indian side culminated in an exhilarating run chase in the final. The 300-runs barrier was broken with something approaching ease and an infuriated Nasser Hussain was left gaping in horror as Ganguly gave his Lancashire teammate as good as he got, taking his shirt off and waving it triumphantly.

After being hammered at the holiest of holies - Lord's, India once again showed bottle, winning at the most English of all English grounds - Headingley. And what's more, the visitors managed to hang onto that score-line.

From a fair English summer for Indian cricket, it was a journey to the Serendip Island for the second largest stage in limited overs cricket. A strenuous, action packed tournament brought India to the fore once again as England were blown away and South Africa pipped at the post. Despite starting more than once, the final was washed out by the arrival of the monsoon and Ganguly could only get one hand on the trophy while Sanath Jayasuriya was happy to help the Indian skipper hold it.

Then the West Indies came to India for their dose of dusty tracks and wicket turners. Underlining their superiority at home the Indians sealed a 2-0 Test series win before hurricane Gayle blew them away to give West Indies the one-dayers 4-3.

That pretty much charts India's course in the year 2002. And if you look back, you will see that there's little to complain about.

If the results are not good enough, the statistics unconvincing, or the balance sheet apparently in the red there are still other things to consider. There's the emergence of the pocket-Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag. There's the forging of a proud, strong one-day unit where people actually talk about the fighting spirit the team shows. There's the fielding and running between wickets of Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh. There's the fire-in-the-belly bowling of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. And of course India's first natural stumper in a while, the babyfaced Parthiv Patel.

And yes, there's the new elder statesman of Indian cricket - Rahul Dravid. More solid than flamboyant, more substance than style, Dravid has saved India the blushes more times than fans should forget. And waving his baton from the sidelines, the soft-spoken John Wright has got the best of his forthright, strong captain.

That heady cocktail of the year of course has been inevitably replaced by the hangover of the Test series loss and the gripes are back. The Chinese whispers are gathering momentum with every passing day. "India don't have a ghost of a chance at the World Cup in South Africa" say the pundits.

And that's a good thing.

Remember what happened when India last went into a World Cup without a ghost of a chance in 1983?