Fortune favours the brave, or does it?

Anil Kumble's ten wickets against Pakistan, Saeed Anwar's innings of 194, Shahid Afridi's 37 ball century were all remarkable extraordinary performances. Ask the cricketers about the performance and they might sum it up saying they were lucky.

Even though the fielders played a very important role in Kumble's performance, so did his hard work and persistence with the ball but at the end of the day the general opinion is "he was lucky". Shahid Afridi is a natural hitter of the ball and always gives it a thump whenever asked to. He connected most of the deliveries in that innings and sent them flying across the boundary was a result of his excellent eyesight and coinciding body movements not to neglect his immense power. But even he, in the post match interview, agreed to the fact that he was 'lucky' on the day. Saeed Anwar mentioned the same fact after his innings in the Independence Cup, even though he is an extremely talented player.

Luck plays a crucial, perhaps even decisive role in any sportsman's career. The sheer hard work, pain staking efforts, considerable talent, all backed up with 'luck' sums up a successful career. Being at the right place at the right time is very crucial to the prospects of a cricketer. Scoring a century in the presence of a selector makes a huge difference than reading about it in the newspaper. Consistent performances always count but what matters the most is the crucial one that gets noticed.

A batsman who scores back to back hundreds for his state team and has a bad day at the National trials will be noticed by his performance at the trials. A big hundred against a touring side in the first class matches propels a batsman to the forefront for national selection even though he may have no commendable performances in the domestic season.

Santosh Saxena bowled well in the local Kanga league matches played in Mumbai and was spotted by the then Mumbai skipper Sanjay Manjrekar. Manjrekar picked him for the Ranji nets and today Santosh is in line for a possible national call. Rajesh Pawar, the pocket bombshell, was spotted 'luckily' by Sunil More and introduced to the leather ball game at the Ranji nets. Pawar today forms the spin trio for Mumbai along with the likes of former India bowlers Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule and has been a consistent performer for the state.

Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid became instant stars on their Test debuts at Lord's, the former scoring a century and the latter marginally missing out on his hundred. Dravid and Ganguly were both 'lucky', to say the least, that they made their debuts in England. Both of them are good players of the swinging ball and prefer playing more technically, copy book style. Wristy and technically strong batsmen have always done well in the English condition. Had they made their debuts in South Africa, it might have been a different story all together. Pravin Amre, despite getting a hundred on Test debut, may be termed 'unlucky' for making his bow in South Africa. Ganguly was a decent performer with the ball but he got 'lucky' against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup and became an instant hero as an allrounder overnight. Ganguly was persistent with his line and length in the matches and kept frustrating the batsmen. He deservingly got the wickets and was also the man of the match.

The batsman who can win the game on his own, Sachin Tendulkar, got a 'lucky' break in the Bombay Ranji team with most of the star players away on national duty. Sachin was in great form at that time and scored a hundred on debut. Dilip Vengsarkar invited him to the India nets and Pakistan saw a glimpse of the greatest batsman in world of cricket.

Even at the selection trials of a University team or a college team, there are about 200 boys turning up for the selections. Of these only 16 will be 'lucky' to represent their college or University. It becomes all a matter of holding your nerve at the selection trials. A very good batsman could have his stumps rattled by a delivery that never left the ground after pitching. One small word would sum up the situation - 'unlucky'.

All the hard work, consistent performances, match winning scores, are all incomplete if 'luck' is not in your favour. Ask any cricket crazy fan why India lost a match and he would sum it up saying India was not 'lucky' on that particular day. For that matter even an aspiring cricketer will tell you the same.