Asia Cup: Time to ton it down

In his stunning and aptly-titled memoir, Open: An Autobiography, Andre Agassi vividly recalls the worst phase of his professional career. The year is 1997 and the American, then aged 27, is ranked as low as 141 in the world. He is forced to play the Challengers, a series of low-rung tournaments he last took part in during his teens!

“One week after Vegas, I play a Challenger in Burbank. The venue is a public park. The centre court has a large tree on one side that casts a 20-foot shadow. I’ve played on thousands of courts in my career, and this is the sorriest one of all. In the distance I hear kids playing kickball and dodgeball, cars backfiring, boom boxes blaring,” Agassi recollects. Less than two years later, he wins the French Open to complete a ‘Career Golden Slam’ (winning all four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold).

The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, a busy suburb of Dhaka, is miles ahead of the public park that Agassi once graced. Yes, trees are here too but around the ground, not on it. And shadows, much longer than 20 feet, are not cast by trees but four massive floodlight poles. Here, grown-up men represent their countries and the spectators are so boisterous that the players have no idea what’s happening in the distance. Boom boxes are out of fashion, but speakers and amplifiers make enough noise.

Make no mistake, the Mirpur stadium, named after the eminent statesman AK Fazlul Huq, is a world-class facility on par with, say, Mumbai’s refurbished Wankhede. The ground is set to host all seven matches of the 11th edition of the Asia Cup, starting on Sunday with a clash between Bangladesh and their country cousins, Pakistan. Defending and five-time champions India and four-time winners Sri Lanka are the other participating teams.

Of the 58 players — 15 each from India and Pakistan, and 14 each from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — who’ve been picked, the selection of a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has, for once, evoked deafening ‘WHYs’ from all over the cricketing world. In 2010, Tendulkar had very conveniently opted out of the biennial competition, organised by the 22-member strong Asian Cricket Council, because “he wanted to spend time with his children in view of the hectic cricket season ahead”. Tendulkar, who’d dashed off to London for his annual holiday, had the privilege of watching Rafael Nadal take on Philipp Petzschner from the Royal Box in Wimbledon’s fabled Centre Court. He was seated next to his good friend, the long-retired Brian Lara. For the record, India had beaten hosts Sri Lanka in the final to lift their first Asia Cup in 15 years.

In 2008, a groin injury he suffered sometime during India’s emotionally-draining Commonwealth Bank Series triumph, had forced Tendulkar to miss the Asia Cup. He last played the tournament in 2004, where India played Sri Lanka in the finals in Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium, which was won by the hosts.

The talking point of the 2012 Asia Cup could have been the enigma of Virat Kohli, the daredevilry of Lahiru Thirimanne, Dav Whatmore’s never-ending CV or, for that matter, Dhaka’s dusky beauties. But unfortunately, the tournament will start and end with our obsession with Tendulkar’s obsession. Yes, this tournament could have been about four highly competitive teams — each of them facing a different set of challenges — but alas, it will be about that hundred. It’s been exactly 364 days since Tendulkar scored his 99th international century (111 vs South Africa in Nagpur) and it’s undoubtedly one of the longest droughts of his career. But like Imran Khan and Kapil Dev put it, “Will the elusive hundred make any difference to his greatness?” Tendulkar could have merrily hung up his boots after the surreal happenings on April 2 last year, but who ever would decline an extra slice of pie?
Virender Sehwag’s absence means MS Dhoni won’t need a rotational policy to include Rohit Sharma in the XI. But spare a thought for Manoj Tiwary. Tiwari’s last international outing yielded an unbeaten 104 in the fifth ODI against the West Indies in Chennai three months ago. But the Bengal batsman was haplessly warming the bench in Australia. And he knows a similar fate awaits him in nearby Dhaka too. Dean Jones was spot on when he said India’s selectors don’t have the guts to give Tendulkar the marching orders. But then, Krishnamachari Srikkanth isn’t John Inverarity. In Australia, cricket is a team game and Ricky Ponting is a team man.

Great players are remembered for their selflessness. Tendulkar’s imminent hundred will certainly send the temperatures and TRPs soaring, but it will have come a month or two too late. And it will evoke deafening roars of ‘WHY NOW?’ and not ‘WOW’. Tendulkar is a product of our system. It is India’s cricket-mad — no, just mad will do — public which created this Leviathan who doesn’t know how he’d spend the rest of his life. Have you ever wondered how your parents found a way to lead a normal life after 40 years in service? Clearly, Tendulkar’s retirement plans shouldn’t be our headache.

Agassi had a point to prove in Burbank. Tendulkar has nothing to prove in Mirpur. Or so we thought!