Maxi-mus blitzkrieg

This edition of the Cricket World Cup will soon be over, and we will return to focus on matters of our day job. All these moments of excitement and heartburn will soon become statistics unless it’s your day job to remember them. In a week, next Sunday, if you were to tell me about great things about Shami, Rohit, Shreyas, and KL, I would say, ‘Really! Did they do all that? Well! Good for them.”. Even Kohli’s 50th century is a relatively minor milestone compared to the greatness he is destined to achieve. Do you remember his 25th?

However, against this tendency of limited memory, I would remember one inning of this tournament for a long time. AUS vs AFG, in which I witnessed arguably one of the greatest cricket matches ever played. The Maxwell and Afghanis played the game of what it stands for.

Let’s give Afghanis the credit they deserve. They are no longer underdogs; they can disrupt the point tables at any game they play. Being resilient is in their blood, and endurance is their middle name. Afghanistan has arrived.

For a moment, If you step out of the context of cricket and look at geo-politics, this nation has defeated two of the largest empires of our generation. Both left and right of Cold War powers ran away with tails between their legs. It wasn’t the firepower, but the endurance and resilience were the reason for those outcomes. In this context, I wasn’t surprised when seven wickets were down of Australia.

What happened next was history. Let me not get into the statistics, but as a bottom line, Australia won the match with few overs to spare without losing another wicket. Maxwell collapsed; his muscles weren’t cooperating, and he had to stand and deliver.

If you want to watch the highlights and come back here for the rest of the post, I recommend that. In summary, the reason I call this the greatest match ever played is it reaffirms some of the values I believe in and try to follow.

1. Grit Vs talent when it comes down to the wire; grit and endurance always win for you, more often than talent.
   • Persistence: Let me quote one of my favourite lines here: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.“
2. Experiences versus Youngblood. Push comes to shove; it is an experienced who would think straight.
3. Techniques are only for your guidance: Experts and coaches have spent years analyzing the front foot and back foot. Maxwell disagrees and says you could even stand and deliver.
4. You snooze, you lose. Ask that guy who dropped Maxwell early in his innings.
5. Odds are just numbers. Just like Age., it’s just a probability, not the outcome. Just look at win predictor scores. These two are great because they have an ability to pull a victory out of the jaws of defeat.

Postscript: a) in T20, Kohli’s chase against Pakistanis is the greatest. b) In the tests, Dravids in Edan Gardsna is the greatest. Lakshman did well, too, but then it was Dravid who batted the entire day drained with viral fever.