This victory did not come about due to precociuosness of the prodigal son, who attempted the first breach nearly two decades ago, nor did it come from the single minded resolve of the Wall...neither from the silken stroke of the God of Off-side nor from the guile of Jumbo or any Very Very Special Innings. This victory emphasised the fact that cricket, too is a team game...it needs eleven to tango.
How many times have a test match been won, without a single century or a pfeiffer, that too against the well entrenched opposition, playing to the opponent's strength.
Given what happenned on and off the circket field in last fortnight, it wouldn't have been out of place if Kumble exhorted his troops on the eve of the Perth Test using the following words of the Bard of Avon...
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
-King Henry V
This band of brothers....let the glory be theirs....Amen!!
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