In a sequel of last week’s ‘Fluctuating Fortunes’ we take a look at the events in the Middle East, as England riposte with swagger and pull off a whitewash of their own, with Pakistan coming back in the T20s. Also under discussion is the title race in La Liga, and after presenting the unpredictable world of Phil Mickelson in FF1 last week, FF2 looks at the disintegrating world of a certain Tiger Woods.
RETORTING TO THE RETORT
After England’s ODI whitewash, in reply to Pakistan’s greenwash, the fans, media and former greats (read; could play a bit in their day and now whine at every opportunity) duly pulled out their knives and cannons to fire relentless blitzkriegs of castigation towards the national cricket side – the team that had only a few days back conjured up the greatest test triumph in the nation’s history. While we were convincingly out-cooked in the ODI series, the criticism bombarded at the team was completely un-called for. No one likes to be bageled in a series – refer to Ian Botham’s commentary or Bob Willis’ column after the test series for further evidence – but one should always draw a line before demoralising a team that has been on the right track for the good part of a year. Yes, the ODI series has come as a jolt, but as far as long term prospects and the bigger picture are concerned, there is no doubt that the team in going in the right direction.
This piece is being scribed before the culmination of last night’s T20 match, and whatever the result might have been Pakistan’s triumph on Thursday has ensured that the pendulum continues to swing between England and Pakistan in the gulf. It was 2007 all over again, as three of the four men who laid the foundation of Pakistan being a T20 powerhouse – Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq (the fourth being Shahid Afridi) – came to the fore. Umar Gul delivering in the clutch in T20s has become a custom of sorts, and few would argue against him being the best fast bowler – if not the best bowler – in the shortest format of the game.
Customarily, ever since his comeback, Shoaib Malik contributes as much to Pakistani batting as the on field umpires’ lightmeter or the advertisement hoardings behind the boundary line. However, that innings on Thursday was crucial – albeit ugly – in ensuring that Pakistan reached a defendable total. Shoaib Malik seems to have had undue backing of his captain over the recent past, but it is exactly because of that sort of a rugged knock in crunch time that he can sermon. Malik needs to retrace consistency in his batting now to further vindicate that trust; for, we are completely devoid of a similar batsman, who can slug it out, rotate the strike and has the potential to up the ante as well – evidently, he has the widest gamut of gears in our batting. Also, as much as you might love to hate him, Shoaib Malik was the mind behind Pakistan’s world-beating exploits in T20s in and around the first World Cup in 2007, which laid the foundation for our triumph in 2009.
REAL on the up
The Big Two in Spain still have ten points between them, as away tests at Rayo Vallecano and Atletico await Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. As discussed last week, it is Barcelona’s away form that has resulted in the gap between the two sides increasing – especially around the time of their World Club Championship triumph. And now it seems that despite firmly being under Barcelona’s domination – both over the league and in their head to head – in the recent past, the pendulum of league glory might finally swing towards the Spanish capital.
Meanwhile, a Leo Messi inspired Barcelona completely dismantled Valencia – a team in the third position – 5-1 last Sunday, to further elucidate the gaping disparity between the top two and the rest. La Liga continues to cement itself as a duopoly; and with an annual two-horse derby being served up in Spain, it is hard to see any title-winning pendulums swinging in the direction of the chasing pack anytime soon. The matters are skewed in the top two’s favour to such an extent this season – and over the recent seasons – that a draw for either side is perceived as being akin to a defeat in the title race. And this is exactly why despite having the top two players, top two teams, possibly top two managers and all the technical quality in the world La Liga fails to live up as a competitive spectacle.
All the same, La Liga’s competitiveness would be the last thing on the mind of Jose Mourinho at the moment as he continues to plot his way through the labyrinth of league glory, with the final line pretty much in sight. And also after their 1-0 triumph in Moscow in the Champions League round of 16 first leg, and watching Barca beat Leverkusen in Germany, the safe money is on these two locking horns in Europe’s premier club competition as well. For, it’s difficult to see either of them being beaten by anyone but each other.
THE TIGER THAT WAS
Here’s a question: when was the last time you saw Tiger Woods’ putting being as abysmal as it was in the Accenture Match Play in the second round on Friday? Yes, the last weekend is a just response; but what the question implied was before Tiger bear-hugged this protracted downward spiral of his in 2010. As the tournament – that the former world number one has won three times – continued without him being in the third round, the Arizona desert was still echoing with horror from his missed five-footer on the 18th green. And despite Woods being out of contention, his flat-stick misery continues to hog the limelight in golf talks.
Yes, it is absolutely unrealistic to expect a golfer – even someone with unprecedented golfing wherewithal, like Tiger – to go through his entire career without having any putting problems. But Tiger Woods has made a career – one of the most illustrious in the history of sports, at that – out of flaunting the unrealistic and pulling off the unimaginable. And what makes the scenario even more worrisome for Tiger is that not only was putting his bread and butter in his heyday, golfing experts opine that putting is the first thing to go before the curtain begins to stealthily draw on a career. The stroke has been Woods Achilles’ heel – who thought that we’d be saying this one day – ever since his abysmal putting in the 9th hole on Sunday at Augusta last April, that blew off his chance of a fifth green jacket. And now with Tiger’s stutters continuing, the pendulum of golfing supremacy that has been fluctuating between Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Luke Donald might finally rest with Rory McIlroy, who has the chance of becoming the top ranked golf player with a triumph at Accenture Match Play.
