Farewell 5

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The sun is setting on some of Indian cricket's best-known and most-loved players. More... Farewell 5 Chloe Saltau October 1, 2008 TAKE a long, last look. Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman are under pressure to name their retirement dates, and Sourav Ganguly is already on the outer, poised to announce his exit if his name does not appear today in the squad for the Bangalore Test. This Border-Gavaskar series could provide a last, misty-eyed vision of the Indian team as we know it, and in a country where the Twenty20 revolution has made instant fame (and instant wealth) achievable for emerging young cricketers, no one can say whether the next generation truly aspires to emulate their Test feats, as distinct from their impact on the shorter forms of the game. Ganguly, according to a report in The Hindustan Times, has already made up his mind to depart the international scene if he is overlooked today, and his fate was effectively decided when he was left out of a Rest of India side regarded as a team on trial for the Australian series. The former captain appears to have accepted his fate, the Kolkata connections that helped him survive a bitter feud with former coach Greg Chappell two years ago unlikely to save him now. Meanwhile, the Indian board and its new selection panel are grappling with a succession plan, a process made all the more painful by the Indian public's reluctance to farewell its Fabulous Five. Supporters of Laxman cried foul yesterday over his abrupt removal as captain of the Hyderabad Indian Premier League franchise, the Deccan Chargers, even though his replacement, Adam Gilchrist, would seem a much more natural choice than the elegant Laxman in that explosive form of the game. Tendulkar is 76 runs away from Brian Lara's world record for Test runs and, despite the wishes of his adoring public, cannot play forever. Dravid is not the impenetrable force he once was, but has the staunch support of his fellow Bangalorian, captain Kumble. Kumble will keep his job for the duration of the Australian series, having led so strongly last summer, but there is a push for Mahendra Dhoni to take over before too long, a theme that gained some serious momentum after coach Gary Kirsten made public his view that Dhoni, the bold young limited-overs skipper and the poster boy for New India, was ready to ascend to the Test captaincy. Some in positions of authority want the ageing stars to make dignified exits under what one local newspaper described as a Voluntary Retirement Scheme. "This is basically the model that Cricket Australia follows," an unnamed board official said. "We all saw how Steve Waugh bowed out. This 'deal' operates on the understanding that they will be picked for the series irrespective of their performances, but they will have to say bye-bye even if they score a hundred." An intriguing thought, given the travelling circus that followed Waugh around Australia on his 2003-04 farewell tour, a distraction that unsettled the team and very nearly ended with Australia's first series loss on home soil in more than a decade. Chappell, now embedded in the Australian camp as an assistant coach or double agent, depending on your allegiance, tried to instigate change during his coaching tenure, and met resistance from within and without the team. Since then, the IPL has at least created a soft landing for champions who stood to tumble from great heights if their form crumbled, and at least now they are being offered the right to control their own exits. What the IPL has also done is that young Indian cricketers have been offered a quick route to fame, wealth and opportunity. Dhoni has popularised the new model for success, gaining influence through his performances in the shorter formats, rising to the limited-overs captaincy in four seasons and becoming only the second cricketer to receive his country's highest sporting honour, after Tendulkar. He is respected by the Australians, who recognise the danger in his batting and his appetite for a contest, but his Test record (he averages 33.76 overall and 17 against the Australians) so far does not approach his numbers in the limited-overs formats. The Twenty20 explosion in India promises to harness the undeniable talent in a nation of a billion people, but it is unclear whether the next generation has the heart for Test cricket, with all its grinds, ebbs and flows. "The conundrum," Chappell said, "is that if you can play the long form of the game, you can play the short form. I'm not convinced yet that it goes the other way." So enjoy this Border-Gavaskar series. Savour it. By the time the next one rolls around, the Fabulous Five could be relics from a bygone era.