You Can Win!

A proud Briton - and an even prouderYorkshireman - Geoffrey Boycott didn't let this to cloud his judgment when he declared that the present tour to England was the best chance for India to make history - by winning the series. The last time we did so was when nearly a third of the present Indian population was not even born - 21 years ago. And before that, you have to go back 15 years, in '71, famous for BS Chandrashekar's 6 for 38 - which has been voted the century's best ever bowling by an Indian by Wisden.

The historic context is a baggage that will weigh much too heavily on the players and so it's best left behind! As Dravid is fond of saying, every match is a new match and has little or no relevance to the past. However, this time, opportunity knocks on the Men in Blue, and if they can't beat this English eleven, their collective records have quite simply no realizable market value.

We don't know whether the British are a charitable lot, but you can't fault this team for not trying! Their best player who can win matches single handedly, Andrew Flintoff, is injured, and ruled out of the series. So is Simon Jones and --, the duo who turned the star act for England in the Ashes win down under. Which leaves out Mathew Hoggard, the only other fast bowler of proven merit - and even he has succumbed to an injury. Batting? Their best Test bat, Marcus Trescothick is not there in the team. Which means India is up against a bunch of young, debutant, hopefuls which has three big names - the captain, Michael Vaughan, the burly all-rounder Pietersen, and the funky Monty Panesar.

Names dropping? You can't match the Men in Blue on this count. We have an embarrassing richness of big names, bigger experience, and some of the biggest records. But no, we can't win abroad. Up to now. It can - and it should - change this time round.

For half the team, this could well be the last time they are on a cricketing tour of England, viz. Dravid, Tendulkar, Kumble, Laxman, Ganguly, and possibly Zaheer Khan. Pool their records and experience and England's would simply vanish in comparison. But experience, history, counts for little, for every match is new, and as the cliché goes, no match is over till the last ball is bowled. Our team needs to believe in itself, and play to win. We need to splash the following in bold letters in the players' dressing room and in their hotel rooms: Winning is not the only thing, winning is everything.