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Wristy Returns

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Wristy Returns
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AFTER the low-scoring third Sahara Cup match, Sir Garfield Sobers, adjudicator for the Man of the Match award, had a spontaneous word of praise for Mohammad Azharuddin, for the typically nonchalant manner in which he got 38 useful runs on a track where the ball was turning at right angles.

That must have been sweet music to Azharuddin's ears. It was a dramatic turnaround for the man whose wristy strokeplay, when at its best, has a touch of magic about it, but whose form had deserted him completely during the rather unhappy tour of England. Azhar would stride out to the middle, the droop in his shoulders unmistakable, potter around for a few sketchy minutes and then gift his wicket away to an innocuous bowling attack.

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But the trademark fluency is on the way back. In Toronto, on a wicket that was no ally of dashing strokeplayers, Azharuddin was striking the ball sweetly once again. Understandably, there was joy in the Indian camp. Says skipper Tendulkar: "It was only a matter of time before Azhar got going once again—I knew that all along. He is too good a batsman to be out of his elements for too long."

 Did freedom from the cares of captaincy help the return to form? Azhar dismisses the suggestion but team manager Sandip Patil says: "He had a rather hard tour of England that may have weighed on his mind every time he went out to bat. Now he can concentrate much better on his batting. It is showing in the way he is performing." Indeed, the tentative flicks and the uncertain swishes outside the off stump have been curbed, and the silken grace of yore is back.

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In simpler words, Azhar is Azhar once again. An impatient nod of the head and that famous shrug of the shoulders are Azhar's stock responses these days to all queries about his batting form. But now that his flashing blade is doing all the talking once again, nobody really grudges him his right to reticence.

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