Birmingham: Former Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu is well known for his metaphors and oneliners. Here is a sample after India made the final of ICC Champions Trophy in style: “the current crop of youngsters in the Indian team is the FDR (Fixed Deposit Receipt) for the 2015 World Cup.”
When Gulf News caught up with him for an exclusive chat, Sidhu was in an eloquent mood. Rising from the shame of once being known as a strokeless wonder to become one of the finest strokemakers, Sidhu today sparkles in his role as a commentator and his witticisms is known as ‘Sidhuisms.’
What are his thoughts on the present Indian team? “I know Indian cricket for the last 35 to 40 years, but this is the first time an Indian team leaves its shores to start as the tournament favourites. In 1983 we were never the favourites, in 1985 when we won the World Championship we were not favourites. We have been always favourites at home, but never abroad. The favourites were always the Australians, South Africans and the British.”
Sidhu attributes the good show to excellent team combination. “What we have seen here is a combination. The guy who came in as the No.4 batsman (Rohit Sharma) and failed in the first two matches became an opener. The guy who came in as spare wicketkeeper (Dinesh Karthik) is now No.5. Ravindra Jadeja as the fifth bowler has given the cutting edge to the bowling attack and in place of Irfan Pathan we find Umesh Yadav.
“This team is destiny’s child. There is no single hero. It is a team which is self-reliant and gelling together as a cohesive unit. Team India is the hero. In the first match we saw Virat Kohli as hero, Dinesh Karthik and Dhoni were heroes in the second, the third one saw Jadeja shine, and in the last two the openers became heroes.”
What does he attribute this transition to? “It is the youngsters that the selectors have picked. All men have eyes, but few have the vision. These selectors have a vision. They have seen these youngsters as FDRs to be encashed with compound interest, especially for the 2015 World Cup. It is a bunch they have invested in and that is why we haven’t missed Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. So the transition is near-complete,” he said.
