The Sachin Tendulkar-Shane Warne tandem engineered series of three T20 matches, calling itself the “Cricket All Stars” concluded on Saturday at the famous Los Angeles Dodger Stadium. They came. We saw. So, what was conquered?
Exactly two years to the day he made his last Test appearance for India in an emotional farewell on his home turf of Wankhede Stadium, Tendulkar scored a seemingly effortless 56 runs in the final leg of the series his side lost 0-3 to Warne's, in environs — of a Major League ball park — as diametrically opposite as the sides of the world in which Los Angeles and Mumbai are located. The common denominator was that there were more than 20,000 fans that shouted themselves hoarse to the familiar chants of “Saaachiiinn, Sachin”.
Shane's Warriors Shane Warne (L) and Sachin's Blasters Sachin Tendulkar throw balls to fans after the final game of a three-match three city US tour of Twenty20 series of Cricket All-Stars Series at Dodger Stadium. Getty
Both the legends — Warne and Tendulkar — conceived of this idea of taking a travelling road show of past greats, the first stop in the United States, after appearing at the MCC match earlier this summer. Tendulkar asserted that he has decided to pick the bat up again to globalise the game, and Warne proclaimed that they were bringing cricket to America. After a crash course in history of international cricket in the US which pre-dates the Ashes by more than 30 years, the claims of getting America hooked on to cricket were tempered and more reasonable expectations were stated.
It was plainly obvious that this was a business exercise, premised on the fact that Sachin-Mania will draw thousands upon thousands through the turnstiles. In all, more than 60,000 fans watched the matches in the three venues, although Warne as he is wont to do, exaggerated the attendance figures a bit.
As for me, I was cynical of their stated altruistic goals but I was hopeful that at least some good would come of it. There were perfunctory clinics held for kids. At least the kids will all have a story to tell their grandkids of hearing about bowling from Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath, of keeping a still head from Tendulkar and to be always on the front foot from Ricky Ponting. Of course, the hats and bats they got signed from these all time greats will be on their walls and mantlepieces for ever.
Some of the players from the United States national team served as net bowlers as well as substitute fielders, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with the who's who of cricket even if perfunctorily, could only help them in their cricketing ambitions. There was also a sliver of Americans who had never seen a game of cricket on TV or in the flesh made their way to the baseball stadiums as a matter of curiosity. How that piqued curiosity gets turned into following the game itself is anybody's guess.
Tendulkar and Warne hedged their bets on the fact that the glittering assembly of cricketing greats, even as some of them are just a shadow of their very selves in their pomps, will tease the fans out of their homes and in to the arenas, and open their wallets with the most potent pill: Nostalgia. Who in their right mind would resist themselves and their own wise counsel when they hear Wasim and Shoaib, Warne and McGrath, Sachin and Sehwag, Ambrose and Walsh?
I reluctantly went to cover the first game of the series in New York and the moment I was back in my living room after the match, bought my flight tickets to go to LA for the final game. The buzz around CitiField was quite intoxicating as nearly 25,000 fans almost recreated the atmosphere of the games I was witness to at the recently concluded ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
For his 56 runs, Tendulkar faced Courtney Walsh, Allan Donald and Warne himself, in addition to Jacques Kallis and Daniel Vettori. My mind went back to West Indies tour of India in 1994 when Walsh had the measure of Tendulkar for the most part. When I saw Donald marking his run up and Tendulkar scratching out his guard, for a brief moment 1996 Durban played in my head. Of course, memories of Australia's tour to India in 1998, and the subsequent desert storm innings are never far away from my thoughts, and as Warne ambled in, those memories were on hyperdrive.
I was suckered in by the hold cricket had on me when I was a teenager, and just a promise of the old battles rekindled even in super-slow motion, convinced me to fly 3000 miles across the country. Of course, Walsh now is slower than Venkatesh Prasad's slower balls, and Donald serves up pies, and there isn't that ripping legbreaks coming out of that broad right hand of Warne. The cricketing merit itself of these exhibition games, Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara's performances notwithstanding, was miniscule. There were odd times when the matches looked to be competitive — Shoaib Akhtar in couple of his overs and Saqlain Mushtaq putting on a brief display — but in general, the cricket was insipid.
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But for the thousands of fans that made the trips, it was a chance to relive their childhood. For some, it was the first time they have seen most of their cricket idols in the flesh. It didn't matter that creaky knees and stiff backs and advancing age didn't allow these greats to be anywhere close who they were in their prime. The very idea that they were there was good enough for most of the fans. On that front, this series was a success.
What about cricket in America then? Well, earlier on Saturday, there were playoff matches being played at the famous Woodley Park in Los Angeles. I watched one of those matches (between San Diego CC and Vijeta CC) which was a nail-biter as SDCC got home by 3 runs. VCC's chase was spearheaded by their opener Timil Patel, who after taking a five-fer earlier, held the innings together with a workmanlike 66 and fell in the last over of the innings with the target just 6 runs away.
There were a few curious onlookers — joggers and people walking their dogs — who stopped by the game and tried to make sense of what was happening. Perhaps, matches like these do a lot more to spread cricket in America than globe trotting all stars. After the match, Timil was spotted wearing the jersey of Sachin's Blasters and having his picture taken on the Dodger Stadium outfield. He is a member of the US National cricket team.
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