Damien Martyn: The Perfect Morty to the Rick(y)

When it comes to adventures or finding alternate realities, it is majorly Rick who leads it from the front but without Morty, the sidekick there is no fun. In the Cricketing world too, Morties, people who get shadowed in greatness; are truly a vital cog in the wheels for the Ricks to succeed.

Everyone knows what Robin Uthappa did at the other end so that Rohit could reach the highest ever ODI score of 264.

Everyone acknowledges that in the unbroken 76 run stand for the last wicket, how crucial Jack Leach’s golden run was and how it gave Stokes the (almost) knighthood at Headingley

Alas, there are hardly a few who even remember what Damien Martyn contributed to the star-studded Australian line-up or in fact know who he is!

While Ponting was busy demolishing the hopes of Indian fans in the 2003 WC Final with his magical springs; it was Martyn supporting him from the other end to take the magnitude of his furore to another dimension. His 88 off 84 were no less than a 150. He anchored to let Ponting blast with authority and take it away completely from the Indians.

Three years later, he even went on to win the 2006 Champions trophy for the Aussies being their leading run-scorer in the series. A softie in an obnoxiously aggressive Australian squad; probably deserves a deeper place in our hearts. Apart from being gritty & a utility middle-order batsman, who chips in with his 30s & 40s consistently; Damien also happens to be a two-time WC winner.  (03 & 99)

In the 90s, to be honest, his career was quite rampant, but he steadied the ship towards the later part of the millennium. Irregular guest appearances were stopped, and he became a regular eventually post Mark Waugh’s exit and exploited the teams of the sub-continent especially.

The languid lad has a great overall record. In 67 Tests, Martyn averages 47 with 13 Tons & 23 Fifties to his name. He averages 62 against Pakistan, 53 against South Africa, 53 against Sri Lanka, and close to about 50 against India and New Zealand each. His average goes to 63 in the third innings.

In the ODIs, Damien averages 40 with 37 fifties (quite crucial) and 5 centuries; quite some numbers for a middle-order batter. Averages 65+ against England and loved tonking them! Did you know – he was the one who replaced Deano, the professor in the Aussie’s scheme of things!

Martyn was a purist! He made batting look so simple and stylish.

Martyn, a man with a high prestige had the craftsmanship of Hugh Jackman while the charm of Christian Bale; two people I admire a lot from Hollywood. As an ardent Cricket fan, those still headed cover drives are still at the top of my nostalgia playlist from Robelinda2 on YouTube.

Keeping yourself calm knowing that you do not have a man of the match till the age of 30 yet contributing meticulously with utmost elegance for the team’s cause; is a sign of a great artist. He then went to grab the man of the series against India and helped the team do the unthinkable after 30 darn years. Copybook batting at his prime, you could say.

2004-05 was another season for Morty and Rick to cherish. Martyn hammered 1000+ Test runs with an average of 67, providing the ideal foil to the ever-aggressive Ricky Ponting. They both punished the opponents and took Australia to the sublime high. Adding to the form, 2005 fetched him the player of the year medal.

The fact that he did well on tricky pitches and crunch situations, makes him even more applaudable. Be it neutering the swing in England, pace and bounce in SA and spin in the Indian subcontinent; it was magical.

While Martyn was involved (1998-2006), Ponting flourished & hit almost 12k runs at a mighty average of 51 (only below Hussey & Bevan), across all formats. Isn’t it Rickdiculous!

I am sure this is enough to register the greatness of Damien Martyn. In case not; Wubba Lubba Dub Dub!

Image : Getty
Stats : Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo

Winning it the Pablo-Ponting Way !

I’ve just finished watching Narcos and I must admit that there’s something highly intriguing & fascinating about it, that I can’t fathom the fact that it is actually over. For those who haven’t seen it, let me brief you a bit. Narcos is an American crime web television series, which tells the rags to riches story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who became a billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine. Escobar was a bad guy,no doubt! He was responsible for killing of human race via bombings and murders but there’s loads to gain from his management skills and the way he lead his troops is commendable.

Pablo’s character is very strong and the amount of self-belief this guy possesses is something unimaginable. He had three opponents – the Colombian police, the Americans and the other mafias but he always lived on his own terms, managed his business with only a handful of trusted sources and removed everyone that came in the way of his family or work. Pablo is one of my favorite characters on the screen and Ponting had been the same on a Cricketing field. Escobar clearly reminds me of the Punter.

I absolutely loved the show and appreciate every single moment of it. Narcos has been remarkably scripted and there hasn’t been a dull moment,just like Ponting’s career; full of undying winning spirit.

Here’s a quick look at Ponting’s amazing stats –

• Most International runs by an Australian Batsman – 27,483
• Most International Centuries by an Australian Batsman and second of all time – 71
• Second to Graeme Smith for most Test victories as captain – 48
• Most victories as ODI captain – 165
• Undefeated as Captain in World Cups games -35 matches

Pablo had been a mass murderer and a drug lord whereas Ponting is one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. It would be unfair to draw parallels but there have been some striking similarities in terms of their leadership and behavioral traits.

Being Ruthless
Ponting embodied everything Australia stands for: toughness and a skilled craftsman, who cared about the baggy green. He stepped over the line many times, but was always dedicated to winning games for his country. Pablo on the similar lines,acted ruthless when his game was at the stake.He didn’t even think twice to bomb an airplane and a Court;simply because he to.Remember the Sydney test? You lie,you cheat,you steal but ultimately you got to win. It’s like a family,do whatever it takes to keep them safe and win at the same time.

Charismatic Leaders
Escobar was very bright in terms of seeking the opportunity and fixing the problems. Cocaine was practically unknown in the US when he started out and when he finished
he was one of the richest men in the world. His men could do anything for him. In terms of organization, originality, and leading with a strategic mindset he should be considered up there with Ponting. Not only did he have 3 consecutive Ashes wins in England under his belt but he made the Aussies invincible across all the formats.

He led from the front, always. In fact,Ponting’s 2003 WC final knock that outclassed India out of the game was so amazing that Indians started to believe that he had a spring in his bat back then.

Street Smart & Intimidating
Pablo could use his tons of money and his fear to get what he always wanted. It’s his ego towards becoming the President that got him killed. Ponting too was quite intimidating at the same time.He considered sledging as a tool to help his team getting a psychological advantage over the opponent. Hayden McGrath Lee Warne were his Gustavo, La Quica, Limon & Blackie. Highly faithful and dangerous resources. Winning 3 consecutive World Cups isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and Ponting did it in style.

The Bandits
Both Pablo & Ponting were rebellions in terms of their technique. You pitch him short, it’ll be pulled off for a six.Also, the way Pablo roams around in his car in Medellin, even though he had a bounty on his head;shows that he backs his instincts to succeed. Ponting always had a plan B in shape just like Pablo, who always had an escape route ready for him in adverse situations.The innings he played in 2005 Ashes, was exceptional. He displayed a magnificent display of his character especially when the greatest of his men no longer existed. Similarly, even though Pablo lost his biggest strength-his cousin Gustavo; he fought hard and won it with pride.

Think Big and Dominate
You dream big and make them come true.Pablo had told himself that he’d a billionaire by 25. He did! Ponting too on similar lines did the unfathomable.Back in January 1999 he was banned for three matches after a nightclub brawl. He slogged hard and the world eventually saw him becoming Test Captain five years later is testament to the guy’s work ethic and dedication to the post he ascended to.Every time he walked to the crease he had fire in his eyes. He had determination, aggression and a great temperament. He had an amazing ability to attack and play shots that you could not set fields to defend against.

A naive boy from Tasmania went onto become the greatest captain of all time. It takes balls of steel to achieve this feat.

Crazy at Different Levels
I mean who wages a war against his own Govt. Ponting too at the same time, wasn’t any less.Be cool, be in control and not only handle fear but induce it to the opposition. That was their mantra. Now, coming to the 2006-07 Ashes series, Ponting was under huge pressure as Australia had conceded the urn to England the previous year. It was a make or break Ashes for Ponting as another defeat could well have meant the end for his term as the captain.But he absorbed the pressure gracefully, lived up to his reputation by leading the team from the front. He instilled fear in the eyes of the opposition by playing fearless Cricket.

He played a belligerent knock of 196 which still goes down in the history books as one of his finest stints ever. Not only it set up the match for an Australian victory but eventually paved way for a 5-0 thrashing of England in that Ashes series.

Summing it up with this quote from Ricky Ponting –Always be fiercely determined and driven to succeed.

Both were proven Punters in their own way. Ultimately,it all boils down to which side are you on. Pablo achieved his fate (got killed) whereas Ponting nurtured his soul into something constructive and is still hailed as a legendary batsman & captain for all the right reasons.

Cheers to the great gamblers.

The inheritance of goodwill

I feel so good looking at a vintage photograph that just popped out of nowhere. I am 6, holding a Kashmir willow bat with a gentle shimmer and a sense of pride in my eyes. The bat by the way is not an ordinary piece of wood. It is the finest present someone ever gave it to me, considering the fact that it was the time I got involved with the game. You see how the word MRF inscribed in red over the willow can exponentially increase its significance for a kid and assure him that he possesses a run producing machine in his hands. Today, as I pen it down I can see another bat kept in one of the corners of my room that says GM English willow on the cover. Like the one in the photograph this also is a gift, presented last summer though and looks brand new, but the grim reality is it is not. It is rarely used and that too over occasional weekends.FYI this word “weekend” exists significantly now.

On a broader prospect, the transition from the first bat to the second defines my life journey from a carefree kid to an IT professional. The priorities, friends, relationships and the contexts might have changed with the course of time but one thing that has stayed throughout is my love for this game. I have inherited many values at different fronts, be it academically, personally or professionally from this friend of mine. I feel even my parents or my teachers wouldn’t have taught me this directly. Just like goodwill of an asset cannot be measured on a sheet of paper, my bond with the game is priceless and poise.

Going back to my school days where academically everything revolved around cricket. For that matter Geography wasn’t about learning the topographies or attending map filling classes, it was simply about remembering the locations where Sachin scored his tons and visualising the co-ordinates through the pre-match postcards shown. By the way I still cannot correctly mark the European nations on a world map if you ask me to do so. Alas! They never played the game man .You automatically become a champ in mental mathematics when all the factors of 4 and 6 are on your finger tips and you are effortlessly practising multiplication and division while you calculate the projected score, the current run rate, the economy or the strike rate on a regular basis. Life is good when a Tony Greig or a Harsha Bhogle is your language professor. I sucked at economics though. I won’t lie. Well, BCCI wasn’t that rich and IPL was nowhere in the frame. Anatomy was a child’s play esp. if you were a Tendulkar fan as you already had a technical expertise on the fundamentals of hamstrings, tennis elbow, groin or a webbing even way before the curriculum started. The Ashes also cultivated a great virtue in me. I can get up at 3, 4 or even 5 in the morning. Thank you so much Channel 9.So, in case if I had to get up early morning for a revision before the exam, I would sleep thinking that it’s an Ashes encounter the next day.

Cricket had become a habit by then and it continued to prove its effectiveness even in college. The fact that I developed a Cricket Wagon Wheel for my computer graphics project and even wanted to simulate a hawk-eye as a final year project would support my statement. Unfortunately I couldn’t, as some smart ass had scared my team mates that the prototype required an expensive system to be imported, which made enough sense to scare them, though it was a baseless argument and finally the idea had to be dropped.

Meanwhile my dear friend had kept a parallel loop of grooming and embedding different attributes, running for me.I have always admired different aspects of different personalities and wanted to cultivate them in mine. I’ll share my accumulated set of experiences over the years that led to those mappings.

Honesty- If you want to see what honesty means rewind your memories to 2003.One simply doesn’t walk off in World Cup Semi-final even after being signalled not out unless his name is Adam Gilchrist.

Hard work-There cannot be a better example of hard work, humility and selflessness other than Rahul Sharad Dravid. Victory at the Eden Gardens in 2001, Adelaide in 2003, the wall performance in England in 2011 or the Speech at Bradman’s oration justifies everything. Dravid proved to the world that even your defence could be the deadliest weapon. I still remember once Akhtar ran a mile to bowl to him, an all he did was an elegant leave outside the off stump, which left Shoaib baffled and did a major damage to his ego. He is too much of simplicity and dignity packaged in one soul.

Being oneself- Time and again Virat Kohli has shown to the world what fearlessness and being Virat (not the next Viv or Sachin) is. Yes! He abuses! He is bold, aggressive and fearless but first and foremost he is an exceptional batsman. That pretty much gives him the authority to not to justify himself to anyone till he doesn’t breach the code of the game.

Consistency- It can be Glenn McGrath’s second name. He could even give complex to a bowling machine by consistently bowling in the same zone for days .His consistent mid 130 kmph deliveries were deadlier than a rookie bowling at 150 kmph. What can be learnt from him is the fact that you don’t have to be extra-talented, being focused can do magic for you as well.

Creativity- Mr 360 degree, Ab Devilliers is an epitome of creativity and awesomeness. He can not only play copy book cricket perfectly but is equally good at innovating himself by pulling a rabbit out of magician’s hat every now and then .At times, when you are left awestruck ,you’ll have to pinch yourself to check the reality quotient.

Leadership-Ricky Ponting and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the finest leaders that I’ve seen in my era. I would definitely like to adapt their ways of working when it comes to managing people. Ponting’s  mantra of success- “If you set a goal to win, you have to win it no matter what it takes” fetched him 3 world cup titles and Dhoni’s funda of taking a little less of his share of credit and a little more of his share of blame also has done wonders for him .

Dedication-It would be unfair if anyone writing about this subject in cricket doesn’t mention their names. Graeme Smith and Anil Kumble are the epitome of commitment and dedication. Go back a little to Antigua in the year 2002. Kumble came back on field to bowl with a broken jaw for his team and got the prized wicket of Lara. Graeme’s incident in particular is very special. It was battle against his body and heart. There was no way a batsman would have returned on field back to face the might Aussie pace attack with a broken hand and a fractured elbow. For a brief nanosecond, just put yourself in Smith’s shoes and imagine you are standing on those 22 yards with one hand tied and someone is bowling to you at a mighty 150 kmph and the ball just kisses your faces and leaves. It is scary and you need a hell lot of courage to do that. That is exactly what Smith did to save the crumbling tail. He couldn’t win it for the team, but won a million hearts and the most importantly RESPECT from everyone.

Self belief- MSD is a divine force in itself. He is a bold character who always goes with his gut. He may not have the best of technique or the elegance of copybook style of playing, but the amount of self- belief that he has shown and the wonders it has done for his team is remarkable. Tune your mind a little back to the final of Ind-WI-SL triangular series in West Indies, 2013.Shielding the tail throughout and dragging it to the wire with 15 required to win off the last 6 balls, Dhoni pulled off a thriller with 3 balls to spare. He is unbelievable in so many ways. Panic is not even a word in the skipper’s dictionary. It takes a hell lot of temperament to finish games like these and Mahi has done it over and over again.

And the greatest virtue is to inspire someone! If you can be someone’s inspiration to success in life, then it’s your biggest victory. That is exactly what this little man from Mumbai has done. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has turned every stone thrown at him by life into a milestone.  He has carried the burden of billions hopes and expectations without complaining for over 25 graceful years. From a middle class ball boy @ Wankhede to The GOD of cricket, his simple mantra of never finding short cuts and chasing his dreams has worked out exceptionally well for him. Every mother wants his son be like Sachin. This is the kind of stature this man has earned for himself and sets an example for others to excel in their respective fields.

On a modest note, if I can extract even 1% of the traits these gentlemen possessed can be the next Batman.

Personally also this friend of mine has gone an extra mile to simply things for me, resulting into more sorted relationships esp. with my dad. I think my dad and I have shared the heartiest and special moments while watching India-Pakistan games only. Cricket takes out the strict Dean Daddy part out of the equation totally and turns us into school kids applauding, shouting, abusing and even crying on certain moments. That’s the beauty of the game. For me happiness is this 🙂 If I am happy I watch cricket .If I’m sad also I watch cricket and be awesome again. It pretty much makes it an integral part of my life. Well this has side effects too. I have been blocked by my very good friends on Facebook for bugging and spamming their feeds with cricket updates on a regular basis. It has become my pseudo girlfriend. If I start giving this much time and value to the girls I like, at least I’ll be having one in REAL!

Coming back from my utopia as I keep the photograph back in the closet and rush towards reality, I look forward to play the test of my life. I know the road ahead is bumpy, but the only way to get out is by facing it with a smile and moving on for the next smoother patch.

Work Eat Play Love Pray!