What’s at stake in the Gandhi-Mandela series
South Africa will be touring India for nearly two-and-a half months. (Source: PTI)
It is apparent that the organisers of this epic (so far lengthwise) India-South Africa engagement probably struggled to come up with a suitable name for it. Under the prevailing nomenclature in world cricket, it ought to have been after a couple of (or even one) cricketers from either side who have impacted the sport in the two participating countries. Furthermore, they should have played against each other.
Now, while the rivalry between India and South Africa has been fierce, it hasn’t been historic or even regular enough to deserve such a permanent name as the Border-Gavaskar trophy between India and Australia after the two batting legends, or even the Pataudi series between India and England after the man (Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi) who represented both teams.
What could the BCCI and Cricket South Africa have possibly come up with? Bacher-Wadekar might have been appropriate option, honoring captains of two of the finest sides of the early 70s. But those two hugely successful teams never met. Rice-Azharuddin would have been discarded for the same reason as Cronje-Azharuddin. The subsequent names don’t betray enough antiquity to merit any consideration. For historicity, therefore, they appeared to have settled for two personalities who are emblematic of their respective countries: Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
It is also kind of apt that the tour named after the two fierce propagators of peace and nonviolence gets underway in the town of the third: the Dalai Lama. Though the octogenarian Nobel Peace Prize recipient is likely to miss the T20 as he is in the United State for a medical checkup and will return only on October 3.
Usually a series nomenclature doesn’t involve much interest, but dragging the two global icons into the testosterone oozing spectacle that is modern-day cricket makes the affair a bit curious. Allow me to explain.
Calming influence?
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said last month that the board “appeals to each and every citizen of our country to imbibe their ideals and follow the path advised by them”. Does that include the cricketers, too? Does this mean this hyper-aggressive Indian team will tone things down a bit? Will Virat Kohli bite his tongue every time there is an oath floating on the tip of it? And will Dale Steyn not threaten to pop a vein after every dismissal? There is another aspect to it as well. Since the future bilateral series too will bear the same two names, what if the BCCI again has a problem with CSA and plans to boycott/curtail the Gandhi-Mandela tour? But then its spin doctors can always say that ‘boycott’ was a tool effectively used by the Mahatma himself.
