The past and the future...

The clock turned back in time for Indian cricket yesterday at Baroda.

Sachin Tendulkar batted like the champion he is. Batted like he always batted in the past. Batted like a tiger going after his prey.

And then Saurav Ganguly became the captain of the team, albeit for a brief passage of play. Rahul Dravid started cramping up in the field. So he decided to go off to get some quick treatment. His deputy, Sachin Tendulkar, had not taken the field after the tiring batting display. And so, the baton fell in Saurav Ganguly's lap.

Amid the chaos that is a one day game in India, few people noticed this. The most successful (and the best ever) captain in Indian cricket history took reins of 'his boys'. There were players on the field who were indeed little boys in terms of cricketing experience when the skipper got them into the team, fought for them and stood behind them. Players like Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Pathan are currently in the Indian team probably because their skipper fought for them to be included in the team, and then stood behind them when they were in a low. Some people watching the game and probably some even playing it, would have glanced at the past.

But then came the message from the Indian team management. Sachin Tendulkar came scurrying out to the field to take over the charge from the former skipper. With him came the message, 'Stop looking at the past, let's focus on the future'.