Leading from the front: Clarke's captaincy the best advertisement for Test cricket

A West Indian fast bowler dressed in white, takes long and measured strides in his bid to reach the crease. Once there, he plans to deliver an in-swinging yorker that crushes the batsman’s toes before it crashes into the stumps. The bowler- Fidel Edwards has already visualized the ‘you can’t see me, hand in front of face’ celebration with ‘Reggae’ music playing in the background as he celebrates Ryan Harris’s wicket. He goes wide of the crease to deliver ball no. 6 of over no. 145. Harris plays it out safely. Edwards in his head thinks, ‘No problem maan, I’ll get you next over.’ To his, and everyone else’s surprise, Michael Clarke stands on the balcony of the dressing room and waves his batsmen to come back in. 43 runs behind West Indies’ first inning score, Michael Clarke declares. Michael Clarke telepathically says to Edwards, ‘No mate! Now it’s our turn.’

Back in India, “What the hell is he doing declaring when he is behind? Why doesn’t he let Harris score a century or at least wait for Lyon to score a fifty”, along with “What is he saying dude? Couldn’t they find anyone better to sit in the studio for DLF IPL?” were the thoughts that occupied the minds. The former occupied a very minute, if any part of the brain of a very minute audience. It definitely crossed my mind. But then I remembered, that this is a man who declared the innings when he was not out on 329, 5 runs short of beating Mark Taylor’s record. During that inning, 400 looked only a matter of time against a toothless Indian bowling attack. In pursuit of victory, Michael Clarke has made some aggressive and psychologically baffling decisions. Baffling; because in an increasingly individualistic world, he has put his team before himself.

Michael ‘Pup’ Clarke has grown leaps and bounds and has become the guard ‘dog’ of Australian cricket. Aggressive and tactical, he has developed an astute understanding of the game.

From my search on the internet (since I’m hardly adept at using the dictionary) I discovered that aggressive also means making an all out effort to win or succeed. While aggressive batsmen like Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle etc strut their stuff in the IPL; Michael Clarke has redefined himself as the quintessential aggressive cricketer. His batting always showed purpose, his bowling and fielding – guts and now his captaincy has an almost violent intent which makes him go for the opponent’s jugular.

The Australian tour of West Indies has seen some dramatic cricket. An exciting finish and the hopes of a victory for either team washed away by rain have scripted a must-watch series. Michael Clarke’s captaincy has been the main showcase of this series so far. With the sole purpose of winning every match, he has led his team quite brilliantly. He has inspired them in a way that would make ‘Captain America’ (Marvel Comics) proud. Since the movie is about to release in a day as I write this article, let me take the metaphor ahead. Like the ‘Avengers’, his team has risen to every occasion and ratified his every decision. In essence, they have repaid the faith Michael Clarke has bestowed upon them. A team that is currently rebuilding has found the perfect mason. Australia and Michael Clarke are doing everything that is needed to revive Test cricket right now. Sadly, the audience doesn’t think so, as spaces large enough for an elephants’ parade lay vacant in the stands. However, if other captains and teams follow suit, it is only a matter of time before the audiences throng the stadiums to see not just a game of cricket, but also an archaic aggressive war involving cerebral tacticians over 5 days.

With the IPL in progress, Michael Clarke while playing a Test series on one of the most chilled out islands has managed to garner attention from the entire cricketing fraternity. In case someone was looking for a way to make Test cricket more appealing, maybe this is something they might want to look into. It seems quite simple really. It’s just…the desire to win.