Canny resemblance

Gautam Gambhir is the best opening batsman in the world today.There are no two ways about it.There are 2 men who come real close in comparison of form in the current category-Virender Sehwag and Graeme Smith.Both of them have played around thrice the number of tests that Gambhir has played and have as many times the number of runs but are not a lot older.Gambhir has a long way to go.But there's another story that needs telling.

Not very long ago,another man made his test debut for a country which was then the indisputable number 1 cricket unit in existence exactly a year after Gambhir made his.While Gambhir was only 23 years when he was called in to represent the tri-color,the other was 30,following mammoth first class scores totaling in excess of 15,000 runs.That man in the frame is Micheal Hussey,as must've been easily guessed by now.

While many might dispute the theory of resemblance between the two batsmen,one can't help but notice the string of scores that Hussey made as soon as his sojourn with the national team started back in 2005.He was already a veteran then.A veteran of around 180 four and five day matches at the first class level.Critics and former cricketers,while welcoming him with open arms,could only do so much by not hurling themselves at selectors asking them as to how such a talent could not have been spotted earlier.

Hussey made century after century,piled up the runs by heaps and went on to become an indispensable vertebrae of the Aussie spine.Mr.Cricket-he was called and no one dared to dispute it.Heck it wouldn't have been shocking to see a score card carrying a batsman's name on the left followed by a "ct.Mr.Cricket b.Lee" on the right.

Hussey's rise was almost destined.There was a stigma attached to every one of his innings.Much like Rahul Dravid's in the mid 2000s.Or when Gavaskar made sure the West Indians cursed their career's time span co-inciding with his.Australia breathed easy every time a 3rd wicket went down.Their pulses settled at the sight of a brisk,responsible looking Hussey with his trademark sunscreen on the nose,striding-in fact hopping to the crease,taking his guard,rubbing his foot to mark it,flashing the thumbs up sign to the umpire,ready to face the first ball,all in a single sweeping moment.

Michael Hussey was branded to be the next Donald Bradman,and so he seemed to-age on his side or otherwise.The way he was going,Sachin Tendulkar's test records and stats or Ponting's mercurial centuries burst after 2001 or Rahul Dravid's world wide acclaim as the strongest pillar of any batting team in the world seemed to be in grave danger with the way Hussey was headed.He was invincible.Nothing seemed enough to stop him.

Hussey avenged his late calling into the team with every opportunity he got in the form of a test innings or an ODI or a T20.He made the best of everything.And the opposition payed.They payed dearly.In a way,it was almost like the selectors of the national team had done more good than bad by calling him in so late.They had unleashed a run machine on the world.A machine that demanded redemption by churning out run after run with dizzying consistency.

Over time,something else seemed to stop Michael Hussey's dream run.Something gradually stopped every innings of his that seemed to grow from single to double to triple digits in no time.Something seemed to be creeping into those eyes that never betrayed fear,concern or dismay if any.Something was stopping him from taking off his helmet after yet another century and saluting a standing crowd at Colosseums all over the world.Something was turning Hussey from coming up with unbelievable herculean antics to measly human failings.

Something to the tune of reality.

While Hussey battled with the harder face of test match cricket,another relatively smaller boy with equal amounts of determination and focus started making rapid strides in the world of bigger names and flashy flamboyant styles of stroke making.The other added dis advantage that Gambhir faced as far as his own notice in people's eyes was concerned was the fact that his partner was none other than Virender Sehwag himself.A man,considered by most to be the most destructive player of any kind of attack on any surface,provided it was his day.

The advantage was also the very fact that it was Sehwag that Gambhir had as a partner to open with.After all,Sehwag was a monster with the bat but a gentleman with his mates.He aided Gambhir's growth and enjoyed his sucess.The chemistry was sizzling.The coordination-exemplary.The result being that India,under MS Dhoni,is arguably the best team in world cricket today.

Why it is also important to notice along the eerie co incidences and comparisons is the fact that Hussey's and Gambhir's graphs have met mid way through their careers.But not after starting at the same point and continuing along.It has now met after Hussey's graph has spiraled down from what people refer to as "bradmanesque" standards to more humane platforms.An average of 55 from over 90.While Gambhir's has grown from 32 in 2007 to 54 right now.In the last 12 tests he has 5 centuries and 7 half centuries.Gambhir punches his bat on his pads with disgust when gets out after scoring 167 on the most grueling of cricket grounds,at not having been able to make a double hundred.That's the standard he has taken himself to.Whilw Hussey is scared now at being out to 40s and 50s.He is desperate to convert.And that's where his graph has met that of Gambhir's.

Gautam Gambhir will never be talked in the same breadth as a Sehwag or a Gavaskar.Well,not if even his career spirals down the Hussey way.This is not to say either that Hussey's time is over.But with not a lot of years to go,it would be but wise to at least question his dominance in the world charts if not completely write him off.

This is a tale of two differently rated individuals.One a little over rated perhaps and the other well lesser than deserved.But it's a tale of two heroes.Two men with hearts larger than their chests can fill.One seems to be on his way to write history in his own uncluttered,unassuming,calm,mature,responsible manner.Just like the other opening south paw after being once dropped from the national side many many years ago.Someone called Matthew Hayden.

Whether Gambhir can go on to become India's greatest opener is dependent on two crucial factors.1)Virender Sehwag's sanity,2)Gambhir's own ability to keep going.By the time Sehwag is finished,assuming he finishes on his own and not because of the team believing he is too dangerous for his own cause,he would definitely finish around in excess of 10,000 test runs.And that would put him in a completely different league,if stats and prowess alone haven't already.Calculating all that,it would take more than just will and focus that Gambhir currently has in abundance to be talked in that very league.

If he doesn't it still wouldn't be too bad,considering his focus is to help his team get starts and not to overshadow a man most consider Sachin Tendulkar's more dangerous clone.One can only hope he doesn't have to end his career,finishing off where he started exactly a year and a half ago,averaging 32.If that does happen,other comparisons will take place.That with a man called Vinod Kambli.Or a certain Sadagoppan Ramesh.

And it won't be as pretty as being compared to men allegedly at spiraling downward curves of their careers,still averaging 55.