When a champion stumbles

In the jungle when the lion grows old and slow, he is left alone to be surrounded by the very beasts who would otherwise cower in his presence. We are, or we must be, different from the beasts because dignity is a human trait. When a champion stumbles, you ought to offer a comforting arm on the shoulder - not a thump on the back. More than anything, it's an indicator of how we value our people. And yet in life, as it is very often in sports, we squander those opportunities.

And yet, there is a lot that sports teaches us in the way teams deal with champions. All good teams persevere - persevere with a player who is short - short of runs, short of wickets and short of confidence. Seldom do champions get left out of teams after one bad series - of course, people still criticize the Dravids and the Tendulkars and the Laxmans no end - but honestly, if someone has been suggesting their replacement, they need to get their head examined.

A good team often tries to carry a champion through the bad phase - the priority is almost always assigned to seeing him / her through the torrid phase that he / she is going through. All in the belief that while the Queen is blocked, the pawns can suggest an end-game. And hence, when champions do get dealt with badly, it speaks more volumes about the team's abilities than about the champion's.

This goes out to one such champion - he steps into a new field next week. The lion is back - albeit in unfamiliar territory. There were many doubters - there still would be a few but I would be very surprised if most of them dont get converted to steadfast believers over the next couple of years. Despite what television has come to mean for a lot of us, I have picked up a few wise things. One thing I have definitely picked up from regularly watching the National Geographic Channel is the fact that you can't capture a lion in a "spider's" web. The other thing I have picked up from regularly watching Star Sports is that when you mess around with class, you always come up second-best.