Bhajji & Marshall

What do errant Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and the late West Indian
fast bowling great Malcolm Marshall have in common?


Not much, you would guess, save for the obvious -- both being international
bowlers of repute.


But there is more. Both belong to the 'counting your chickens before they are
hatched' club; and, in both cases, high priced luxury cars were involved.


Clueless? A bit of cricketing history from the 80s is involved, and also
something more current.


Back in 1983, India had shocked the world by reaching the final of the
Prudential World Cup at Lord's. But skittled out for 183 before the end of
their allotted 60 overs by the devastating West Indies fast bowlers, it was
surely only a matter of time before their mighty batting took over. Nothing,
it appeared, could stop Clive Lloyd's Caribbeans from lifting their third
straight World Cup crown.


So confident was Marshall of victory that just before the final was played, on
June 25, he put a down payment on a BMW car.


The rest, of course, is cricket history!


Wrote Marshall in his autobiography, Marshall Arts: "I was sure we were going
to win that World Cup. In fact, I was so positive about the outcome that I had
even ordered a new BMW car on the misguided belief that I could pay for it out
of my winnings. What utter folly! I cannot now comprehend my arrogance and
stupidity...


"To say I was in a relaxed mood [after India's innings] would be an
understatement. I could visualise myself sitting behind the wheel of that
flashy sports car and I hardly paid much attention to the cricket when we went
out to get those 184 runs in the 60 overs available to us. Others were in a
similar state of mind; there was no way we could fail."


Fail they did, as India romped home by 43 runs under the canny captaincy of
Kapil Dev. And the legend of 'Kapil's Dev-ils' was born.