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KEY POINTS:
Ask Indian fans to name their favourite cricketer and a fair number won't plump for Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar.
Sure the batting masters will have enormous support in any poll. But many will also single out Kapil Dev as India's greatest cricket hero of modern times.
Why?
In 1983 he led India to their solitary World Cup triumph at Lord's.
What's more, Kapil, a charismatic allrounder, took the vital catch, a difficult running effort in the deep to remove West Indies captain Viv Richards and effectively seal a wholly unexpected and thrilling win.
Kapil ran in and bowled fast. Few in India had done that before. He captured imaginations. He was the world recordholder for test wickets for a time, struck thunderous sixes and was one of the great allround cricketers in a celebrated era of allrounders - Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Kapil.
India's players have always carried a heavy burden of hometown hope from the millions of adoring fans, but that 1983 win sent things into a different orbit.
Fast forward to the 1987 World Cup. New Zealand vs India, Nagpur. It was the final pool game and New Zealand were out of the running for the semifinals.
At the break between innings, a group of people were walking beneath the main stand and had to pause while the New Zealand team filed out to face what proved to be a mother and father of a flogging.
Then came India's openers, Kris Srikkanth and Gavaskar. They headed down the tunnel for a small rectangle of light. As they approached the opening the crowd on the far side of the ground could see them and began to roar. It rolled around the stands to an ear-splitting din as the batsmen emerged into the sunlight.
The thought occurred then - as it does when you think of Tendulkar now - of how much is expected of the Indian players (particularly the greats, but also the not-so-great) from their people. They have the ability to lift lives mired in the mundane even if only for a short time.
The admiration grows with an appreciation of the crushing weight that is a fact of their daily life - Gavaskar that day, nearing the end of his career, Tendulkar and co now.
One former New Zealand cricket great once remarked that this country's All Blacks and leading cricketers had no idea what pressure was all about. Their whinging about how tough life was left him cold.
Go to India, he muttered scornfully. There they'll find out what pressure really is.
The latest inheritor of the Indian hero's mantle is captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Three years ago he went for a haircut in Ranchi, his hometown.
Three hours later he was still trapped in the salon as the crowds had swelled to block the streets. Stick-wielding police eventually cleared a path for him.
He is a wealthy young man, and his bank balance will continue to grow with the Indian Premier League and assorted riches that being a cricketing god in his homeland bring.
So how do he and his players handle the heat which goes with being an Indian international cricketer?
"I think most of the guys have handled those expectations quite well," he said. "What we have done in the last few months is divert our attention from expectations to processes and things we want to achieve.
"Expectations are set by others and can be too high for you to achieve. As individuals you know your potential, you know your talent and what you can do."
Dhoni's message is essentially a simple one.
"Focus on the process, practices and plans and above all if we execute those plans when needed in a game, that's what is important for us."
