Indians have long been resigned to defeat for their national side (though this is changing), but they have always managed to produce individual record-breakers – outstanding cricketers like the batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, or the all-rounders Vinoo Mankad and Kapil Dev, who were considered to be among the world’s best players, even if the Indian teams to which they belonged lost more often than they won. What offers better consolation than the thrilling endeavors of a gifted batsman or the magical wiles of a talented bowler, each performing his dharma , the individual doing his duty in a team game, just as in life each Indian fulfils his destiny within the fate of the collectivity?