Earlier today, the Sony Sports Network published a set from its photo shoot ahead of the Asia Cup, starting September 9 in the UAE. It featured seven from India’s 15-member squad, including skipper Suryakumar Yadav.
Vice-captain Shubman Gill, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, opener Abhishek Sharma, heavy-hitter Shivam Dube, and the enigmatic Sanju Samson were the others photographed by the official channel.
The shoot was based on chess, and the series was captioned: The Men in Blue are ready to checkmate Asia’s best. A smart choice for a theme considering the rise of Indian chess in recent times, since D Gukesh emerged the World Champion last December, and Divya Deshmukh clinched the World Cup more recently.
Photo shoots are smartly choreographed, intended to tease and offer a glimpse of what’s in store. Sometimes it is just what it is, a promotional activity with no deeper meaning, just part of the game.
But a certain detail in the Sony shoot was just too glaring — out of focus, still — to be ignored. While skipper Surya posed in front of the whole set, as the main character that he is, the others, except one, held either the King or the Queen in their palm. Abhishek held the Queen, while the others picked the King to pose with. The odd one in the set was Sanju, who held a comparatively weaker piece — the rook.
In chess, the King is obviously priceless, while the Queen is just as important because of its dynamism. The rook is a major piece, unlike the Knight or the Bishop, but it dwarfs in comparison to the King and the Queen.
How much of the choice of the pieces was up to the players is unclear, but if it was down to the models to choose the accessory they posed with, it says a great deal about Sanju’s personality, and perhaps how the team management perceives his purpose in the upcoming T20 spectacle, which can’t be unbeknown to him at this stage.
Personality traits associated with chess pieces, though debatable, say players who prefer the rook as opposed to the more dominant Queen or the all-important King, are more methodical and patient, just like the elephant, it takes itself after. It is a coincidence, perhaps, that Sanju comes from Kerala, where the importance of elephants is interwoven in the culture of the state.
As for the rook, it is not often the most active piece on a chessboard, unless of course the player (read management) likes to gamble and be aggressive. Otherwise, the piece sits in the corner of the board, making an early move only to secure the King by virtue of castling, then left to roam the back rank. Pratyush Sinha of Cricbuzz reported on Sunday that Sanju was practically a sedentary piece in India’s first practice session in Dubai. “He settled on a red icebox and remained perched there for most of the evening,” wrote Sinha.
Sanju had a brief stint at the nets while the likes of Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh sweated it out. India open against the hosts, the United Arab Emirates, on September 10, before clashing with arch-rivals Pakistan on the 14th and then Oman on the 19th. It is more or less clear that Sanju’s opening slot that fetched him three hundreds last year has been hijacked by Gill. But will the wicketkeeper batter find a spot in the middle order, or will he have to wait patiently, like the rook?