what you should tell your children about today's match
Too often, we whine (ok, I whine! you whine too!) about India's utter lack of nerve in standing up to a daunting task or being diffident in their chase. And that is not without reason. Most of the subcontinent teams usually do the Goran equivalent in cricket. Destroy the opposition on one day a la Sehwag or be devastated so badly that the fans think twice before buying tickets for their next match. Today's performance was such a welcome change in this regard. 3 of India's batsmen (Gambhir, Sachin and Laxman) played such amazing knocks that I would be delighted to show my kids (and yours) this chase as an excellent way to play the game. The shots by Laxman and Sachin were so outstanding off such good bowling that I have no hesitation in saying that very few Indian chases/attempts to save the match (at least in close to 2 decades of watching India play) would be anywhere close. For lack of anything better as an expression to sum this up, India chased this the "Brian Lara" way. Absolute style and talent shown fearlessly (ok, fine, except for Sachin's dismissal). In any other game or a first innings, this would be potentially match-winning or setting up one such. We were just hampered by one magnificent performance by the Aussies in the first innings. But it is ok.One can sleep in peace today having seen our heroes (at least some of them) play a beautiful game. You win some and lose some.
And of course Ashwin must be gutted. What a lovely start to his career! Look at this way. Pattinson is out for the next match. Sehwag must be raging inside and Rahul will come good once in the next 4 innings. Australia is not flawless. In fact they were only just trying to pick up their pants before we decided to do them a favour by sucking till this innings. They dropped enough catches and their bowlers are not unplayable. We will go to WACA but Sehwag does not even know what a good or bad pitch is. So he shouldn't care. And people like Nathan Lyon can be destroyed when there aren't 3 fast bowlers who have done the damage. So who will bowl us out? Hussey and Clarke? I am willing to bet that India can still turn this series around.I am somewhat emotional at seeing Laxman & Sachin bat so beautifully. I have never been so happy seeing a losing team playing. If this is the way to lose, I am ok if we get beaten in this series 4-0. It means that Australia will need to play better than us for 4 more innings. That is unlikely to happen. Come on India!P.S. And drop Kohli! Let him take that finger and shove it you know where. I am ok if he is shunted for a while and comes back as another "Ganguly". Look at what Ganguly did in his 2nd outing. May do Kohli a world of good to make his wicket count. And what was Warner on?! He must have saved some 50 runs!
And of course Ashwin must be gutted. What a lovely start to his career! Look at this way. Pattinson is out for the next match. Sehwag must be raging inside and Rahul will come good once in the next 4 innings. Australia is not flawless. In fact they were only just trying to pick up their pants before we decided to do them a favour by sucking till this innings. They dropped enough catches and their bowlers are not unplayable. We will go to WACA but Sehwag does not even know what a good or bad pitch is. So he shouldn't care. And people like Nathan Lyon can be destroyed when there aren't 3 fast bowlers who have done the damage. So who will bowl us out? Hussey and Clarke? I am willing to bet that India can still turn this series around.I am somewhat emotional at seeing Laxman & Sachin bat so beautifully. I have never been so happy seeing a losing team playing. If this is the way to lose, I am ok if we get beaten in this series 4-0. It means that Australia will need to play better than us for 4 more innings. That is unlikely to happen. Come on India!P.S. And drop Kohli! Let him take that finger and shove it you know where. I am ok if he is shunted for a while and comes back as another "Ganguly". Look at what Ganguly did in his 2nd outing. May do Kohli a world of good to make his wicket count. And what was Warner on?! He must have saved some 50 runs!
posted by D at
1/06/2012 06:34:00 AM
3 Comments:
I cant believe you are drooling after watching one rare decent batting session for India. They were rubbish for most of the other sessions. VVS has always flattered to deceive. You can admire his silken drives and punches, but when it comes to effectiveness he is a big zero. You can emulate M L Jaisimha or Azhar and have everyone talk about how magical your strokes are, but to me cricket is all about grinding it out and leaving the ball and getting 'tested'. For VVS, there is no such thing as a test. Its all a mock preparatory session where he doesn’t mind throwing his wicket away. Coming to Sachin, he is easily the most over rated thing in cricket today, with the possible exception of perhaps T20. The fellow was unbelievably prodigious, I agree, but is now a pale shadow of his former self. He is just willing himself on for something that is not visible in the horizon. But he scores runs, you say. He brings stability, you say. Big deal, I say. I am sure there are players in India who can do the same job that he does, and better. Whats the use of all that experience if you fail to do basic things right like getting trapped LBW to the same kind of delivery series after series after series? Or getting out caught at slip after being sucked into drivng? Yeah, the last time he had a problem with his driving he put away his drives for a whole innings that fetched him 241 runs or something like that. Everybody hailed it as a masterclass. I thought it was plain ugly. If you have a problem with your drives, you work on it. Not put it away. I am not saying those are the only ways he gets out, but he never learns does he? He was awful in England. He has looked good at times in this series, much to my surprise. But that doesn’t give him the right to think everything is alright with his batting. In fact I would call his innings in Australia an aberration. Maybe its time to admit there is something wrong with your reflexes and gracefully step aside.
Magic,
I find it vexing that you prefer to remain anonymous.
As history has it, India sucked right after that innings and I have maintained my dedicated abstinence from TV. So you need not vent any more on the Indian team.
It is not worth the time of either of us
I find it equally vexing that someone can choose to ignore all the faults with a person and choose to focus on a rare good quality and conclude that the person is worthy. My remaining anonymous has nothing to do with my opinion. The reason for my comment was not to vent on the Indian team, but to express astonishment at your analysis.
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