The morning pictures in TOI left me with mixed emotions – pictures of the Indian cricket team celebrating after beating England in England in a test series after 21 long years.
Happy? Jubilant? Proud? What am I suppose to feel?
On the eve of India’s 60th year of Independence, the day we won against the Colonial regime, in our hearts we have again gone back 60 years and given our own countrymen a reason to believe that we are not ready yet…Not Ready to compete with the best, Not Ready to have faith in our abilities and Not Ready to back ourselves.
No country and I believe this, no country with half the talent and ability of our team would have squandered a chance to go for the kill and win a test match ‘away’ from home. To draw the match from the verge of winning it comprehensively is as good as loosing it. Infact by deciding not to ‘follow on’ the opposition, we nearly threw it away.
Strangely, I had a premonition of this, the evening before and I did tell a couple of friends that Dravid choosing to bat again is a strong option considering the result of the India-Aussie test match in Kolkatta, in which India came back from nowhere, after being made to follow on and won it. Infact both Dravid and Laxman were the backbones of that famous win. That coupled with the fact that we our not the greatest 4th innings chasers, recent case in point – the loss in West Indies when we have had a paltry 120 odd to chase.
I am sure these were the reasons and not the ‘fatigued’ bowlers as suggested. If you call bowling 55 odd overs amongst the 3 pacers a lot of work, then why play test cricket. Test, as the name suggests is meant to be a test of your physical and mental endurance over a period of 5 days. The point being, we would rather (which is the smallest of chance) risk drawing or loosing the match then having played like the cowards we did. Not really the best example to gift to your nation on the eve of it sixtieth year of Independence!
Chuck diya India!
On the eve of India’s 60th year of Independence, the day we won against the Colonial regime, in our hearts we have again gone back 60 years and given our own countrymen a reason to believe that we are not ready yet…Not Ready to compete with the best, Not Ready to have faith in our abilities and Not Ready to back ourselves.
No country and I believe this, no country with half the talent and ability of our team would have squandered a chance to go for the kill and win a test match ‘away’ from home. To draw the match from the verge of winning it comprehensively is as good as loosing it. Infact by deciding not to ‘follow on’ the opposition, we nearly threw it away.
Strangely, I had a premonition of this, the evening before and I did tell a couple of friends that Dravid choosing to bat again is a strong option considering the result of the India-Aussie test match in Kolkatta, in which India came back from nowhere, after being made to follow on and won it. Infact both Dravid and Laxman were the backbones of that famous win. That coupled with the fact that we our not the greatest 4th innings chasers, recent case in point – the loss in West Indies when we have had a paltry 120 odd to chase.
I am sure these were the reasons and not the ‘fatigued’ bowlers as suggested. If you call bowling 55 odd overs amongst the 3 pacers a lot of work, then why play test cricket. Test, as the name suggests is meant to be a test of your physical and mental endurance over a period of 5 days. The point being, we would rather (which is the smallest of chance) risk drawing or loosing the match then having played like the cowards we did. Not really the best example to gift to your nation on the eve of it sixtieth year of Independence!
Chuck diya India!
