Watching the last day of India Pak 3rd test in Bangalore was a deja vu for the Indian cricket fans. Recall the last day of the India England 3rd test at the Oval. India, who had a huge lead of 220 runs from the first innings batted on and on in their second innings without thinking about declaration at all. Rahul Dravid was at the helm of proceedings leading the way with a 96 ball-12 run innings, that all but killed the game. India was already leading the series 1-0 and played for the draw instead of going for the 2-0 result. Come Bangalore, India (read Dravid) showed their loser mindset once more. When the 5th day began, all India had to do was to score some quick runs and put Pakistan in to have any prospects of victory. But what do they do? Play for almost half day and leave Pakistan a laughably impossible target of 375 from 47 overs. Had they scored at a faster rate in the morning and left Pakistan 2 full sessions to survive, the result would have been different. But no one is complaining. Afterall, just like in England, India won the series 1-0.
This is the difference between Australia and other B-grade teams (I say including SA). True, Aussies' agressive mindset has backfired spectacularly at times (the famous Kolkata test in 2001, Adelaide test in 2003). But they have won far more tests with their winning attitude. Draw is the word they hate most (said Steve Waugh once). I wonder when other teams will take a leaf out of the Aussies' books and learn to play good, agressive cricket. Thats not only a winning attitude but also helps the test cricket win over some fans. But scoring at a strike rate of less than 30 is not going to help anyone.
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2 comments:
Sorry.. dis blog is too critical of Rahul. That innings in Oval was an one off occasion.Dravid accepted that he dint play well. How many international players(leave out players of Dravid's stature) would dat?
Coming back to the match at Banglore.. The wicket was a horrible one to bat on,India were struggling when Rahul walked in. There was a possiblity that India might squander the series.
'Come the hour Cometh the man'.
Rahul's technical expertise on full display. That is the reason why he is labelled as India's man for a crisis.
The most important thing is to win a series. It doesn matter if its 1-0 or 2-0. Australia doesn lose from winning positions too often. India has too often. Karthik was short of runs and it was important that he gained some confidence before the important Australian tour .This might have been the reasoning behind Anil Kumble delaying the declaration. (The timing of declaration was not his decision. Remember he graciously stepped down from captaincy unlike his predecessor who was unceremoniously removed)When Ganguly was on song at the other end (for once Ganguly was scoring runs not hanging around poking outside off,scratching for runs) it dint make sense for both batsman to hit. Like a perfect team man, as he always is Rahul opted to play the second fiddle.
Rahul is still India's best batsman,technically and in the number of matches he has won(abroad mainly. In dead Indian tracks any of the other over hyped,over paid superstars can hit).If Rahul does well in Australia India does well.
I am not questioning his tactic on the 4th day. All I am saying is that he should have gone for some quick runs on the 5th morning. True, a series win is a series win. India should not have risked losing the matchby declaring too early. I agree with that. But killing any prospcts of a result isn't desirable.
And speaking of confidence, are you sure the batting practice Karthik gained on the dead wicket will make him a better player in front of the likes of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Bracken etc? I don't buy this argument at all. In fact India's preparation for Aussie series could not have been worse than this. Playing useless cricket on dead wickets. We will see...
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