After the humiliation of the ODI series, India were not even outside contenders for the Test series. (Almost) Every fan expected them to turn up, make the numbers, roll over and play dead. Unfortunately for South Africa, that is happening only in the last Test!

For reasons that can only be explained by saying “because it’s the Indian team”, they have decided they do not want to win this one. Believe me, the way they were playing until late in the second Test, they ought to have wrapped up the series right there in Durban. But the last . . . → Read More: The fan continues to believe…]]> Being an Indian cricket fan sure has its pitfalls. Far too often has the fan started believing in the team only to be let down soon after. The current tour of South Africa has been a little different but seems like it would end like any other overseas tour for the Indian fan.

After the humiliation of the ODI series, India were not even outside contenders for the Test series. (Almost) Every fan expected them to turn up, make the numbers, roll over and play dead. Unfortunately for South Africa, that is happening only in the last Test!

For reasons that can only be explained by saying “because it’s the Indian team”, they have decided they do not want to win this one. Believe me, the way they were playing until late in the second Test, they ought to have wrapped up the series right there in Durban. But the last two South Africa partnerships in both innings cost India the match. That was vintage India (sarcasm intended, in case you missed it).

(As you may have guessed by now, I shall refrain from singing paeans about “How the first Test was won”.)

Come the third Test and there seemed to be some fight still left in the Indian team (a rare occurrence). And so they reached all of 250-off for 3 at the end of Day 1. Great visions were being conjured by us, namely the Indian fan, of how we shall bat on for another day, put up a score in excess of 600 runs and call the shots from there on. We, however, overlooked one Indian performance that was yet to make an appearance on this tour: the collapse.

If the rise of the team in the first Test-and-a-half was inexplicable, the collapse was even more baffling. From running the game, they ended up folding for 414 and as I write this, are struggling hard to (a) save the game and (b) catch their flight back to India which supposedly leaves a couple of hours after scheduled close of play. Thank you, BCCI!

So what happened between the first and the final Tests that India are facing defeat? Obviously, the team refused to introspect and make the hard decisions. An out of form Sehwag played, scored 40 on an easy pitch, came to open in the second innings, threw his wicket away and India had lost the momentum. Even rain on the final day was not enough to stave off defeat (and I write this at the start of the final session before the match is actually over. Is it over before it’s over?).

Rahul Dravid was woefully out of form and perhaps it was about time this happened. The Law of Averages had to catch up sometime, and the time was this. Unfortunate for India, but that’s the way it goes. For reasons (yet again, inexplicable) beyond me, Anil Kumble decided that the he will try and spin the ball from leg to off and insisted on a leg stump line. This when defending 500 is ok but not the brightest plan when the opposition is chasing only 211.

Sachin Tendulkar seems to be having an identity crisis. He seems unable to make up his mind about whether he should attack or defend. As a result, India has a middle order that is out of form, out of sorts, on a comeback (Ganguly) and unsure of its place (Laxman).

As an Indian fan, I can tell myself that India won an away Test and put up a brave fight in a country it has routinely routed in. And this could be the start. But I also know that this was as good a chance as any to win a real away series. (With all due respect, the Windies were worse at home in June than we are when playing away).

A rare away series win is still far away. Let’s not kid ourselves. Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Kumble are on their last legs. Another 4 years and none of these guys would be around. The next set of players will take time to come to terms with the vagaries of international cricket and be in a position that today’s seniors are in – high on experience, reputation and an innate understanding of what it will take to win away from home (having almost made it in 2003 in Australia and having completely done it in June in the Windies).

India has squandered its best chance (the score right now is SA 178/4) and my prediction unless it pours in the next five minutes is a 5- or 6-wicket win for South Africa.

But I will continue to believe in my team. I have full faith in them for the World Cup. I just hope they make the tough decisions. Please.

But they are also in a peculiar situation because a draw would allow them to come back home without losing the series and that doesn’t happen too often when India travels! But the first thoughts must be to try and win and if not, then draw. Well, d-uh!

But for India to win, there are some things that need to happen:

Far too much frustration has come around. India has suffered at the hands of tailenders on many occasions. But this particular effort by SA may just hurt badly.

The 10th wicket partnership between debutante Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini was worth 32 runs. Prince and Morkel put together 39 for the 9th wicket. So the last two wickets cost India all of 71 runs. When the opposition top 8 have fallen for 257, you expect to wrap up the innings for approx 275. Tsk!

Australia would have!

UPDATE: India has been bundled out for 240. Conceding a lead of 88 runs. As predicted above, the last two partnerships that yielded 71 for SA have proved costly for India. Else the lead would not have been more than say 30 or 40. How costly? Two and a half days to go to find that out!

A bit more clarity would be better, eh?

 

 

. . . → Read More: Ganguly throws?]]> So what exactly is he trying to say here?

A bit more clarity would be better, eh?

 

 

. . . → Read More: Sreesanth’s Tango]]> Just had to post this one. Sure it’s available all over, but this shows my support of his actions! So, enjoy the Sreesanth Tango!

Until the SA bowling ran into a man making a comeback with much to prove. Sourav Ganguly was the only man to cross 50 in both first innings and remained unbeaten on 51 when the last Indian wicket fell for 249. Not the best score when you have won the toss and elected to bat, but given . . . → Read More: Pitch doctor works for India?]]> The first Test between India and South Africa had its share of controversy even before the first ball was bowled. There was Graeme Smith (and coach Mickey Arthur) doing the mandatory lip service about how India would face the pace music and how he had plans for India’s batting with his pacers. Well, they worked to some extent. Then there was the delay on day 1 because of too much sweating due to an over-enthusiastic groundsman getting the pitch wetter than necessary. But then, the games began. And SA seemed to be on top!

Until the SA bowling ran into a man making a comeback with much to prove. Sourav Ganguly was the only man to cross 50 in both first innings and remained unbeaten on 51 when the last Indian wicket fell for 249. Not the best score when you have won the toss and elected to bat, but given the pitch (and how it was doctored to suit pace), this looked competitive.

Little would the curator or either team or the fans have guessed that this score would be big enough to afford India a 165 run lead! Thanks partly to Allan Donald who put some sense into the Indian bowling advising them to stick to line and length! S Sreesanth who has always been hyperactive and shown great promise, made good this time and came up with figures of 5/40; his best ever. And as all commentators repeatedly said, it was the upright seam that made the difference.

India’s second innings tottered for a while until M/s Ganguly and Laxman steadied the ship. India already have a lead in excess of 311 but half the team is out and on this pitch which is easing up marginally, chasing 350 may still be possible. Having said that, the Indian bowling attack does have more variety than the SA team does and with Anil Kumble already having tasted blood, the odds are heavily in favour of India.

A special note about Andre Nel: I like the man for his energy but I find him extremely anal when it concerns his behaviour. He needs to grow up and quickly considering he is already 29! No matter how much you can outtalk the batsmen, it’s finally the wickets you can pick that will make the difference. And he doesn’t seem too smart either. All his short stuff was dealt with pretty easily by the Indian batters and the couple of wickets he did pick up were off good-length or just short of a good length deliveries. Line means nada to him and I am talking of the lines he would bowl with the ball not his mouth!

For once, India has a chance to go has gone 1-up after the first Test on an overseas tour and I would hazard the prediction that India would win. A caveat: India needs to ensure that SA are chasing more than 400 (ideally, more than 450). This means Laxman, Dhoni, Kumble and Zaheer (and now VRV Singh) need to ensure another 90-odd runs are scored among them. Not too tough one would think, but stranger things have happened in this Test. Remember, all 10 SA wickets have fallen for 84 in the first innings! (Told ya!)

Update: Well, my prediction came through (whew!). India did manage to set SA more than 400 (402, to be precise!) and are now 1-0 up in the series. Not a normal situation for India to be in. The interesting part here would be how they handle the pressure of being the favourites to win a series. For the South Africans will come back hard at them. The next Test is at Durban, not the most favourite of India’s venues, but they should hold on based on the performance in the first Test. The only missing link really now is the opening batsmen’s forms…

What was also really good to see was that Sreesanth delivered in the second innings too. This goes to prove that he is not flash in the pan and can become one of the strike bowlers if he can stay fit, focussed and add to his repertoire without losing what he already has: a natural flair for the game.

And, oh… the lips seem to have gone a little numb now:

“The wicket played quite slow on day one but it quickened up quite a lot on day two. But for us to get bowled out for what we did was obviously not good enough. Credit to them, they got the ball in the right areas and created chances consistently. They were a lot more precise than us the whole Test match. We did get the highest total of the game in the fourth innings but all credit to India. They have got their first win and congratulations to them.”

Yes, Graeme, the pitch was slowed down with extra water before the game and then quickened by drying on day 2. Way to go, Einstein.

And these are the Big Guns of the Indian batting. God save India in the Tests! Incidentally, Ganguly (who has just flown in and has not had a chance to acclimatise, etc., etc.) was on 20* at last check. That’s twice as many as Tendulkar and well, more than 20 times as Sehwag! Go figure!

Live Scorecard [Cricinfo]

. . . → Read More: Morkel kills Indian top order]]> Do you know a right-arm fast bowler by the name Morne Morkel? I did not. But now you will. For he has crushed the Indian top order in their tour game. As India tottered at 69/5 (Lunch, Day 1), Morkel was responsible for 4 of those wickets including those of Sehwag (0), Laxman (23), Tendulkar (10) and Dhoni (6). Was he bowling hand grenades?

And these are the Big Guns of the Indian batting. God save India in the Tests! Incidentally, Ganguly (who has just flown in and has not had a chance to acclimatise, etc., etc.) was on 20* at last check. That’s twice as many as Tendulkar and well, more than 20 times as Sehwag! Go figure!

Live Scorecard [Cricinfo]

But the thing to remember here would be that Rahul Dravid [Captaincy Record] is still injured. And while everyone wants to believe that he will be back by the time the first Test begins, what if he doesn’t? VVS Laxman would have to lead India in the Test (s).

He has been praised for his captaincy in domestic cricket, but this is a different ballgame altogether! The pressure of a Test, the world watching… not easy. To top it all, there are three former captains: Sourav Ganguly [Captaincy Record], Sachin . . . → Read More: Laxman as captain?]]> He’s a “peaceable” man, as Dileep Premchandran says on Cricinfo, but is VVS Laxman the next Indian captain? I doubt it. But he does have the unenviable task of leading India against the Rest of South Africa in the only tour match before the Tests begin. Of course, that’s because Virender Sehwag was releived of his responsibilites as vice-captain during the ODIs.

But the thing to remember here would be that Rahul Dravid [Captaincy Record] is still injured. And while everyone wants to believe that he will be back by the time the first Test begins, what if he doesn’t? VVS Laxman would have to lead India in the Test (s).

He has been praised for his captaincy in domestic cricket, but this is a different ballgame altogether! The pressure of a Test, the world watching… not easy. To top it all, there are three former captains: Sourav Ganguly [Captaincy Record], Sachin Tendulkar [Captaincy Record] and Virender Sehwag [Captaincy Record]. This, of course, not counting Anil Kumble who has been vice-captain and stand-in captain on random occassions!

So VVS won’t really have any problem in getting advise, but the true test of a captain is what he stands for. And that, I think, is where Rahul Dravid went wrong. But VVS has had a good time with the bat in SA averaging in the high 40s. So in terms of confidence, he must be ok…

In effect, the tour game against a second string SA team has just become more important than it should have been. Thanks to some poor performances and injuries, India sees (once again) too many changes when on tour.

My $0.02 worth: Don’t expect too much. Even if VVS can score 50+, that’ll be a bonus. A drawn game would be a huge fillip to confidence. (What have expectations come to!)

I really think there’s no point in looking back at the matches and trying to figure out who’s fault it was that India lost. It’s pointless because it cannot change the result. What needs to be done is understand what India learned from this ignominous defeat. I think (actually, hope) there is a lot that the team learned.

First it was the injury to Virender Sehwag, then Munaf Patel and now Rahul Dravid. The first two may just get back in time to make some difference to the tour, but Dravid’s return in time seems difficult. Initial reports suggest that he’s out for about 3 weeks and that rules him out of the first Test. Not a good sign considering he was the only one showing any signs of coming to terms with the conditions.

And if that wasn’t enough, the replacement who is flying in is none other than VVS Laxman. The man not good enough to be in the first 15. To top it off, there is . . . → Read More: From bad to worse]]> When things are going wrong for you, they just go wrong all the way. The Indian team at this point must be wondering who in the world is conspiring against them that they are facing a new problem everyday of this tour.

First it was the injury to Virender Sehwag, then Munaf Patel and now Rahul Dravid. The first two may just get back in time to make some difference to the tour, but Dravid’s return in time seems difficult. Initial reports suggest that he’s out for about 3 weeks and that rules him out of the first Test. Not a good sign considering he was the only one showing any signs of coming to terms with the conditions.

And if that wasn’t enough, the replacement who is flying in is none other than VVS Laxman. The man not good enough to be in the first 15. To top it off, there is now also talk of Sourav Ganguly making it back to the team. Which just means more controversy and less content on the field. The tour just got murkier, no?