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India – England Series: What a boring test match @ Mohali!

Mohali is supposed to be the best pitch in India and it also boasts a state of the art stadium as well as support facilities. Unfortunately, all that cannot be good enough if a test match conducted there was not played for the full five days

The weather – not rain – was the culprit this time. There was not a single day of the 2nd test between India and England that has gone without a delayed start or an early stop. Essentially the match was played for only about 4 days if you count the number of overs played.

To top it all, some really negative game tactics by Mr. Dhoni led Indian team, put what could have been a decent finish into a terrible draw.

Though England conceded a 150 run lead in the first innings, the Indians wanted to play out the remaining time instead of leaving a good 60-70 overs on the last day for the Englishmen to try their luck. Instead of stepping up the gas and declaring with a set target of 325 or so, the typical Indian mindset played its tricks there. Dhoni seems to be no better than the other Indian captains, who invariably played for personal records – especially that of batsment – during possible draw matches.

Thought of the day: Instead of helping the batsment to achieve their personal milestones, why don’t the captains help their bowlers to achieve some milestones?

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Rahul Dravid: A Relieved Man amidst a Boring Test

rahul-dravidOnly a week ago I wrote about the need for Rahul Dravid to take a break and I am taking back all that imagination right now! In a boring Mohali test that seems to be heading towards a draw, Rahul Dravid’s century had a lot of depth, determination and a statement underneath that he’s still the only WALL in Indian cricket.

Unlike his recent outings with the bat, this one was exceptional. He blocked, drove, pulled, cut and stood tall with grace and confidence! It never looked like he was out of form until yesterday. The amount of pressure the man was going through from his compatriots and media was too much. He has now silenced his critics but the man – one of the best diplomatic persons of the game – kept low profile but seemed to be brimming with a lot of emotions.

Now that he has scored close to 800 runs (including two centuries and two to three fifty’s) in this calendar year, I guess his career can be stretched to another year or so. It will be really good for the new Indian side, if he continues his newly discovered form. Right now, the youngsters should take a leaf from his patience and fighting spirits when going through bad times. The man played domestic cricket, worked hard in the National Cricket Academy and consulted experts to check and cross check if he is doing anything wrong and continuosly strived to improve. An amazingly committed and exceptionally decent cricketer!

The Mohali Test

The weather gods have not been very kind to the beautiful Mohali stadium and pitch. If all five days of play was possible, it would have been an exciting match. But now, Day 3 into the match the second inning has not started yet. Talking about that, I must say that Mr.Dhoni played some negative cricket by not declaring leaving at leat twenty overs to the English side on Day 2. Let’s wait for the rest of the match but I am more interested in what is happening in Perth right now and will write soon about it with a lot of excitement soon (if SA gets to win, that is)

Test Cricket Rocks Again!