Into the void

It’s been several months since I last blogged. Nothing else would have brought me back – apart from Dravid. Sadly, it is his retirement announcement that has. While I will reserve my tribute for a little later, I must say that this brings a huge void to Indian cricket. Watching India in Tests will not be the same. I will be switching the TV on only for Laxman!

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India’s tour of England 2011 – Trent Bridge Test – shall we sing the lament now?

Four days of Test cricket.

Two and quarter days of fighting cricket. The remaining was trash. Add in some vaseline, Bell runout gate and all you get is a waste of time.

India’s 2nd innings was a joke. Laxman and Dravid perhaps were too frustrated and let the others do some of the cleaning. What did the others do? Sachin made another meaningless half century. Harbhajan forgot to feign injury while batting to score 40 odd. Dhoni and his ODI boys did the usual. There is no excuse for this.

One cannot blame the bowlers too much. They toiled hard on day 1 and on day 3 without support. Some of field settings at key times were the most defensive I’ve seen in a decade. It felt like we were back to the post-Azhar Sachin and second-innings-Azhar age. Granted, the bowlers caved at time, bowling outside off, wide, and making it easy for the batsmen to score. What was required was some unity and team spirit. There was nothing like that going on. Maybe that had to do with divisiveness on Bell run-out-gate.

Ganguly was right. This season will tell us just how good a captain Dhoni really is.

As after any drubbing, there are more questions than answers. But I don have one answer – India are losing this series.

I will eat crow if they level!

India’s tour of England 2011 – Trent Bridge Test – an Ad for Test Cricket

The Trent Bridge Test has been a great advertisement for Test Cricket. From the packed stands to the quality pitches, the game has provided entertainment to all. Granted, it has been a low scoring match, but has had all other ingredients that an engrossing Test match need.

The English collapse and recovery, Broad’s hat rick , Laxman’s art, Dravid’s colossal century, Yuvraj’s comeback,  the Indian collapse all interspersed with a bit of Indian tadka – the Praveen Kumar rant and the Sreesanth antics.  A word must be said on the umpiring – while Erasmus has been inconsistent, Asad Rauf has been so accurate, its almost inhuman.

Day 3 will be key. So will Ishant. This day will decide who the winner of the Test will be, for this most certainly will not be Draw.

Cheers to Test Cricket! It is alive and kicking!

 

India’s tour of England 2011 – Why the tours of England are special

I’ve almost always had a rush of nostalgia when India is about to tour England. The green grass, blue skies, the contrast between the “Surf-excel-white” clouds and the tourquise blue of the sky, the picturesque grounds, the lovely breeze and the occasional sweater worn by the spectator adds an element of other worldly magic to the drama that is about to enfold. India’s tours of England have brought back some lovely memories that run back to the summer of’96. There are several such occasions – the World Cup 99, the tour of 2002 and the Nat West final to name a few. The tour of 2007 seems so fresh, I can recall many of details – Zaheer Khan and the jelly gate, Dravid’s tired captaincy, his struggle with runs, Wasin Jaffer’s lazy elegance, Dinesh Karthik’s rise to consistent 45-50 opener, Kumble’s century, Micheal Vaughn’s batting, Tendulkar’s struggles in the 90s, and what not.

Part of what makes this special is a rather mundane aspect – the time of play for the Indian viewer. You can come back from work, either on a high, or tired and drained of energy, and let your mind take on something completely different and to be engrossed in it. There are days when the cricket energizes you and days when it lets you lament.

Another tour is upon us. And this tour, as in 2007, is touted to be last of the greats of India’s batting – Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman. Thus the need to savor it is greater than ever before. One hopes that there is, somewhere in India, a kid who yearns to emulate their techniques and deeds!

Dravid Scores!

After what seemed like an eternity for a close Dravid follower, it was mainly relief to see a century coming from him.

I must clarify, that “see” meant “read on Cricinfo”. That was the case primarily because I couldn’t watch another failure from him. Add work to that, and there’s a compelling reason, but mostly the first. When I checked the score, I braced my mind to see the fall of the second wicket, but was pleasantly surprized almost each time, happy to see the 50 and satisfied to the see the 60 turn into 100 in very short time (by any standard). The attacking shots, and the late cuts that I caught on highlights, were very reassuring.

Fellow blogger SB, puts the feeling in perspective in a more emotional way, that I could have. Read that here, as SB talks Dravid once again.

There will be the naysayers this time also. Yes, it is the Kiwis, and yes, once can glare at the strike rate, but look what happened today and look at the strike rates of Tendulkar and Laxman, in the first innings. That will tell a story. Spin it the way you like!