Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
Just why did India open the batting with V Sehwag all over again in the second innings of the third and final test of the India-South Africa series at Newlands, Cape Town, especially when Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer, had defied all expectations and cynics, to play an extraordinary 150 odd runs opening partnership in the first, still confounds and confuses me ?
It was Day 4, and a 41 run lead was not sufficiently unassailable, for sure. And all that India needed was to play their natural cricket; if acceleration was required later, almost everyone could join in the party. Surely, we were not in a mode to play like a limited over game, right? As a result of that stupid alteration in batting order, India ended up disrupting Sehwag , who had just looked his old menacing self in a destructive 40 run cameo in the first knock. A bad start, and India remained continuously on the back-foot from the beginning of the penultimate today. By contrast, a judicious amendment by the South Africans in sending the experienced and in-form Shaun Pollock ahead in the pecking order on Day 5, clicked. Continue reading below
As for the famous batting goof-up where we almost lost a key batsman “timed out” (for which the Indian team cannot be fully accused, perhaps) shouldn’t we know the rule-books ourselves? Shouldn’t VVS Laxman have been padded up much earlier than a suddenly rushed Sourav Ganguly being hustled and bustled into the field?
Why did India’s two most prominent international exports to the cricketing world, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar play like we were trying to compete with a pair of comatose tortoise in a crawl contest? Were Sachin and Rahul salvaging, struggling and even salivating for a face-saving draw when we should have been aggressively exploiting every run-scoring opportunity, will remain a much quizzical, perpetual mystery which only the two stalwarts can best unravel, right?
Frankly, when will Sachin Tendulkar ever learn that his fourth innings performance has on several occasions ruined India’s hopes of either winning matches or squaring for a draw? Both at Durban, where he had an early morning duck for breakfast and at Cape Town, Tendulkar flopped miserably. And India paid from its limited expense account.
Why was VVS Laxman running the second –run as if it was a warm-up training session and he was only playing tom-foolery with the long arms of the fielder?
Why was Harbhajan Singh not even a discussion point during the entire series; can you imagine the impact Bhajji would have made had he had at least one single chance?
Was Munaf Patel really fit? And if so, is he another burn-out story already?
More than Kumble, it was Sachin who could have best exploited the leg-side rough, and he looked like Shane Warne’s Asian twin when he did get an opportunity? So why were both V Sehwag and he kept in cold storage till the inevitable defeat stared back at us? If the field placements were aggressive enough, why not the bowling attack as well?
Frankly, India should have never lost the Durban game; the Indian batsmen did not show a resolute courageous spine. And were we still gloating over a historic Test win in Johannesburg, and had we forgotten that a histories series win was also a distinct possibility? Did we celebrate pre-maturely, as usual?
And didn’t we squander away several opportunities, particularly on Day 4, when we had to set the tempo, create the pace and hound the Proteas? Somewhere, have we once again demonstrated that we are great at being on the wrong side of a thrilling finish. But in a sport, do we really remember a runner-up? Did we lose the psychological competitive advantage of beating the South Africans on home-turf in a World Cup year, no less?
These and several other unanswered questions will probably engage all cricket lovers of India like a nagging nightmare , who were, I am sure, praying for a great beginning to an exciting year of cricket for India. And why not?
Frankly, in a game, you always win some, and lose some. We all know that.
But what causes me real dismay and despondency is that India never seems to learn from it’s past mistakes. Worse, we repeat the same old familiar story, forever oblivious to ground realities. One victory, and we almost always become hugely complacent, lazily languid and sometimes, deliriously cocky. In short, we falter at the finishing line.
Why?
If India is to celebrate with any fireworks and drum-beating post-March 2007 period. We will need to get some real honest, hard, and correct answers. And soon.
