WHILE things back home have yet to take any concrete shape, I find it much more worthwhile to share with my readers a few comments about India’s achievement in the second Test in their ongoing series against the Australians Down Under. It was remarkable and the Indians deserve a pat on their back even though the series is still wide open, with two Tests to go. While Australia will definitely do its best to keep its record intact at home, the Indians, at least for the time being, deserve celebrations. After all, it is not often that a touring Indian outfit achieves such a result.
Any team scoring more than five hundred and fifty runs in the first innings has the right to think it is not going to lose the match. When it has scored as many as four hundred runs on the first day of the Test, the mood in the dressing room can only be joyous, with no one even thinking about any possibility of facing problems in that very Test.
The mood in the rival dressing room, in sharp contrast, is sombre and no one talks about getting back into the game. Even if someone tries to be brave, he gets a deaf audience. All thought and strategy generally revolves around finding a way to clinch an honourable draw and live to fight another day.
I am sure that the mood in the two camps after the first day of the Test would have been no different. But the fact that the Indians did not give up completely on the second day was the key to their ultimate success. By being realistically positive on the second day gave them the foothold they wanted, and the Australian total of 556, though massive in absolute terms, fell short of what they had been planning. The way Ricky Ponting reacted to his dismissal after scoring a huge double century betrayed the team’s frustration. The sudden end to the Australian innings meant the Indians had clinched back a certain degree of momentum, and that was great for their psyche.
What Dravid and Laxman did in the Indian innings was clearly reminiscent of what they did to the Australians a couple of years ago in India. And the result of that turnaround this time was the same as it was then. All of a sudden, the Australians had to think hard, and grope for alternative plans, which is not always easy.
The manner in which the Australian second innings folded was clearly reflective of the team’s inability to adjust to the fresh demands made by the situation. That led to a procession and once India was left with less than two hundred to get in about a hundred overs, the writing was very much on the wall, for the strength of the Indian team lies in its batting. Still, the Australians might just have pulled off a stunning victory had Adam Gilchrist taken that snick off Dravid’s bat. But there is hardly any point in discussing what might have been.
On his part, Steven Waugh must have earned much respect from all quarters for being graceful in defeat, refusing to use the absence of key players like Glen Mcgrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, as an excuse. To be fair, his problems were seriously compounded by injuries to Jason Gillespie and Brad Williams. As a captain he could only chalk out plans, and needed the players to execute those plane. For the better part of his captaincy, he got the executioners he wanted. Ironically, he is missing them in what is, by his own decision, his last series. I wish him a happy ending.
WHILE things back home have yet to take any concrete shape, I find it much more worthwhile to share with my readers a few comments about India’s achievement in the second Test in their ongoing series against the Australians Down Under. It was remarkable and the Indians deserve a pat on their back even though the series is still wide open, with two Tests to go. While Australia will definitely do its best to keep its record intact at home, the Indians, at least for the time being, deserve celebrations. After all, it is not often that a touring Indian outfit achieves such a result.
