| Test Loss: What's Your Reason? |
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| Pitched By Cricket360 Analyst | |||||||
| Thursday, 14 August 2008 | |||||||
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Defeat by an innings and 239 runs in a test. You expect such fare from a team like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe who are the minnows in the most ancient and pure form of the game. But when a team like Team India with such a regal line-up of batsmen and commendable spinners succumbs so miserably, the fans are left to cook up reasons of their own. How else can you justify a side flaunting 4 batsmen out of the top 10 in the world getting bundled twice in 4 sessions of game? What excuse can you give when Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman play like apprentices on a surface where 4 Sri Lankan batsmen slammed centuries to amass 600 runs? How do you explain debutante Ajantha Mendis claiming Dravid’s and Laxman’s wickets, not once but in both innings? The Indian cricket fans find company in this shock and surprise in the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawedene who expected a team with such an intimidating batting line-up to (at least!) put up a decent fight! The Indian bowlers don’t escape the ire either. Kumble and Harbhajan, the Indian stalwarts of spin showed no shine in their show. Apparently nobody cared to take track of what the SSC pitch demands and what length it wants. The batsmen have some excuses for saving their grace though. Tendulkar and Laxman had been out of game for quite sometime while others were still “recovering from the IPL hangover”. Having an inexperienced coach (or a coach for every possible trade of the game) should be counted somewhere in the long list of reasons too. Critics feel that the batsmen lacked the concentration and patience which are essential to test match format. The hit hit-bang bang T20 seems to have done the damage the purists feared. This failure has some reasons unique to itself. The Indian side was virtually clueless about the use of the Umpire Referral System which Sri Lanka employed skillfully to their advantage. They made the fatal error of undermining Mendis’ capability. When the Indian wickets didn’t go to Mendis, they went to Murali whose deliveries still remain a mystery to the batsmen world over. India can now save their face by drawing the series. Since India has not won 2 consecutive test matches in past 3 years, the chances of winning the series can be almost ruled out. It’s time the team wakes up from the Big Indian IPL Dream.
3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."Newer news items:
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