The Indian History has no imprint of cowardice ever; nobody has ever dared to call even Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of Non-Violence a theory of cease fire. But every single day on the Cricket Field we see Heroes and Stars rise and shine relentlessly but the Team falls behind shattered and distorted.

Something similar happened in the current Test Match between India and Australia (Test match No. 2 Border – Gavaskar Trophy at Mohali in India). After long Indian players showed character and threatened the World Champion Australia. The fear was not of a defeat but an attack on the Aussie Confidence and Reputation Castle.

But as it is said that, “who needs an enemy when the friends can drown us anytime”. The players played like a Team, everyone contributed and got to a position from where the Aussies could very well smell defeat but a so called intellectual decision opened the passage for the Aussies to look for a draw.

The extended session on the day four of the Test match helped India mount a total of 514 infront of the Australians to chase but at the same time reduced the time required by the Oz’s to spend on the crease by quite a handsome margin. MS Dhoni was “Media’s Boy” once again at the end of the second day for his brisk score 92 runs and was praised for his so called aggression on the field bringing a spark in the Team members. But then Mr. Action Hero of Indian Cricket suddenly shows his defensive side on the field by letting his team to for an additional session and give a chance to Oz’s to look for a draw.

The score of 515 runs to chase can mere safeguard India from a loss but where is the desperation for that victory. This desperation is very much required against any competitor if one wants to win. Even if India wins this match due a cracking pitch with quality spinners getting on top of weak Aussies in terms of batting against spin, the question will still remain – Where was the spirit for the game and desperation for a victory?

Mr. Dhoni will never pay price for this till he is adored by the Selectors and the Media but what after then? There are numerous batsmen possessing more calibre than him in India and one mistake can take away all the lime lights away from Dhoni. His wicket-keeping abilities were poor infront of lead bowlers of the Team - Kumble and Bhajji. He dropped Hussey in both the Test Matches – once against Kumble and once against Harbhajan.

Let us not get into the Post-mortem of Dhoni’s batting and captaincy skills further. The point raised here is the sudden defence by India in a match has taken away numerous victories. There are certain examples in the recent past and let us take glance at them:

1. Pataudi Trophy 2007
    3rd Test – India vs. England at Kennington Oval, London (9th to 13th August 2007).
    Captain – Rahul Dravid
    Match Summary – India scored 664 runs in the I innings and reduced England to a total of 345 runs, taking a lead of 319 runs. India came out to bat again on the 4th Day after bowling mere 7.1 overs instead of following-on the English Team. Indian Team batted for a prolonged duration of 58 overs and scored 186 for a loss of 6 wickets. This gave England a target of 505 runs with around 25 overs left on the fourth day & the complete fifth day to go.
This gave the weakened English Team a chance to go for a draw and they did it successfully scoring 369 runs for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of the match. An elongated session and the fear of loss made India loose a Golden opportunity.

2.Pakistan in India 2007
   2nd Test – India vs. Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (30th Nov. to 4th Dec. 2007).
   Captain – Anil Kumble
   Match Summary – India again committed the same mistake after just a couple of months by playing an elongated II innings after taking a lead of 160 runs in the I innings.
Pakistan was given a target of 345 runs to win on the last day after India wasted sometime in coming out to bat and declaring after scoring only 9 runs for the loss of a wicket. This wasted of time acted a life saving drug for Pakistan. The game was drawn with Pakistan scoring 214 for the loss of only 4 wickets.

The story is not such a short one as there are numerous occasions of such defensive decision making in the history of Indian Cricket giving the imprint of cowardice unlikely to the True Indian Character.
The moral of the story is not to become mere aggressive bulls on the field but to be smart and wise in the decision making at the same time being aggressive. God bless the future Test Skipper of the Indian Cricket with the enlightened knowledge of cricket leading 'The Indian Team' to an everlasting glory!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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