The two-test match series between India and England ended yesterday with the second test resulting in a draw. India has won the series because of the test they won in Chennai by 1-0 margin. The series win has been an achievement by many standards. India continue their victory roll after they
trounced Australia in October test series and then whitewashed England in a
7-ODI series. Opener
Gautam Gambhir has collected 741 runs in past four test matches and is shining in full bloom.
Zaheer Khan has been adjudged the Man of the Series award for the second time in row. It’s a personal achievement for Zaheer and simultaneously for India which is batsman-dominated side. Amidst all the sunshine there are some grey clouds that dampen the victory celebrations.
For example, Rahul Dravid’s now-in-usually-out form. The Wall has been struggling with his form for last one year and with the recent pressure building on the senior players to retire he has been under scanner too.
Dravid scored 3 and 4 runs in the first test against England and the jinx broke when Dravid slammed 136 in the first innings of the second test. Dravid’s career average has been a splendid 52 which had slipped to 27 before this ton which has silenced his critics for a while now.
Sadly, this is how things in our country work. It took Dravid 21 tests before he cracked this century against England. Huge roars of Dravid’s retirement surfaced which will now die their due death. The fact that age is now showing its toll on his performance or space should be made for fresh talent won’t count until another ten flop innings.
Then I’m-so-dynamic-I’m-a-maverick
Mr. Dhoni. The weather played hand in canceling the match’s result with play getting delayed and interrupted. However, Dhoni is being lashed at from all directions for delaying the decision to declare the second innings. Dhoni defends his decision stressing the fact that an early declaration of innings could have given some chance to England and hence the team took a “collective decision” to let
Yuvraj and Gambhir complete their centuries. Whether an early truncation of innings and hence a smaller target could have turned the course of the game is now a matter of speculation but Dhoni has earned enough flak to take some of it home and think about.
