Test Series Review - England vs India 2014

 England did not quite turn the tables in the Test series as much as barged in to the room, raised that table by one of its legs, smashed it on the floor and shoved the pieces into the collective mouth of this Indian team. On that glorious evening at Lord’s, during the presentation ceremony Michael Atherton grilled Alistair Cook with the kind of uncomfortable questions which looked more like a father talking to his daughter’s boyfriend for the first time. At that point, it was more a case of When rather than If Alistair Cook would go. 28 days later he is a national hero, James Anderson is closing in on the record for England’s leading wicker taker, Moeen Ali is England’s best spinner and MS Dhoni still continues to lose overseas Test for fun. Here is how they did it

That old wine which keeps getting better and better

It was billed as a battle between England’s experienced bowling unit and India’s emerging batting stars. James Anderson and Co took some time to generate full steam, preferring to do the warm up in the first 2 Tests. While the Trent Bridge pitch nullified their skills, they were guilty of some directionless bowling on the first day at Lord’s.  All they needed was an ICC hearing to inspire them and since then they made it a habit to scythe through the Indian batting lineup. Since Lord’s, India’s first innings scores were 330, 152 and 148, an indication that they never had the ground stand and fight on.  It is hard to recover from low first innings scores unless you have Marshall, Holding, Akram, McGrath and Warne in your team.  All India had was Ishant (stood out for 2 Test due to Injury), Shami, Pankaj, Kumar and Jadeja. Shami and Kumar started the series brightly but the inexperience of playing a 5-Test series caught up with them eventually. As Cook pointed out, England managed to put a lot of mileage in the legs of Indian bowlers in the 3^rd Test, which definitely showed in the last 2 Tests. Kumar appeared tired, Shami got dropped, Pankaj toiled and Jadeja was being Jadeja.  And all this while, James Anderson swung, seamed and bounced that red cherry.

Bell was ringing, Root was strong and Ballance was good

Except at Lord’s, England enjoyed marginal upper hand every time their middle order was brought to the crease, mainly because of India’s batting failures. And every time Joe Root made sure that they never relinquished that advantage. He was the link which connected the middle order and the tail. He, along with Butler, strung together a series of partnerships, which led to huge leads and India never looked like to recovering from them. Root ended up being England’s leading run scorer for the series with 518 runs which included 2 centuries and 3 fifties. Ballance was not far off, with 503 runs for the series, providing stability and composure at the top of the order. He never showed any after effects of that late night, half naked drinking binge.  There was no looking back for England once Bell found his groove too. They racked up huge first innings totals for the last 2 Tests which was good enough for 20 combined Indian wickets.

Dhoni got cooked

“Cook and Dhoni. Dhoni and Cook. Possible mates. Possible nemeses”. That is what Sidharth Monga wrote about them in the series preview, indicating that they could have been 2 sides of the same coin. Still trying to figure out their best combinations, still trying to fight their own demons and still trying to prove that they have got what it takes to captain at the Test level, after 187 Tests between them. At the end of the series, if Cook was one side of the coin, Dhoni appeared like something which belongs to the Barter system era. Cook did not need to make any innovative calls or inspired selections, as Indians pressed that self destruction button far too often. He, at best, was assured and composed in his captaincy. Dhoni on the other hand, except the Ishant Sharma move at Lord’s, was largely defensive, timid and uninspiring. Stuart Binny was a staggeringly poor selection, though not because of any of his faults, as he was never given a proper spell and batted below Jadeja in the batting order.  The continuous selection of Jadeja, in place of Ashwin did not work out at all, which, I believe, is partly because of the field set for him, forcing him to bowl on the off stump. Dhoni managed to grind out 4 fifties in the series, despite his technique and bowler friendly conditions, but none of them were influential ones. As the series went on, his keeping also disintegrated. But by that time the spirit was drained and series was long gone.

Moeenalitharan

I don’t know which one was funnier, Stuart Binny playing 3 Tests or Moeen Ali picking up 19 wickets for the series, with match winning figures of 6/67. Indian batsmen, with a combination of recklessness and incapability, made Moeen Ali look like Muralitharan at his peak. When Cook attended his final presentation ceremony of the summer at The Oval, the effort to find out at least one decent spinner for England was replaced by the debate of who is the second best spinner in the country. I don’t think Moeen is going to be a long term solution, but he is doing his short term job exceptionally well.

“Catch me if you can” – A cricket ball to Indian fielders

I know that bread and butter is part of the traditional English breakfast. But I am not sure whether keeping the left over butter on your hands throughout the day has something to do with the tradition. Atleast, that is what Indian fielders made us to think. India’s slip catching rate hovered somewhere around 50% which says that they managed to drop as many as they caught. It was so amateurish that it appeared downright funny at times, which makes you think what is the role of the fielding coach if he can’t correct something which happened in the first Test, even by 5^th Test. Ofcourse, it helped England that their fielders remained alert throughout the day as their bowlers created chances after chances. But then that is the kind of ability and temperament needed at slips. You may be crouching up and down for the entire day, with nothing coming your way. And then in the final over of the day you are supposed to catch the half chance which flew towards to your wrong side from that blind spot of the bat. It is fair to say that, if not in batting, India missed Sachin, Dravid and Laxman in this series in the slips.

7th heaven for Ishant - 2nd Test, Lord's , England vs India

Day-1

Ajinkya Rahane managed to get over the dangerous 20s syndrome shown by Indian batsmen and found himself a place in the famous honours board at the Lord’s. It was a top top knock considering, India were 145 for 6 towards the end of the 2^nd session and in danger of losing whatever reasonable ground they were able to make in the first session.  And it was heartening to know when he revealed later that he watched Video’s of Mike Hussey’s batting to learn how to bat with the tail. Taking a leaf out of Mr  Cricktet’s book, Rahane did not try to farm the strike too often, instead trusting the tail enders and allowing them to share the responsibility as well. The pitch was so green that MS Dhoni and Co had a tough time finding it when they strode out in the morning. That is the greenest I have ever seen at the Lord’s , though it was an altogether different matter that England could not fully capitalize. They were way too short in the first session, had a good second session and the tired legs showed in the last session.  James Anderson was the standout bowler. He managed to attain reverse swing even on that spongy green top, and consistently troubled the batsmen though, throughout the day he wore the expression of a man who just had a 14 hour shift in a coal mine.  May be it is the impending hearing on his altercation with Ravindra Jadeja, may  be it is those backbreaking number of overs he delivered in the last 3 years, or may be it is just that he woke up at the wrong side of the bed! India finished the day with a score which looked highly unlikely by the end of the second session, which makes them the happier of the two sides when the day finished.

Day-2

Thos who know Gary Ballance would be telling that he showed much less energy on the cricket pitch in amassing a well crafted 100 than when he danced half naked at midnight in a bar after the first Test! Whatever the means, his innings helped to keep England afloat though he would be cursing at the way he got out towards the end of the day.  In the first Test at Trentbridge, Ishant Sharma showed why he is playing in his 56^th Test match despite a bowling average of 37.79. Today he showed how he ended up with such an average after 56 Test matches. When the pitch and conditions demanded a fuller length, he went back to his now notorious three quarter length and consistently beat the bat, without ever inducing an edge.  Dhoni was decisive most of the occasions today when it came to captaincy decisions. It was a relief that he did not try to match Cook’s decision to put 6 men on the boundary when India’s number 10 and 11 were batting on the first day evening!

Day-3

By the close of play, what appeared to be a snoozefest of an innings from Murali Vijay carries more importance than actually seemed in the beginning. Throughout the day the momentum shifted hands in a way which only Test cricket can produce. India needed early wickets and got them which suggested that they would get a small but handy lead. But it was England who ended up with a 24 runs lead thanks to the last wicket heroics from Anderson and Plunket. India wiped the arrears of without much trouble before Joe Root at point pulled off a brilliant catch to send Dhawan back. India then appeared to be getting back in the game with the second wicket partnership between Vijay and Pujara but the Test came alive with 3 wickets in no time. Dhoni managed to see off the day without further trouble but the game is still on a knife edge. Vijay is still there and if India’s lower order can give him enough support, a target of 250-270 is well on the cards. One bad session or even a bad phase of 10 overs is what either team needs to lose the match. So expect a cautious but fascinating 4^th day at the Lord’s tomorrow.

Day-4

Ravindra Jadeja to win a Test match for India at the Lord’s with his batting. If someone had told me that an year ago, I would have promptly sent him to the remotest corner of earth to regain his sanity. Not anymore though.  Nobody would have blamed Alistair Cook for starting to think about his batting when India were 6 down with a lead of only 180 odd runs in bowler friendly conditions. Enter Ravindra Jadeja.  It is probable that he did not read the script or missed my point about cautious cricket on a defining day. The new ball is only 2 overs away. His senior partner is nearing a century and trying to pull India out of the mess. What does he do? He charges the bowler and nearly holes out. But once the nerves settled and sanity returned, he counter attacked with precision which forced the England bowlers to bowl short while bowling full and straight was the logical option. And he brought the sword too, which was on display when he reached 50. It was the Lord’s, holy turf and all that, and he was fooling around in the middle. It is safe to assume that he won’t getting X’mas cards from anyone from this England team. By the time he departed the lead swelled over 300 and there was a general feeling that the target has been achieved. And when England appeared to be making a decent start he returned and won a marginal LBW decision against Sam Robson with his first delivery. Ishant’s inspired spell and 2 wickets towards the end of the day makes India slight favourites to win this. But after 3 years and 15 overseas Tests, they won’t be taking anything for granted.

Day-5

Couple of overs before lunch, Mahendra Singh Dhoni wore a magician’s hat and pulled out an Ishant Sharma sized rabbit out it. And the entire England team played the perfect audience to it clapping and encouraging, egging on and asking for more. An hour later after lunch, the show was all over.  The sight of an Indian bowler bouncing out the opposition was exhilarating. But a greater concern for England is to find that, of the 5 wickets which fell to short balls, 4 were down to temperament not technique. It is downright surprising to think that an England think tank with 80 odd support staff could not make any one in the team to understand that the short ball tactic from Dhoni can’t go on forever and sooner rather than later, he would be forced to take the new ball which would mean going back to full length with Kumar and Shami. Somewhere during that spell it went to their head and the battle became personal.  On a bigger picture, somewhere during the their ascent to the No.1 Test team in the world, among those 160 odd page cookbook and robotized training sessions, they lost the fun part of it. It became everyday work and Monday blues would have caught up with them as well, watching the thoughtless way they played.  Years down the lane, we will look back at this Test match and realize that it is one of India’s great overseas wins. Lord’s is added to the list of Headingly, Melbourne , Rawalpindi and Perth.  And on a different note, I am not a firm believer of poetic justice or moral victories. But there is tinge of karma in the joke that England have not won a Test match since they urinated on the pitch. At the end you get what you give.

Test, the best!

Outside it was 3 degree Celsius and windy too. At best it was butt freezing cold. Inside I sat hunched in front of my laptop, sweating profusely. My index finger started to pain tapping on that refresh button frantically, every 10 seconds. And finally it was all over when Dale Steyn lifted the final delivery into the stands with an expression which said “Fuck those booing”. I have no idea why or how I managed to follow the entire Test match on Cricinfo and look like someone who got hopelessly drunk after a college party at the end of it. Then again, Test cricket does that to you.

Test cricket touches your senses like no other sport. It stimulates and pacifies your soul at the same time.  It does that by giving you infinite possibilities on a passage of play, or even a single delivery.  Pitch, tea break, seam size, old ball, new ball, first day, fifth day, lunch, wind, dust, slope, swing, stance, shiny side, bounce, drinks break, moisture, rough outfield. No other sport has managed to combine even half of those variables and put them together to form a spectacle to captivate the audience, as much as Test cricket does. It can both pause and pace, with equally spectacular efficiency. I have watched Adam Gilchrist scoring a hundred in a session and also Rahul Dravid blocking his way to 12 from 96 balls. On both the occasions, it broke the backbone of the opposition. “It takes all sorts” was one of Peter Roebuck’s books but you will not find a better caption for something which talks about characters in cricket. Cricket’s ability to accept a supreme athlete as good as Jonty Rhodes along with a not-so-movable Inzamam Ul Haq with same nonchalance is what makes it an extra ordinary sport.

Venues play a part too. The boxing day test match at MCG is an yearly pilgrimage for many Australians. Eden Garden fills up for a Test match like no other ground in India. Rum, Reggae and Parties are essentials when cricket comes to Barbados.  The Lord’s is still holy turf. They add to the theater and drama, as much as the cricket on show. In Eden Gardens, I have seen nothing happening for 60 overs and then a slow and rhythmic clap starting at one corner of the stadium. In a matter of seconds, it catches up with the entire crowd, egging the home team on. Then a wicket falls, and another in the same over. The crowd roars, as if a sound of approval. Suddenly a benign pitch start playing tricks, with batsman’s mind. In a matter of session, the opposition gets bowled out. Those who schedule Test matches at new stadiums, most of them suave engineering marvels, in upcoming cities with the emphasis on making cricket more popular, will never understand that feeling of watching Test cricket, accompanied with tradition and culture. 

After 5 days of ebbs and flows, punches and counter punches, batting marathons and fiery spells, the Johannasburg Test match ended in a draw. Born and bred on Superbowls and knockouts, Americans will never understand how a sport can be played over 5 days and still ends in stalemate. Perhaps it was justice that neither team won. After the kind of cricket which was on show, finding a loser from either of those teams would have been cruel. 

There were many who accused the batsmen for trying to be safe in the last 3 overs, than trying to win. But let us not forget that they tried to win for 133 overs faced with a target of 458, while most teams would have shut the shop after losing 4 wickets. That is the ramifications of having a 2 match series, for South Africa just could not lose. There is an argument that the great Australian team under Steve Waugh would have risked a loss while still trying to win that and there is truth in that. But cricket as much reveals character, culture, society and tradition as it enhances them. Unlike Australia, South Africa is a country which is still trying to recover from those apartheid years. Years when isolation and loss were the norms and those scars take time to subside. Cricket always reflects the society it represents, and as any recovering society will do, they chose safety first. Perhaps the chokers tag played a part too.  Perhaps it was cricket’s way of showing that it can be fair too.  Perhaps cricket decided to save me from a broken index finger and a sleepy day at work!

First Ashes Test, Trent Bridge 2013

Connoisseurs of Test cricket will have an almighty smirk on their face tonight looking towards the IPL fanatics and its ilk. No artificially created excitement, no manufactured adjectives and no forced super over would have produced the drama we witnessed at Trent Bridge today. The day started with England as clear favourites and they won at the end, but nobody could have imagined what actually happened in between. As it happened throughout the Test match, the momentum fluctuated wildly, before a lucky lunch break and judicial use of DRS finally settled the matter for England.

For all I can remember for a long time, this is a an Ashes series which England started as an outright favourite and there were even talks of a 10-0 results over the two legs in favour of England. Personally I don’t think the gap between these two teams is as big as it is made out to be, especially with the appointment of Darren Lehman, someone who knows the dynamics of how things work in the Australian Test team, prior to the series. As much as England are delighted to win such a close match, when the dust settles and euphoria subsides, they will look back and realize that only 14 runs separated the sides. After four and a half days, 385 overs and 40 wickets, only 14 runs separated the two teams, and that is not how an outright favourite wins by any means.

By the end of second day, thanks to the debutant Ashton Agar’s heroics, Australia had their noses in front. Looking for a big lead over England’s first innings of 215, the Australian top and middle order collapsed, only to be rescued by the mammoth last wicket stand of 164 between Hughes and Agar, the latter missing a deserved century by 2 runs. And to think that they had England on the ground with 218 for 6, a lead of only 153 runs, Australia must be kicking themselves for letting them off the hook. Bell played his best innings of an Ashes test, ably supported by Prior and Broad in particular, and by the time Jimmy Anderson was caught by Hughes, the target 311 looked over the horizon.

The fifth day started with England needing 4 wickets to win and their fans in full flow. They never panicked until Brad Haddin’s calculated attack on Finn and Pattinson’s brave handling of Swann brought the target down to less than 50, after small but handy contributions from Agar and Siddle. England knew that they needed only one wicket to win but that never seemed to arrive. I was very surprised when England took the option of extending lunch by half an hour in search of the last wicket, when everybody around the ground could really see the momentum shifting towards Australia, slowly but decisively. What they needed was to go back to the dressing room and think with a clear mind rather than trying to finish it in a hurry. It just takes your heart to beat a tad faster for your best laid plans to go awry. By the time England realized it, it was almost too late and Stuart Broad had to fake a ‘stone in my shoe’ act to remove and re lace it to avoid an extra over before lunch. Aleem Dar had none of it and duly signalled for another over, and with that it all came down to 1 wicket or 20 run at lunch. At this point, this was a welcome distraction for England who got the opportunity to regroup. In hindsight, they would not have extended the session for half an hour, and in all probability Australia would have won the Test match without that lunch break. That is the real beauty of Test cricket, with its ifs and buts. Over 5 days, with all the breaks, with follow-ons, with new balls, it offers a theater of infinite possibilities.

The last few minutes of the match were played as if in slow motion. Anderson’s off-cuttor was inside edged, albeit a tiny one, to Prior who duly convinced his not-so-convinced caption to go for a review. From Haddin’s reaction and the slight sound, it looked out but the third umpire took an unbelievably long time, just to conform to the rule of being sure without a doubt to overturn the field umpire’s call. And when Aleem Dar raised his left index finger, the ground, where deep breaths were clearly audible until 5 minutes ago, erupted. Perhaps it is fitting that the last moment of the match is decided by DRS, as it was a talking point throughout the match. As much as it almost did its purpose, eliminating clear howlers, it also showed its drawbacks in ‘broad’ daylight. Australia was furious when Stuart Broad edged to second slip and stood his ground, but they were helpless as they had already used their quota of 2 unsuccessful appeals. Imagine if England did not have an option of review for the last wicket and Australia goes on to win it, it would have been a gross injustice. It is high time ICC finds an alternative to the limited number of times DRS can be used, else an ugly situation is bound to occur sooner.

The words Edgbaston 2005 were used a million times in the last hour of play. I will be happier if I can get to use them all through this series. Here is hoping for a drama filled and action packed 4 more Tests.

IPL - The great Indian circus!

Watching the final day of the first Test match between England and New Zealand reminded me of the reasons why i fell in love with the greatest game Man has ever created on earth, Test cricket.There were no DLF maximums, no strategic timeout and no half naked cheer girls, but still I am sure, not a single sane minded person wanted to take his eye of the action. It was the plain white clothes, old school swing and the serene Lord's which made it attractive. And more than anything else there was a genuine battle going on, the essence of cricket or for that matter the essence of any sport.

it will be asking too much to expect the IPL organizers to take a cue from this but they will do well to do so. The only surprising thing from all the spot fixing stories which have come out this week is that everyone seems surprised with it. From the outset, it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. IPL, the best scripted drama ever, is made specifically for external elements to thrive over the real sport. First and foremost, the shortest format of the game, where a wrong short or a mis-field carries more weight compared to other formats, gives the best opportunity for bookies. That is what makes them to be able to allegedly offer as much as 60 Lakhs for a single over. To put things in perspective,a premier Test bowler doesn't make half of that money from a 3 Test series.

Then there is the artificially created excitement and drama, where the onus is to drag every game to a last over finish so that more advertisements can be stuffed in and more TRP rating can be gloated about. The financial spending cap, imposed over each team during the players' auction (which itself is as ugly to watch as the nether region of a transgender) is specifically for that purpose. While it creates a level playing field and better competition, it doesn't produce excellence. Excellence is when Dale Steyn bowls to Sachin Tendulkar on a Newlands green top for a 12 over spell, not when Chris Gayle smashes a god-knows-who third rate bowler out of the park. That is why more sixes are hits, more records are broken and more wickets are taken, just as the organizers wished. The financial equality among teams makes sure that, all teams are equally matched which in other words, converts to the match, almost always, being played into the last over.

As much as BCCI despises Lalit Modi presence now, it was his novel idea to involve Bollywood also in this great circus. He foresaw the potential of combining India's two most lethal entertainment powers, Cricket and Films, a marriage made in heaven. Each match in the IPL now becomes the perfect platform for them to market a new movie or endorse a new brand. During the first season of IPL, viewers were treated to more air time of SRK's face than KKR's games. Combined with the after match parties, where Bollywood and Cricket unceremoniously copulate, this 6 week circus has grown bigger than the game.

When IPL began 6 years ago, starting with its name, the ambition was to match the enormity and fan base of English Premier League (And CSK is now being called the Manchester United of IPL. I strongly think that it was one of the reasons behind Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement !!). But what they conveniently forgot was the fact that the fan base for the English League is built over intense competition and geographic rivalries over a period of 150 years and for them, following their team is a family tradition built on fierce loyalty. The men at Sky Sports who powered the Premier League era, starting from 1993, had the brains to milk it without compromising on the values of the game. For IPL to generate such an innate feeling of belonging among its supporters, it needs to clean up and start afresh. It has to project a reputation based on integrity and fair play.

IPL's original projected intention was to make a cricketing platform where the best in the world can compete, which will in turn help India to produce a capable talent pool. It, and much more, still can be achieved if wholesome changes in approach and mentality can be brought in. Until then, real cricket lovers will be prepared to wait for those beautiful sunny afternoons from far away Lord's and MCG.

Flashback 2012

From 2012 these are the moments which stood out for me from what I have watched or read. Here is hoping for another wonderful year ahead filled with sporting drama.


Best signing of the year: Robin Van Persie. He just beats Michu because of the quality and importance of his goals.

Most inspiring moment of the year: Oscar Pistorius competing with able bodied men in the Olympics.

Worst coach of the year: Duncan Fletcher.

Most dramatic sporting act of the year: Manchester City winning the title with the last kick of the season via the swish of Serio Aguero's right boot.

Most painful memory of the year: The look on the face of Manchester United players after they came to know that City have scored in the injury time.

Most humiliating performance of the year: India losing 8-0 to England and Australia, during which they plummeted from No.1 to No.4 in Test rankings.

Most poignant moment of the year: Andy Murray giving a teary eyed speech after losing the Wimbledon final.

Most beautiful moment of the year: Andy Murray finally winning a Grand Slam at the US open, following an epic final.

Most enthralling sporting occasion of the year: London Olympics 2012.

Most comic moment of the year: John Terry lifting the European Cup in his full kit after sitting out of the entire match through suspension.

Coach of the year: Ivan Lendl

Best article I have read: "A sportswriter’s love letter.." by Rohit Brijnath. Here is the link for all of you.

http://nonstriker.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/a-sportswriters-love-letter/

Team of the year: Spanish football team. Battered everyone in sight.

Stupidest act of the year: Joh Terry sticking his right knee at the back of Alexis Sanches right in front of the linesman.

Goal of the year: Zlatan Ibrahamovic's overhead kick against England.

Best statistic of the year: QPR having more red cards than wins in 2012.

Most dominating performance of the the year: Rafael Nadal in French Open.

Best rumour of the year: Arsenal's talisman striker Robin Van Persie to join Manchester United. Oh wait..

Player of the year: Radamel Falcao. Even after considering what Messi has done, this kid has been nothing short of sensational.

Most heroic performance of the year: Fernando Alonso's title challenge in an evidently inferior car.

Worst sacking of the year: Steve Kean, because he should have been sacked a good 12 months ago.

Worst signing of the year: Fernando Torres. Yeah, I know the he was not signed last year, but some how he wins it hands down, just like the last 2 years!

Best celebration of the year: The Gangnam style by the entire West Indies team after their T20 WC triumph.

Worst style statement of the year: Djibrill Cisse's haircut.

Retirement of the year: Shahid Afridi. Though he may have made yet another comeback by the time you read it!

Best quote of the year: " I am quite bad at analysing technique. You have seen mine". MS Dhoni when asked to comment on Rohit Sharma's technique.

Athlete of the year: Usain Bolt. He somehow had the talent to live upto his own modest claims of being the best in the history, in the biggest of sporting stages.

Disgrace of the year: Lance Armstrong being found guilty of doping and stripped of his 7 Tour De France titles.

Achievement of the year: Sachin Tendulkar's 100th century. Sure, it did take its time to come but it is a monumental achievement, enormity of which we all will fully grasp only when we see the expression on the face of our grand children when we tell them about it.

FOR A MAN WHO NEVER STOPPED TRYING

It was in 2003 and I had already failed in my first attempt to clear an exam in my graduation course. The next chance came on 16th of December that year, failing which I would get only one more chance to clear that paper. But there was something more important than the exam on that day. It was the 5th day of the 2nd Test match of India’s tour of Australia and India were standing on the brink of a historic Test match win. Rahul Dravid was at the crease unbeaten and we needed 233 runs. As much as I was unsure of clearing my exam, I was confident of Dravid’s powers to see us home. Inevitably I skipped the exam, made myself comfortable in front of TV a good 1 hour before the start of play. I would later have an almighty struggle to pass that exam but it was well worth it. On a gloriously sunny afternoon in Adelaide, to add to his first innings 233, Dravid stroked a masterful 72, finishing with a square cut boundary. Steve Waugh took the pain of retrieving the ball from the ropes and giving it to Dravid, for there was no one more deserving than him on the field to keep it. The point here is the assurance and the confidence he generated of an Indian win as long as he is at the crease, something which we are so used for 16 years but going to miss when the first wicket falls when India play the next Test match.

Test cricket is a game which not only reveals one’s character but also enhances it, and if ever you need a cricketer to prove that theory Rahul Dravid is the perfect specimen. The values he had in his life always shone through his batting. Honest and hardworking, durable and dedicated, calm and courageous. Nice guys all around the world took extra pride in his success because he showed the world that they can finish first too! They say that genius is nothing but the ability to take infinite amount of pain and Dravid is embodiment of that. The care and pain he took to prepare for each series, each match and each delivery has been exemplary. In his chat with Cricinfo, Abhinav Mukund reveals one particular moment when he found that Dravid changed his shoelaces and tucked them deep after he got out as the ball flicked his shoelaces in the previous match. Attention to detail has always been his strength and ally.

At the start of his career itself he has made his aversion to the opening slot clear, but whenever India find that they are a man down at the top, invariably Dravid steps up. He continued his wicket keeper role in one day cricket even when he was ridiculed for some of the mistakes he made behind the sticks, for he knew that it gave balance to the team. There were rumours from some quarters that he will be given a testimonial match - one last chance to shine, one last occasion to say good bye- but whoever has said that obviously doesn’t know the man. For him, it has always been team before the individual. He has built his career on pride and selflessness as much as on technique and temperament. From the moment he knew that it was time to hang up his boots, he would not want to drag himself to the field for the sake of a public adulation. It would have been so unlike Dravid.

He bids adieu as one of India’s all time batting greats. His position in the pantheon of India’s batting greats may be behind Gavaskar and Tendulkar, but for me he remains India’s best sticky wicket batman, even better than the other two. The two half centuries he scored on a minefield of a pitch at the Sabina Park to win the Test match and the Series were nothing short of legendary. Dravid always stepped up when the conditions are tough and bowlers on top. I have seen him taking blow after blow on his body in the now famous Headingly Test match and flinch not even once. Most of our glorious Test wins under Sourav Ganguly were built on Dravid’s impregnable defense and superhuman efforts. When India started winning Test matches abroad, you would always find an invaluable Dravid knock in the scoresheet. From Rawalpindi to Headingly, from Adelaide Oval to Sabina Park he remained the best Test batsman during that era. Six months down the lane, when India play the next Test match and whoever walks out after the first wicket, we are going miss the assurance he always radiated. But the good news is that skipping exams for cricket may become less frequent!

See it. Hit it. Forget it.

“Stand and deliver” Sunil Gavaskar shouted on air in his typically patriotic voice when Virendar Sehwag clobbered one over extra cover during his brutally entertaining 293 against Srilanka. But he forgot to mention another important aspect of his effervescent batting, a bout of amnesia to forget everything which has happened. It should have been “stand, deliver and forget”. The secret of his batting lies in neither in his backlift nor in his batspeed, but it is in his uncluttered mind with a simple thought process: see the ball, hit the ball. Easier said than done, of course, but not for Viru. Who else will try to club (and succeed) Saqlain Mustaq over midwicket for a six to get triple hundred after having failed to do so while on 195 hardly 2 months before. The beauty of Sehwag’s batsmanship is keeping simple things simpler than most other batsmen are able to even imagine.

Critics say he is a flat track bully. My answer: His first six centuries came against six different opponents in 5 different countries. They accuse him to have no footwork and only hand eye co-ordination. My answer: You don’t score triple centuries for fun with only hand eye co-ordination. They try to prove that bowling standards have come down. My answer: He has dismantled every bowler in sight, from Mills to McGrath, from Aktar to Anderson, from Murali to Malinga. They substantiate that he knows only one way to bat. My answer: Get an old DVD of his match saving 154 against Australia in Adelaide 2008. They blabber that he throws his wicket away too often. My answer: Look at the number of Test matches he won singlehandedly.

Sehwag’s influence is not merely winning matches for India. His mere presence in the team affects the way opposition thinks. No score is considered safe, no boundary is deemed too big, no bowler is seemed capable of dismissing him. He even forces his teammates to believe in themselves. After England set a stiff target of 387 on a deteriorating pitch in the 2008 Chennai Test match, no one in either side believed that an Indian victory is possible, except Sehwag. He came out all guns blazing to race to 83 in no time which included 11 fours and 4 sixes. After that carnage what India needed was a cool head on a stable shoulder and Sachin Tendulkar duly obliged with one of his masterpieces which he dedicated for the terror stricken people of Mumbai. But what made it possible was Sehwag’s cameo which made English shoulders to drop and Indian spirits to soar. Barring only Viv Richards, there has never been anyone like Sehwag who thrives on with each challenge however impossible it is. While Viv, with his brand of exuberant batsmanship, tried to emancipate the West Indian minds from colonial slavery, Sehwag tries to give wings to his own free soul.

Our cricketing lore has always been rich with batting greats. Even when the team was failing miserably we used to romanticize the deeds of our great batsmen. Only recently our team started to convert individual contribution to collective success consistently and Sehwag is inarguably one of the important cogs in that wheel of success. Shewag can be definitely bracketed with the elite company of CK Naydu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare, Gundappa vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, though his relative impact to Indian cricket is open to debate. His position in the pantheon of Indian cricket’s batting greats is firmly in place and sky is the limit for this free-flowing explosive batsman. It takes some efforts to better a batting average of 54 and a strike rate of 81, but Sehwag will definitely be embracing that challenge with all the vigour, which promises exciting times indeed!