Re: Third Test: WI v India at Basseterre
This is just another one of sub-continental defensive mindshells that I hardly and absolutely loathe. The strategies that have been discussed in the above many posts have left infinite unanswered questions on the minds of many. This exact type of behavior and issue was created in Nagpur earlier this year as well when, under Dravid’s mind-boggling captaincy, India failed to chase a target of 368 runs when the captain himself decided to push himself up the table to rather waste any amount of deliveries down the drain as he pleased and beneath him were the pinch-hitters, just inching to have a blast at the ball from the get-go. After the completion of that match against England, Dravid admitted, and I quote:
- “We thought we would give England a bit of a scare,” Dravid said when asked about the sudden change of tack. He conceded that the dash could have begun 45 minutes earlier. Actually, it could have begun three hours earlier; then the scare would have been a major one. No doubt Dravid will grow into the fine captain that Chappell sees in him, but this time he lacked the killer instinct. Sport is about grabbing your opportunities and neither captain quite had the confidence or experience to do it. (CricInfo)
I have given loads of much-deserved credit to Dravid (and Team India for that matter) several times in the past for displaying their colors and true heroics in the game, especially and foremost in cases when the captain has led an example and the team from the front! This case, however, demands a serious inquiry which has been banging on my head since this morning (or since the past five days, as a matter of fact). From that ICC’s chapraasi Atkinson giving this Qabristan of a pitch a green signal ahead of the time which turned out to be nothing but a disaster in the end, Lara’s display of (his previous and) recent antics while on the same token, claiming that “they need to learn how to draw games” (What in the world?) to where Laxman of all the batters sitting in the camp is prefered over regular pinch-hitters in order to further mock of what could very well have been an exciting and nail-biting finish. After all, they could have reshaped their strategies and might as well have tested Lara’s patience by sending in Laxman at #5 or even #6. There were practically tons of scenarious which could have been sketched into paths of victories, not even by Dravid himself but by Lara as well, none of which were witnessed by a new-born child.
Ridiculous, ridiculous day at the office. Not a shade or drop of joy in any camp whatsoever. Complete misery this has turned out to be.