Monday, 8 February 2010
The Lady Fortune has decided enough is enough with the people blaming her for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's amazing story of success and his unbeaten run in Test Cricket. She has even stated so in her Facebook status. So finally MS is "Staring at 'Jaws' of Defeat" for the first time in two years. Why, it will be his first ever test defeat as a Captain! The "Writing was on the Wall"
Dhoni's detractors are already pouncing on him for a potential defeat. They even want him to be replaced with Sehwag as Captain. Ridiculous! I for one would not blame Dhoni or Team India as a whole. After all they haven't lost a Test in 2 years. During this period, they have played Australia at home, New Zealand away, England and Sri Lanka at home and even beaten Bangladesh Tigers in their own den! So what happened at Nagpur? What went wrong? Let us see...
1] Law of Averages: Gautham Gambhir has been playing so well and so consistently for almost 2 years now. He had to fail sometime. And the Lady Fortune has willed it this way! As I am wring this, he has got out for the second time in a single day!
2] Wall-less Fortress: Shahadat and his 'Wall Breaking' effort couldn't save Bangladesh from a 2-0 defeat. But it sure gave South Africa a much vulnerable Indian middle order to bowl at. Why is Dravid so special? Answer: Go back to the Sri Lanka - India first test and we have the answer!
3] 'Very Very Sad' Injury: VVS Laxman's injury he picked up trying to catch a ball he was destined to drop. He dropped everything on that unfortunate day and all he managed to catch were 9 stitches. The No. 5 or 6 batting order when he isn't around look like 8 or 9.
4] Bajji on the Beach: Harbhajan deserves to be on the 'Beach' rather than on a 'Pitch' these days. He needs a break and needs to get his basics right. And to make matters worse, one 'Jumbo' of a performer called Anil Kumble isn't around to create the pressure which got Bhajji many of his wickets!
5] Spin Doctors can't spin: The Limited Choice between two Limited Overs Bowlers in Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra! These guys can get you wickets and score runs against Bangladesh. But against tougher opponents, you need tougher players. Unfortunately our 'Spin Doctors' can't spin and are not the remedy for the underlying malady of an empty cupboard!
6] The Curious case of Ishant Sharma: This applies more or less to most of the 'Fast Bowlers' in India! Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra, S. Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and a host of our 'Fast Bowlers' made their entry with a bang. And then they fail to sustain the momentum. The reasons could be many; injuries, early exposure to name, fame and Stardom and most importantly a serious lack of vision at the top of our Cricket Establishment! More on that some time in future.
7] The One Man Bowling Army: Zaheer Khan has been India's ONLY bowler of International Caliber in Test Cricket since Kumble called it a day. Occasional glimpses of brilliance don't make a Champion Bowler and so we are again a 'One Man Bowling Army'.
8] My Name is Sharma: And pray what is a proven International Failure called Rohit Sharma doing as a replacement to VVS Laxman? Is it the Surname? Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma seem to be absolute 'Blue Eyed Boys' of our Cricket establishment these days! Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Cheteshwar Pujara and a million players with much better technique and records are left behind to accommodate Rohit... He can't HIT and got injured paving way for... Disaster No: 9!
9] The Sri-can't Factor: When we see a certain S. Anirudha getting selected to South Zone team in spite of there being almost a dozen better performers, we know something is rotting there. Papa Srikkanth can't be a 'Good Selector'. His preference to a 'Reservation Candidate' Wridhiman Saha to please the East lobby meant we have a Dinesh Karthik hitting two tons in a match against West Zone and the clueless Saha making an undeserving Test Debut as a 'Sitting Duck'!
10] With all these factors working in favor, South Africa didn't need any more luck. But then 'The God' decides to fail in Nagpur for a change and keep intact his vastly poor record against Proteas intact!
So what next...?
11] Wall Izz Well: Keep your right hand on the heart and pray like Aamir Khan and Co in '3 Idiots'... Wall is Well, Wall is Well :-) Let us all pray for this! By the time we move to Kolkotta, the Wall has to be better and back! Else, it could be the first ever 2-0 Defeat for India on home soil in a long long time!
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