India lost the fourth test match even before they walked on the field for the toss with their clueless team selection. First of all Praveen Kumar was declared injured not with his hand where he got hit while batting in the third test, but with his ankle! So the choice of the replacement was not Munaf Patel but R. P. Singh. Now RP himself was not expecting a recall in the test side and was on a holiday (apparently) in Miami. He is past his prime and definitely not match fit. The first over he bowled provided ample evidence of that. Then the team persisted with Raina, again an opportunity lost to try out Kohli. In the worst case he would have scored the same number of runs that Raina scored. Finally, there were also some doubts about Sehwag’s fitness. So it seems like either the team does not have faith in the players provided or they are selecting players very randomly without any logic.
Flintoff made a comment about the Indian team when he saw them at the nets before the start of the game. He observed that the team resembled a motley crew with various players wearing different outfits. Now that may seem like a trivial thing, but when you are playing as a team, you need to work as a team in every aspect. These small disciplinary things also show the team’s commitment and unity.
Strauss won the toss and decided to bat and from then on it was one way street. RP Singh very clearly demonstrated in his first over that he was rusty and short on match practice. That helped England to build a good opening partnership before the rains intervened on Day 1. I was in London on Day 1 and it looked pretty dull. At that stage it looked like the weather would play a big part in this test match and we may in fact manage a respectable draw. But that picture changed completely as India leaked runs by the bucket on Day 2 when Pietersen and Bell pulverized the attack. They continued on Day 3 and posted close to 600 runs with the goal of not having to bat the second time.
Indian response, on a pitch where they were expected to do well, was very predictable. Suddenly the ball was moving and jumping and darting. Gambhir not only dropped Pietersen when we were fielding but also had an injury to his head. That forced Rahul Dravid to open the innings yet again on this tour. Sehwag perished after scoring two boundaries, he was lucky to have survived the first ball. In no time Indians were reeling at 5-95. Ravi Sahstri had made an interesting observation about the England game plan. Their batters score heavily and spend a lot of time on the field, that leaves their bowlers with a lot of time to recuperate and attack with venom when they get the cherry in their hands. Dravid played a gem of an innings but he was the lone fighter, he carried his bat through and scored the third century on this tour. He got some support from Amit Mishra, who missed his well deserved 50 in the first innings and an almost century in the second innings. Gambhir came out to bat but he was searching for the ball. He looked out of sorts.
Following on after a collapse in the first innings, India started better in the second innings. Dravid opened yet again and was ruled out by the third umpire. Without any evidence from the hot spot, the umpire chose to overrule the decision of the field umpire. Tendulkar and Mishra, who came as night watchman, made batting look easy and at one stage a draw looked like a possible outcome. The second new ball saw both of them getting out without centuries and from then on we lost 7 wickets for 21 runs. In a way I was happy that Tendulkar did not get his ton of tons in this series, I want him to score that under happier circumstances and not after a 4-0 drubbing.
So a very well earned victory for the English team. They completely outplayed the Indian team which struggled with an injured squad and could never get accustomed to the conditions in England. This tour also exposed the weakness of the batters against moving, swinging and accurate bowling. The recovery from here is going to be a hard grind and some serious questions need to be answered. The BCCI needs to plan for the future and take some bold decisions to build a solid pipeline of talent for the future. It would be a pity if this is seen as just another series and no action is taken.
P.S.: On my way back from London, I bumped into Yuvraj Singh at Mumbai Immigration and spoke to him. We discussed his injury and also the series. He was very dejected to be back.
Flintoff made a comment about the Indian team when he saw them at the nets before the start of the game. He observed that the team resembled a motley crew with various players wearing different outfits. Now that may seem like a trivial thing, but when you are playing as a team, you need to work as a team in every aspect. These small disciplinary things also show the team’s commitment and unity.
Strauss won the toss and decided to bat and from then on it was one way street. RP Singh very clearly demonstrated in his first over that he was rusty and short on match practice. That helped England to build a good opening partnership before the rains intervened on Day 1. I was in London on Day 1 and it looked pretty dull. At that stage it looked like the weather would play a big part in this test match and we may in fact manage a respectable draw. But that picture changed completely as India leaked runs by the bucket on Day 2 when Pietersen and Bell pulverized the attack. They continued on Day 3 and posted close to 600 runs with the goal of not having to bat the second time.
Indian response, on a pitch where they were expected to do well, was very predictable. Suddenly the ball was moving and jumping and darting. Gambhir not only dropped Pietersen when we were fielding but also had an injury to his head. That forced Rahul Dravid to open the innings yet again on this tour. Sehwag perished after scoring two boundaries, he was lucky to have survived the first ball. In no time Indians were reeling at 5-95. Ravi Sahstri had made an interesting observation about the England game plan. Their batters score heavily and spend a lot of time on the field, that leaves their bowlers with a lot of time to recuperate and attack with venom when they get the cherry in their hands. Dravid played a gem of an innings but he was the lone fighter, he carried his bat through and scored the third century on this tour. He got some support from Amit Mishra, who missed his well deserved 50 in the first innings and an almost century in the second innings. Gambhir came out to bat but he was searching for the ball. He looked out of sorts.
Following on after a collapse in the first innings, India started better in the second innings. Dravid opened yet again and was ruled out by the third umpire. Without any evidence from the hot spot, the umpire chose to overrule the decision of the field umpire. Tendulkar and Mishra, who came as night watchman, made batting look easy and at one stage a draw looked like a possible outcome. The second new ball saw both of them getting out without centuries and from then on we lost 7 wickets for 21 runs. In a way I was happy that Tendulkar did not get his ton of tons in this series, I want him to score that under happier circumstances and not after a 4-0 drubbing.
So a very well earned victory for the English team. They completely outplayed the Indian team which struggled with an injured squad and could never get accustomed to the conditions in England. This tour also exposed the weakness of the batters against moving, swinging and accurate bowling. The recovery from here is going to be a hard grind and some serious questions need to be answered. The BCCI needs to plan for the future and take some bold decisions to build a solid pipeline of talent for the future. It would be a pity if this is seen as just another series and no action is taken.
P.S.: On my way back from London, I bumped into Yuvraj Singh at Mumbai Immigration and spoke to him. We discussed his injury and also the series. He was very dejected to be back.
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