The fastest
investigation into a test match loss has concluded and the reason is that
England missed a key member in their crew hard and sore. All those voices
saying KP will get no points. An exorcist was required to travel along since
the hotel rooms where the English stayed were haunted.
Now, if
that statement looks bizarre, train your guns on Stuart Broad for cribbing like
a kid and more importantly not showing grace in defeat. Trent bridge could not
be conquered since “the pitches in India were faster” and at Lord’s since the
result was notwithstanding a green pasture of a pitch, the reason had to be
something paranormal!!!
ECB should probably plan the next fixture at
an indoor stadium with some Ojhas (desi exorcists) roped into the team.
Characteristically,
English batsmen had a chair laid in front of the stumps from where they batted.
Or so did it appear when no spirit of fight was shown at the crease. To even
reach where they did they have to thank the stars and the tail. The English
bowlers were appalling in making use of a grassland of a condition. Anderson
and Broad were made to toil to their last ounce of energy and that probably
explains why they looked far from incisive.
Poor Cook is going through what
Sourav da was going through when his bat stopped talking but not providential
enough to have a parallel to the Great Wall of India at his command. Rewrite
the Indian story with Mohammed Azharuddin at the helm and a certain SRT as his
ever victorious General
The English
think tank will categorically come out with a 100 page report citing reasons
for failure, given their adeptness at that, but the truth is not so veiled.
Trot’s calming presence in the middle, KP’s aggression and the craft of Swann
are the stuff of prayers at the St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The Indians
took the approach of better being safe than sorry which can be seen in the
remarkably improved ability to leave balls outside the off stump. This was so
imperative given the Lord’s slope which can make an out swinger behave like a
leg spin
In India
there is a tradition that when sacred texts are read, at home or at a
gathering, it is concluded by a prayer to Lord Hanuman. So anyone who joins the
party late will believe that the program was on Lord Hanuman.
Wasn’t it
true with the Lord’s test too? We will know the test for Ishant’s career best
figures and for being the first ever (“crack of doom” Amar Singh isn’t going to
come back and depose) Indian to have bounced out an opposition. Ishant would
have finished his bottle of champagne and called his mother to say that 4 of
those 7 were due to her blessings and the English’s inebriated brain and would
have prayed for both to continue. Such was the absurdity in those shot
selections, especially from Prior when in the recent past his bat has been
meeting even a fly from the edges.
What
actually requires a standing ovation is the gem in the ornament century from
Rahane showing the mettle he is made of and equally laudable are the long hours
of vigil by Vijay in both the innings. In the mind of an avid spectator this
innings from Rahane comes second only to Dravid’s 148 at Headingly, 2002. Well,
having said that, it is going to take years of labor and a mountain of focus
for Rahane to reach and stay there.
On such
surfaces the time spent in the middle to blunt the swing and take the shine off
the ball counts more than the flashy fours which was common during the Sehwag
era. Thankfully that era of unpredictability is over.
Pujara was
another unsung champion, occupying the crease and taking the blows but
performing that ever heroic act of holding one end up. His crouched stance is
something that he may want to discuss with the new legendary batting consultant
a.k.a Rahul Dravid. A slightly upright stance is certainly helpful in
countering the movement and extra bounce. This, more so since he is not a very
tall person. This might also explain the reason why Colonel Vengsarkar was so
successful at Lord’s, to the extent that he was called Lord of Lord’s.
Vijay’s
second innings of 95 was so much of a trance and meditation that the Lord (sic)
decided it to be the margin of defeat for the English. It was this focus and
commitment to the cause that was missing between the heads and caps for the
English
All is not
green for the Indians either, as victorious as they may be. The tail wagged way
beyond the expectations. Failure of Kohli and Dhawan are actually under this
carpet if anybody is searching for it
This
positive aberration could well not happen for the next few tests and the onus
of scoring will be back on the top order.
Dhawan should be given a gentle
reminder that there is a certain Abhinav Mukund watching the match, without the
pads, for now. Kohli deserves a longer rope though.
The English
should still stick to the same strategy of preparing a lively pitch but make
their bowlers pitch it up this time. You just cannot allow so many balls to be
left alone which is a big hole on the energy reservoir. Bowling should be done
with a sense of purpose and should appear penetrating. Get in Glen McGrath as
the bowling coach.
If Swann cannot be replaced, so be it. It is of common
knowledge that Ali is in for his batting prowess more than as a specialist
spinner.
This to me
is indecisiveness from the captain and the think tank. England should take
excuse of Ali and plan for an all out pace attack. If this is done and the
“Bell” starts ringing again, we have an engaging duel for the rest of the
series
