Back in May earlier this year, WC victory fresh in my mind, I decided I wanted to go watch a day or two of the upcoming Ind-Eng series in July. Looked up the respective websites for tix, only to realise I was a little late in my decision, and most days for most of the matches were all sold out already. My only feasible option was Day 4 of the Oval test match. And I thought – that’s not too bad. Day 4 of the final test. Who knows, with a little bit of luck I will probably end up watching India crush England and take the series 4-0..or 2-1..or whatever. You are free to laugh at me now, but admit it. No one, not even you, would have ever imagined India to be in the position it found itself on August 21st.

Cut to Day 4, 4th Test – India trying hard to stay alive in the Test and avoid a washout. Follow on is looming, hopes of watching Dravid and Tendulkar bat together gone too. Unless of course India start following on soon. The only thing to look forward to then is some good batting by Rahul Dravid. Ravi Shastri was loitering outside the stadium talking on his phone a few feet away from where I was standing with my group. He walked past with a “Enjoy the game, guys” comment. Yeah right. I told him as he walked away that the only hope here was a big innings by Dravid. He replied back, saying that if there was one person who looked up to this task in Team India, Dravid was it. And who am I to disagree with the “feelings” of Ravi!

So after watching the commentators as they went into the stadium (Wasim Akram – HOT!!), taking a tour of the ground, watching the players warm up at nets, and hounding a few of them for autographs as they returned to the pavillion (Sachin Tendulkar..woohoo!), I settled into my seat as the play started. The joy of what unfolded on that day then is something that not even the knowledge of imminent defeat could take away from me.

Here I present a few photographs taken that day at the stadium -

(ok, not really how I wanted the pics to be displayed..kindly bear while I try to fix this. For now, just click on the image to enlarge it and see my comments below the image

Update -Hmm, a little better now)

What's Kohli doing here??

He was the most serious about getting his batting right during the sessions, as is evident from the photo. But when I told him we were expecting him to dig in and score a 50 to save his team the blushes, he looked at me like I was a ghost or something!

The loudest applause, the most vocal appreciation of a shot well played, the most respect, for any Indian player, from the English is saved for this man.

Led to the field by their captain.

The Man walking in to save the day. Oh, and Dhoni too.

And we all rush back to our seats..and wait for the day's proceedings to begin..

At this point I realised that my camera’s battery was down to 1 bar out of 3. So I had to shut shop until it was The Moment. And hence, I only have Dravid’s pics here onwards…Also, the camera is now with a friend, as I would be busy cheering and clapping…

And here is where I got my money's worth..

Dravid raises his bat in acknowledgement to the standing ovation..

Yes Rahul, I know you knew the whole time where I was sitting

Rahul Dravid c Cook b Swann 159.

And if this isn’t something that interests you, there is plenty of other stuff to debate on as listed by SP.

Go on and have your say

India lost this match on all counts IMO…bowling, fielding and batting.

First up, bowling. A team at 100/3 at the end of 15 overs should not have been allowed to get to 153 in the first place. Let’s see who gave how many runs in the last 5 overs -

16th over -Ishant – 13 runs
17th over – Jadeja – 8 runs
18th over – Bhajji – 10 runs including 5 wides
19th over – Zak – 12 runs
20th over – Bhajji – 10 runs including 5 wides again!

I had a very bad feeling about those free runs given away as wides, as I am sure did a lot of other people. It helped England cross the psychological 150 run mark and ultimately proved decisive in the narrow margin of victory they got.

Fielding now. Was it just me or did England seem to score 1s and 2s with a lot of ease? Again, there seemed no urgency in India’s fielding. It looked like they were just going through the motions.

The batting. Oh, the batting. Perhaps there was a grand plan in sending Jadeja in at 4. That did not work out all that well. He was looking so lost out there. His mom should give him with lots of milk and almonds to build up his strength ‘coz his shots seemed to go nowhere. He undid all his good bowling effort with that innings. And got a lot of abuse from me in the process. I have never wanted an Indian wicket to fall so badly. By the time Yuvi, and then Pathan came to the crease, perhaps there was just too much to do.

One thing England need to be commended on is their bowling effort. They picked up on Indian batsmen’s weakness with the short ball and exploited it to their full advantage. They were the better team out there today and they won. It is indeed a shame that India did not work on this aspect after their last game.

One thing that kept coming back to me was how everyone seemed to agree that the reason why India won the cup in ’07 was because they were fearless. They were extremely confident in themselves and backed each other up to win from improbable situations. That quality seemed missing in this tournament.

Life as an Indian cricket fan is never easy. For me it is more difficult ‘coz my next favourite are the eternally choking South Africans. Sigh. It’s not looking so good for me….

India have themselves to blame for this. Aweful batting effort. Just aweful! Dhoni’s gem(!) of an innings has already been called. But for some late gutsy hitting by YP, Yuvi and, well, Bhajji, the scorecard would have been a bigger eyesore.

One did get the feeling that 150 would be a competitive score. And when Simmons’ wicket fell, I still thought we had a great chance of winning. But Bravo and Chanderpaul took it away in style! Credit where it is due, I would have enjoyed their batting if they weren’t playing against India. The main problem areas for India remain bowling at death and fielding. If a couple of easy run out chances would not have been missed, WI could have been pushed a little bit more.

Anyhoo, it’s Mission England next. Perhaps they will just fall apart and save us some trouble? They have played their part in this competition by qualifying for the Super8′s. Don’t they need some extra practice for the Ashes or something?

P.S. Was Chanderpaul’s stance, when on strike, a little wierd or have I just not seen him bat for a while?

Onto England. They definitely are a better Test team than an ODI one. They can take back a lot of positives from the performances of Strauss, Collingwood, Flintoff and Swann. They were ahead of India till the end of Day 3 but erred badly when they needed to set India a target. Their batting lost the plot. But Sehwag was the one who actually took the game away from them. 387 should have been good enough. But he had other plans! And he executed them in such a manner that his innings overshadowed every other performance of the match.

Thanks you guys, for winning this game in such incredible style.

Secondly, the BCCI has done it again. It has picked out a venue where the weather could end up playing an important part. The track at Chennai is flat as it is. Losing a few hours to rain would not be ideal, to put it mildly.

On to the cricketing stuff now. India are clear favourites to win the series, weather permitting. The opening pair is looking solid. The middle order looks good. Yuvraj and Rahul have a point to prove and I bet they will come good. Anil will be missed very much but Bhajji, Mishra and Ojha will be quiet a handful for England. And the pace attack has never looked better. The English test team is definitely better than their ODI team, but they still have a lot to sort out before they lay claim to the series.

Ah, who knows! Maybe a couple of fantastic games is what is needed to lift the gloom of the past few days. Now that the game is on, let’s get on with it people!

I expect a couple of close contests, but India should be able to sail through easily with a 5-2 win at the very least. The only way England can win the series is if India mess it up either by being complacent or conversely by trying too hard and over-attacking.