Archive for the ‘Injuries’ tag
The Test Of Love
Giving due respect to the “Steyn” gun, I present my thoughts on the past, present and future of this Test series in “bullet” points –
Nagpur
- Yeah yeah, Steyn was great..blah blah blah..line and length, and oh the pace…yada, yada, yada. Someday, I will appreciate that bowling performance more than I do right now. Ditto for Kallis and Amla. (P.S. In my last post, when I said that it would be great to see a Sehwag/Gambhir vs Morkel/Steyn, I meant I wanted to see a lovely contest where we could go all “ooh..aah..lovely bowling” for the first 20 overs, after which, normal service would resume and we would proceed to the demolition bit. Obviously, Steyn thought otherwise…)
- Mixed feelings regarding India’s injury woes. It could have been different if India wasn’t missing the middle-order mainstays. On the other hand, would it really have been any different, considering how unstoppable Steyn was? (While we are on injuries, I wonder why Harbhajan Singh never gets injured? :-/)
- The law of averages finally caught up with GG and MSD. 1st real failure for GG in approx 11 test matches. And 1st loss for Team India under MSD after 11 matches. That says something, huh! Too bad it had to happen now.
- Selection..uff…the lesser said the better!
Present
- THIS IS NOT DOOMSDAY. It’s ok. We lost. Rather badly, I agree. But it is ok. It doesn’t mean that we are suddenly not worthy of the #1 spot we hold (and hopefully will continue to hold). We lost to a very close #2 ranked team. Who, incidentally, just about managed to draw their “home” series with a team ranked #5. So if anything, this should just reinforce the fact that there is no clear “best” team right now. Just a bunch of very good ones, who will play “pass the parcel” with the coveted top rank based on who plays better when and against who. Until one of them finds the consistency synonymous with the Aussies of yore.
- I hope Laxman and Sreesanth are truly fit and not just hoping to somehow manage through the test. Playing XI – Sehwag, Gambhir, Vijay, Sachin, Laxman/Raina, Badri, Dhoni, Mishra, Bhajji, Zak, Ishant/Sreesanth? Barring any unforeseen injuries?
Kolkata
- The Test Of Love begins on Valentine’s Day. Aren’t you glad that it is going to be at Eden Gardens, a ground we hold great memories of? A ground we love? (Geddit? Test of Love…ground we love??)
- BCCI allegedly wants a dustbowl for Eden Gardens, and I say bring it on! Everyone plays to their strength right? And spin, apparently, is ours. Our batsmen can play it, and our bowlers can bowl it (er…right?).
- There is something about Eden Gardens that does something to Bhajji and makes him capable of taking more than 0 wickets. I checked.
- Just one piece of advice. India will do well to keep in check their fielding lapses. It didn’t matter that much against SL and B’desh, coz they were as awful as us. SA is a different league. (Visions of Saffers flying all over the field…suddenly appearing out of nowhere…)
- India will win this one. And it is going to be better than 2001. Think positive, be optimistic!
