Every once a while comes a Test match that makes you feel good about the Indian cricket team.
As a viewer, there is a special pleasure in seeing the tough Australians get knocked over. And I say this with an acknowledging tone, not a slurred one. It is wholesomely fulfilling to see your team beat a team that is 'the' team to beat.
Never before had India beaten another team by 1 wicket in a Test match. A paisa vasool match (and perhaps not for the bookies this time because even they would not have dared bet on the outcome looking at the way it went in the last session).
Sachin paved the way to nullify the Australian total in the first innings. In the second Laxman pulled off one that even the King of stone cold, Steve Waugh, would have been proud of. Zaheer squeezed juice from the ball. However, the man who stands tallest among them and deserves the champagne is Ishant Sharma...who as batsman #10 who may have produced as thrilling a ride back from hell as Quentin Tarantino's hero would in reel life. The score-sheet tells it all.
V.V.S. Laxman, in the past 18 months has become India's second innings backbone, back ache or not. His amazing string of scores in the past 18 months and past 5 series, playing in the 3rd or 4th innings of a Test match is now 73*, 103*, 69*, 69, 51*, 61* and 124*. That is 550 runs with 2 centuries and 5 fifties in 7 innings.
All said and done, Test is the Best, and shall always be.
To quote my favorite cricket writer Peter Roebuck in today's Syndney Morning Herald: "it was a triumph for Test cricket. The thrill-a-minute versions of the game were put in their place by this slow-burning contest. "
All said and done, Test is the Best, and shall always be.
To quote my favorite cricket writer Peter Roebuck in today's Syndney Morning Herald: "it was a triumph for Test cricket. The thrill-a-minute versions of the game were put in their place by this slow-burning contest. "
A passing tidbit. The Indian batting lineup has been extremely productive in the past 2 years. With Sachin Tendulkar at the helm, there are 6 batsmen who have aggregated well into 4 figures.
In the past 700 days of cricket, the Indian super-six of Tendulkar-Sehwag-Gambhir-Laxman-Dravid-Dhoni, have together piled up 9855 runs in 185 innings at a collective average of 60 runs per batsman per innings. This includes 34 centuries and 49 fifties ! We may have quite likely experienced the most productive phase of batsmanship in the history of Indian cricket.
In the past 700 days of cricket, the Indian super-six of Tendulkar-Sehwag-Gambhir-Laxman-Dravid-Dhoni, have together piled up 9855 runs in 185 innings at a collective average of 60 runs per batsman per innings. This includes 34 centuries and 49 fifties ! We may have quite likely experienced the most productive phase of batsmanship in the history of Indian cricket.
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