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The Delhi Debacle, Sweep-o-mania and Bhajji's
Coming at Last... |
Mar 28, 2006 (From the
Cricket Journal)
Delhi played host to what seemed like a
contest between England's momentum and India's
recent one-day international form. It seemed
like a keen contest from the time England won
the toss and inserted India in, but little did
they know that their purpose would go unrewarded
as their batsmen fell like nine pins in a
bowling alley. Here are some snippets from the
1st ODI that are worth a mention...
The Delhi Debacle!
It all seemed done and dusted when England were
riding themselves high at 116/3. As the game was
heading towards a particularly known direction
i.e. an England win, I decided to swap channels
and check out a rather intriguing contest of
ball and bat between Pakistan and Sri Lanka !
Five minutes and two overs later, the England
score read 117/5. The match had already turned
on its head, quite literally - with Kevin
Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff falling in
succession. Then it was Jones, then Blackwell,
then Collingwood, Ali and lastly Plunkett. It
was only a spell of imagination that stung
England and quite badly so. The collapse might
just prove a bit costly and will remain as a
scar had to erase in the coming few matches. And
it was the second consecutive time that England
failed to chase a low-score against India. The
previous occasion was at the Oval back in 2004
(NatWest Challenge), when while chasing a
similar score the English team faltered badly.
So, at one end of the globe we see bullions of
runs being chased successfully and at the other,
scores around 200 is becoming a major mess to
contend with. Long live the man who hailed
cricket as the "game of uncertainties" !
Sweep-o-mania
The strong fetish of sweeping just can't get off
the system of the visiting teams against India.
For them, somehow it turns into a success
recipe, for reasons only they'd know best I
guess. Today, the shot got rid of at least 4
English men (Flintoff, Jones, Blackwell and
Prior) and a more decent way of smothering the
spin needs to be looked at. It seemed like a
computer game whereby the bowler exactly knows
what the batsman is going to do next and pitches
the ball in areas, where at best the strength
could also hail his downfall. This obsession of
the batters has to change quickly, whereby the
risk element is reduced and they play free
cricket. Dean Jones in his commentary stints has
stressed on the importance of finding targets (a
term used for boundary-riders in Australia) and
has always maintained that it could be achieved
by playing simple risk-free cricket. For now, it
looks as though another bug has creeped into the
English system. The earlier they get rid of it,
the better and secure they might seem. That does
not quite mean taking the shot completely out of
the game, but using it selectively according to
the situation ! As spin-friendly tracks await
the Englishmen, it would be interesting to see
how much of sleep they would be losing over the
s-w-e-e-p !!
Bhajji's coming at last !
 India's
confidence man is back at last ! One could
almost sense the fact that Harbhajan Singh was
just a spell or so away from being back to his
best ! He bowled with a lot of intensity and
guile in the Third Test at Mumbai, but sometimes
wickets do not play justice to the fact that the
numbers in the confidence meter were just
rising. And today, it reached its optimum best !
Of course an early wicket played its part in
easing his nerves and the tough times had ended
for good ! The entire make-up of the man looked
so different. His approach to the wicket was
smoother than recent times, the ball was leaving
out of his hands much better and the overall
outlook at its best. It should not be so
ironical that England have been at the receiving
end of Harbhajan (his first 5-for came against
the Poms at Mumbai on 3rd Feb 2002). But, this
one would be worth remembering for both Bhajji
and his fans, as he won the game single-handedly
with both bat and ball. Having seen him bowl
today, one can certainly see brighter days ahead
of him ! As far as England are concerned - "Bhajji
has hit the dance floor, finally".
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