da stake casino： Three days of exciting cricket and all of them belonged to India
Krish Srikkanth26-Aug-2002Three days of exciting cricket and all of them belonged to India.What else could one have asked for? It was the rare case of theIndian batting and bowling complementing each other.At 15 for one, things may not have looked bright for thetourists, but Rahul Dravid’s class and Sanjay Bangar’sdetermination saw the pair put on a record second wicket standagainst England in England. This provided the right platform forSachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to change gears and achievethe record score of 628/ 8 declared.Hats off to the team and Ganguly, especially, for sticking to hisdecision to play Bangar and also the two spinners – Anil Kumbleand Harbhajan Singh. For once, the bowlers, Kumble and Harbhajanincluded, also did their job and at the end of the third day, theEnglishmen were reeling at 264/9, facing a follow-on and mostlikely a defeat at the hands of their till then unfancied IndianopponentsI have never before witnessed such solidarity in an Indian team,both on and off the field. Dravid’s second consecutive century ofthe series and Sachin’s special effort – his 30th century whichsaw him go past the Don in the list of century-makers in Tests -could not have come at a more appropriate time. It then is hightime that the critics find something positive to write aboutthese players rather than trying to find faults which seldomexist.Ganguly, the as he is fondly called, tooneeds to be praised whole-heartedly, as he led from the frontshowing calmness and extraordinary concentration to carve out awell-made century.The most incandescent moments of the Sachin-Ganguly partnershipcame when they refused the umpires offer of light to them andproceeded to massacre the English bowling. It rained fours andsixes and 89 runs were scored of eight overs.The contrastingcenturies from the Indian trinity on a pitch which was tipped byobserves, yours truly included, to favour the English bowlers,put the home team on the back foot for the first time in theseries. A rousing display from the Indian bowlers followed andthis has firmly tilted the match in India’s favour with Englandstill trailing by 364 runs with two days to play.Talking about the team, the Indians are gradually making peoplerealise that they can play well in the longer version of the gametoo. It has been a rare case of focused cricket over 21 hoursspread over 9 sessions. This is what Test cricket is all about,winning session after session, thereby throttling the opposition.Ganguly’s men have indeed worked hard and put on a display thatwill rank as probably their best in an away Test in recenttimes. Now it is up to them to continue their good work and crowntheir unstinting efforts with victory. Should India go on to win,it will definitely be one of their most famous wins and breathelife back into what was threatening to turn into a dead series.