What’s it with Eden Gardens? The drama is almost inevitable for the theater not just demands but commands it. Trust me, it's not a retrospective romanticistion. Even as the South Africans were going hammer and tongs, as if they resumed from where they left in Nagpur, the buzz around the ground was unmistakable (that’s with less than half the capacity!). The same buzz which can make or break the home team. You can treat them as the 12th man when you are doing well and a whole gladiatorial crowd waiting for your execution when you are not. There’s no middle ground with the Eden Gardens crowd.
After a real thrashing in the hands of Peterson and Amla in the first 2 sessions, MSD & co came back with a lot more intent. It was Ishant’s short burst which really started it all. Amla not only looked as undismissable as he was in Nagpur but also looked more dangerous for he was scoring them at will and scoring them fast too. It took every ounce of energy from the off-colour Ishant to unsettle the assured Amla with some real good short stuff. Just when he looked to be overdoing the short pitched stuff, Dhoni handed the ball to Zaheer, who completed the job his partner had started – sent Amla packing with a short delivery which he duly edged to Dhoni. And a medley of the crowd, the buzz, the noise, a more penetrative Harbhajan, a moment of brain freeze from the monk and a little brilliance from Laxman on the field gave the most vital breakthrough. Then on…Eden just took over!
On the point that it's not a retrospective romanticisation – I had tweeted Aakash Chopra immediately after the fall of Hashim Amla: “@cricketaakash a tad romantic or is it real? y do I think a b'tng collapse looks more imminent in a stadium buzzin with ppl dan otherwise”. I was very serious when I said this. I really felt a batting collapse was imminent. The atmosphere created that sense. And in less then 10 min, I tweeted him again: “now I am convinced it is real :-)”.
As important as the pitches are, the audience at the stadium also makes it real hard for teams visiting India. But of late, dwindling attendance for tests have worked in visiting teams’ favor – an important challenge (since low turnout is taken for granted) is out of their way even before they step onto the field. Its such an irony that BCCI uses ad slots during a test series enticing people to come to the stadium to watch IPL (which already gets near full houses all the time), when the test itself is being played in a near empty stadium (I mean the Nagpur test). So much for BCCI’s priorities!
And did anyone notice any expression of regret or condolences for the bomb blast in Pune during the match? Not even the token expression of wearing a black arm-band? It’s a shame…
Showing posts with label eden gardens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eden gardens. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Following on......
Wow.... I do not have any other words to describe Hesh's blog. It just started a whole train of thoughts in my mind which left me reminiscing the test match all over again(during office hours after a long vacation, with lots of work to do, he he) but I do not have any single point to add on the match which Hesh hasn't mentioned(May be Dravid's spill of Steve Waugh and the whole " you just dropped the Test match mate" but it actually reinforces the point he made, it was theatrical but it wasn't match fixing!!), so I would actually write about my experience of watching the greatest test match of the decade.
Day 1: Those were the days when I used to sit before TV at 8.30 when the match itself starts at 9am regardless of whether it was one day or test or whether India is batting or not, or India is leading the series or trailing it. Toss won by Steve Waugh and he decides to bat, and a small flicker of fear trickles its way into my mind...the last time India lost the toss at Eden Gardens was against South Africa and they lost that match comprehensively(though there was a gem from Azhar) and that gets reinforced when Slater and Hayden start brightly, with nothing in the pitch and a toothless pace attack(no offence to Khan and Prasad, but they were bad that day) I was having half a mind to go to college in the afternoon, with Hayden looking strong, and even though Slater got out, Langer was giving Hayden excellent company and at tea Aussies were truly on top.
I decided, I would go to my friend's place, as I couldn't watch any more and just as I was about to leave Hayden got out to an ill judged shot, and was caught at the deep. I decided to stay back, partly due to India getting a wicket, and also Mark Waugh was coming in to bat, and for the next 30 minutes it was like watching your lover dancing with somebody else(you can't stop watching her dance and admire it,but it still leaves a bitter taste in your mouth) as he was caressing the ball all over the park.
Probably the only person, who was actually saying India has a chance to get even with the Aussies now, was Ian Chappell who was constantly saying Bhajji was bowling well( I could'nt see any difference because Waugh and Langer were playing him easily) but Zaheer came back to dismiss Langer to have Steve Waugh at the crease and I was praying for a run out(another famous Steve quote- there is always a collapse after a run out), the collapse did happen and how!!!
Mark was beaten by a lowly straighter one from Bhajji with Mongia taking a good catch, and Ponting coming in(he was yet to become Harbhajan's bunny!!!) and also looking determined(later we would come to know that it was terror!!!) I wasnt looking for anything special but post tea sessions of any India-Aus tests, would become very significant, exciting, controversial in the coming years and it all started with this session.
Ponting was trapped in front by a straighter one again, and probably the controversial decision of the match-Gilchrist given out lbw the next ball,from round the wicket, though at first look, the ball did hit the back pad, believe it or not, my mom preparing coffee in the kitchen actually said,"Don't worry, Warne is going to get out and Bhajji is taking the hat-trick". Even before she finished the sentence, Ramesh had taken a blinder("probably his most significant contribution to Indian cricket") and the Aussies were on the ropes. Another moment I remember was Steve Waugh signalling for a helmet immediately after Warne got out, which gave me a small shiver,(Me being a Steve Waugh fan, would know the signs, Aussie on the back foot, only with tail enders for company you would not want him to start concentrating) and he was there till the end of the day with Gillespie.
Day 2: I have had many depressing cricketing days in my life, and this would probably be in the top 5. It was as if everything was going against India-umpires, pitch, luck, fate, and the Aussies sensing it were pounding them with pile drivers right in the centre. But this day, probably had what I believe the "Butterfly effect" moment of the match with umpire S.K.Bansal ruling Gillespie not out to a caught behind appeal that was so obvious that Gillespie was actually looking for the hammer to fall from the umpire!!! The moment the appeal was turned down, I knew that this wasn't gonna be our day, and I had a class to attend to in the morning, and we were going for a movie afterwards, so didnt know anything about the score(those were the Neandarthal days-pre cell phone, pre cricinfo) but we came back later to my friends place, where I was gleefully told the score that India's score was 110/7 and then I was asked a whole series of questions as to what the Indian players would be doing for the rest of the two days, will they tour Calcutta or will come to Chennai and hang in Marina Beach...some unparlimentary comments too which couldnt be typed in here.
One of them went as far to bet that if India took the match to the 4th day, he would do whatever I asked him to do!
Day 3- I didnt watch the match in the morning, because I left early, came to know that India was all out for 171(the first significant number of the match!!) and were following on. To be frank, at that moment, I had no idea about Headingley 81 and the heroics of Ian Botham, so was replaying all the other follow on situations in my mind and how likely India can salvage some pride...
We were in college sitting in class when one of the guys came very downcast saying Sachin was gone, and banged the bench so hard, that made us afraid if the lecturer next room could have heard it.
Then the class erupted in confusion...All because of the question -who is at the crease?
Ans: Laxman and Ganguly
Why did Ganguly promote himself to no.3? was the question doing the rounds when the guy clarified that Laxman had come to the crease at 3 and was playing quite well and that may be he will replace Dravid in the next match for the No.3 position, and how Dravid is going to have tough time to get back into the team.
At the end of the day, when I checked the scores I was a little happy, even though India may lose the match, I still have something to cheer about, I had won the bet!
Day 4: Left early again in the morning without switching on the TV, and absolutely didnt even think about it when around 12.30, while passing a group of guys, I heard that Laxman and Dravid were still at the crease. The first thought in my mind was, now this guy is kidding right? Asked them the score and was told that by lunch India were 376/4(376-the second significant number!!!). I dropped all pretense and rushed straight to my friend's home to watch the reminder of the "Rope-a-Dope"- Aussies unfamiliar with being counterattacked were wilting under the pressure, Waugh was looking grumpy, Mcgrath listless, and Warne as if he had no clue what was going on...and on the other hand, Laxman was painting a masterpiece, but wait a minute who was the other guy batting alongside him? This was probably the first match in which Dravid realised his potential when he stays positive in approach(it would pay rich dividends in the next match when he would play probably in my opinion his best innings!!!) The best example was the way he tackled Warne-while Lax was using his height to get to the pitch of the ball Dravid was dancing down the track when Warne came around the wicket. Laxman going past Gavaskar as the then highest scorer with an inside out cover drive, Dravid pointing his helmet at the press box after his century would forever be etched in my memory. All my thoughts for Day 5 were this- play till lunch and dont give the Aussies time and we should surely draw this match which is a fantastic achievement.
Day 5- One of my friends had some work to be done, and he didnt want to go at it alone,and called me, I couldnt say no, so went with him which took me most part of the morning and I came just after lunch at my friend's place to watch Hayden and Slater playing at the target of 384 runs.I was a little bit disappointed that Laxman couldnt get 300, and was horrified when Prasad dropped a regulation sitter of Slater.Slater isnt a slow poke and if Gilchrist comes at 3 and they stay there for 30 overs anything could happen, only for Slater to get out to Bhajji once again, and by this time we could see that Bhajji takes wickets in clusters and wasnt surprised when he got Langer top edging a sweep to short fine leg.
Raju got into the act with his only wicket(his last wicket in Test cricket!!) of the match, an absolute beauty to get Mark Waugh, and we watched in horror as Dravid dropped Steve Waugh at short leg of Bhajji("You just dropped the test match mate").
At tea, with Hayden and Waugh still batting, the only thought in my mind was, from here India can't lose, 18-0 wouldnt happen, and we have a great chance of levelling in Chennai, and the final frontier still stands(off course I didnt know at the moment that a draw would have given Aus the trophy!). But, the first day post tea session was a cracker, how would this one be?
Well, this one made that look like a benign lake! And the surprise factor was Sachin coming to pick 3 of the 7 wickets to fall! Waugh gone exactly the same way he was dropped, Badani taking the catch, Ponting to a stroke which would have all our friends ROTFL even now, Gilly to a perfect leg break, Warne to a beauty of a googly that even he would never bowl in his career, Hayden again to a similar shot of Gilly's LBW, but then Gillespie and Kasper delayed the impossible, and I saw the final Mcgrath wicket alone at my friend's house and for another 5 minutes was just staring in disbelief at what just happened....
In my opinion this would be the greatest test match of all in my life time and I can't imagine another to follow on its steps. But again...one cant't be sure what will happen while following on isnt it??
P.S- I asked my friend to run up and down the street he lived shouting Indian team is the best 3 times for losing the bet. Fair guy, he did it too!!!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The death and the renaissance
The last decade could not have started on a worse note. The image of Hansie Cronje sitting in the press conference, in which he pleaded guilty of fixing matches in India, haunted me like hell for a long time. We thought that Cricket wouldn’t be the same again. And Cronje was not alone. Azhar was banned for life, Jadeja for 5 years, Salim Malik got a life ban after the Pakistan inquiry and Herschelle Gibbs narrowly escaped, courtesy India’s butter fingers. And accusations were flying here, there and everywhere. They said Akram, Lara, Stewart and who not? Infact SA as an entire team almost came close to tanking a match.
How could we watch another match without a suspicion? Almost every dropped catch from then on had a different connotation, a missed run out raised eye brows, a more curious case was when the batsman played a reckless shot and the fielder dropped the catch – are they both trying to tank it? Standing today it might appear like exaggeration but trust me these fears were true then. How about the past matches? Was the India vs Zim match fixed in the 1999 world cup? And the super six game against Australia in the same world cup? What about the match against Kenya at home that we lost? And that WI vs Kenya match in 1996 WC or the India vs SL semifinal in the same world cup? Hell, even the flip of a coin became a suspicious activity after Prabhakar’ revelation.
Sriram Dayanand wrote a masterful rant on Cricket’s crisis later in the decade with an apt title “Stop pissing in my coffee”. But the match fixing saga felt like someone choked my breath, forget pissing in my coffee. That emotional investment of over a decade seemed to go junk all at once. And since Cricket was such an integral part of my life, it lead to cynicism across other aspects of my life as well. Is there anything sacred in the world at all? Surely innocence is dead or so I thought then.
As we were grappling with the after effects of match fixing scandal in India, the Australian team under Steve Waugh was running roughshod over all comers, threatening to push off even that mighty West Indian team under Clive Lloyd from the pinnacle. Surely Australian public didn’t have a problem anywhere remotely close to their Indian counterpart. If anything they could only think that their players took money to over perform, such was their dominance during that time. And they were scheduled to come to India to conquer what Steve Waugh described as the last frontier.
“We promise to make it 18-0” said Waugh, standing at a 15-0 scoreline – is this cricket or tennis? A subset of that 15-0 scoreline was the 3-0 drubbing, they handed India down under a little over a year before. India after the 3-0 drubbing also lost their next home series 2-0 against the visiting South Africans (the match fixing tour) – the first series loss at home in close to 15 years. Then a scratchy victory against B’ladesh was followed by a 1-0 series victory over Zim at home. The form book of the two teams could not have been more contrasting.
With the match fixing saga still haunting, a struggling Indian team under a relatively new captain and without their greatest match winner to take on a rampaging Australian team was surely not a salivating prospect. But only if you undermine the Sachin effect that is. What if the innocence was dead the world over? Sachin was there for us – no one doubts the god. We knew he can still win us the series almost single-handedly, like he did the last time around in 1998 even without Kumble. So with that hope we switched on the TV sets and all the hope evaporated in no time, with yet another batting collapse, but there was the consolation of a little gem from Sachin though. But 176 against the world champions was way too short. Harbhajan nearly caused an Aussie collapse, well nearly, but Gilchrist took the game away from us with a whirlwind of an innings, which established a comfortable first innings lead for the Aussies.
Was there any more hope left? Hope there surely was, with Dravid and Sachin fighting every inch until for the umpteenth time Sachin got out in a dubious fashion pulling Mark Waugh which ricocheted off Langer’s shoulders at short leg for Ponting to complete a diving catch at mid-wicket. That was that. Unlike the mind games between Ganguly and Waugh before the series, there was only one winner on the field. Ruthless and clinical, the Aussies looked all set to fulfill their captain’s promise of making it 18-0.
By the time the bandwagon moved to Kolkata, we had almost given up hope but for a miracle nothing could save us. The Aussies piled on the runs in the first innings again despite a Harbhajan show with Steve Waugh scoring a hundred. In our turn the openers were back in the pavilion in no time and we looked upto Sachin again but it was not to be. For the first time, I saw Sachin being completely outfoxed by the opponent. Mcgrath had done his homework on Sachin perfectly this time. We could see him consciously shining the ball the moment Sachin came out to the crease. First ball, a sharp inswinger which Sachin just about manages to flick to square leg. Is that the cunning plan? A sharp inswinger to trap Sachin in front while playing his trademark flick? Oh it was and guess what, despite it being so obvious, Mcgrath still succeeded and trapped Sachin right in front. Switch off the TV man, forget Cricket, find something else to indulge, it’s simply not worth it – I was telling myself.
Switch off; I did only to switch it on a few minutes later! Laxman made an entertaining fifty and even the cheap pleasure of enjoying that while we were sliding down rather fast was denied by a bad umpiring decision. And with that we fell 74 runs still adrift of the follow on target. Steve Waugh was licking his lips, the final frontier appears to be a mere formality from here on, marches his bowlers to have one more crack at the Indian batsmen, enforcing the follow on without much of a hesitation. The script didn't change much in the second innings either even though Laxman and Dravid swapped places. Sachin failed in the second innings as well, a fighting partnership between Ganguly and Laxman seemed to delay the inevitable and Ganguly fell soon after as well. At 232 for 4, a guy who’s just been demoted to no.6 after a poor run, joins the guy who’s in the XI on borrowed time. They played out the rest of the day without any more damage. At least we would make them bat again, we thought at the end of the day.
Make them bat again? We did so much so that we could even dismiss them! Laxman and Dravid batted the entire day without giving a semblance of a real chance. That Dravid was overshadowed by Laxman is both sad and appropriate. Sad, because Dravid played out of his skin to prove his worth to the team, after facing a barrage of criticism post the Mumbai test. Appropriate, because for all the greatness of Dravid’s innings, Laxman was playing on a different planet. He didn’t look like getting out and nor he did have a problem in piercing the field as frequently as he wished. We have seen both Sachin and Lara at their best, but on this day, Laxman surpassed both of them. A bowling attack comprising of Mcgrath, Gillespie, Warne and Kasprowicz was made to look pedestrian so much so that Steve Waugh ended up using 9 bowlers in the innings. From the thoughts of making the Aussies bat again at the end of the third day, Laxman gave Ganguly a happy headache of deciding when to declare! Dramatic turnarounds, come from behind victories, back to the wall counter-attacking innings – we have seen them all before. But this day and this test surpassed all that we had seen in the past. The final day provided for the perfect finish to the test match with Harbhajan - with a fair bit of help from Sachin - ran through the Aussie batting line up in a little more than one session, to complete the mother of all come from behind victories.
This test match changed Indian Cricket forever. The match fixing row was a distant nightmare now, we are not a one man army any more, succumbing under pressure was not our cardinal trait and so on. Infact this was the foundation on which our test team was built, which has reached the pinnacle today. But of all its significances, the most important is that this test match buried the ghosts of match fixing completely. When Slater dropped Sachin’s catch in the next match at Chepauk, 'Pressure' was the word that came to mind and not any nexus with a bookie, when Indian batting collapsed once again in the fourth innings after Ramesh’s run-out, we rued our stupidity and lack of nerves and not lack of intent. It became a genuine world all over again or at least this test help successfully create that illusion which has been sustainable since then….
How could we watch another match without a suspicion? Almost every dropped catch from then on had a different connotation, a missed run out raised eye brows, a more curious case was when the batsman played a reckless shot and the fielder dropped the catch – are they both trying to tank it? Standing today it might appear like exaggeration but trust me these fears were true then. How about the past matches? Was the India vs Zim match fixed in the 1999 world cup? And the super six game against Australia in the same world cup? What about the match against Kenya at home that we lost? And that WI vs Kenya match in 1996 WC or the India vs SL semifinal in the same world cup? Hell, even the flip of a coin became a suspicious activity after Prabhakar’ revelation.
Sriram Dayanand wrote a masterful rant on Cricket’s crisis later in the decade with an apt title “Stop pissing in my coffee”. But the match fixing saga felt like someone choked my breath, forget pissing in my coffee. That emotional investment of over a decade seemed to go junk all at once. And since Cricket was such an integral part of my life, it lead to cynicism across other aspects of my life as well. Is there anything sacred in the world at all? Surely innocence is dead or so I thought then.
As we were grappling with the after effects of match fixing scandal in India, the Australian team under Steve Waugh was running roughshod over all comers, threatening to push off even that mighty West Indian team under Clive Lloyd from the pinnacle. Surely Australian public didn’t have a problem anywhere remotely close to their Indian counterpart. If anything they could only think that their players took money to over perform, such was their dominance during that time. And they were scheduled to come to India to conquer what Steve Waugh described as the last frontier.
“We promise to make it 18-0” said Waugh, standing at a 15-0 scoreline – is this cricket or tennis? A subset of that 15-0 scoreline was the 3-0 drubbing, they handed India down under a little over a year before. India after the 3-0 drubbing also lost their next home series 2-0 against the visiting South Africans (the match fixing tour) – the first series loss at home in close to 15 years. Then a scratchy victory against B’ladesh was followed by a 1-0 series victory over Zim at home. The form book of the two teams could not have been more contrasting.
With the match fixing saga still haunting, a struggling Indian team under a relatively new captain and without their greatest match winner to take on a rampaging Australian team was surely not a salivating prospect. But only if you undermine the Sachin effect that is. What if the innocence was dead the world over? Sachin was there for us – no one doubts the god. We knew he can still win us the series almost single-handedly, like he did the last time around in 1998 even without Kumble. So with that hope we switched on the TV sets and all the hope evaporated in no time, with yet another batting collapse, but there was the consolation of a little gem from Sachin though. But 176 against the world champions was way too short. Harbhajan nearly caused an Aussie collapse, well nearly, but Gilchrist took the game away from us with a whirlwind of an innings, which established a comfortable first innings lead for the Aussies.
Was there any more hope left? Hope there surely was, with Dravid and Sachin fighting every inch until for the umpteenth time Sachin got out in a dubious fashion pulling Mark Waugh which ricocheted off Langer’s shoulders at short leg for Ponting to complete a diving catch at mid-wicket. That was that. Unlike the mind games between Ganguly and Waugh before the series, there was only one winner on the field. Ruthless and clinical, the Aussies looked all set to fulfill their captain’s promise of making it 18-0.
By the time the bandwagon moved to Kolkata, we had almost given up hope but for a miracle nothing could save us. The Aussies piled on the runs in the first innings again despite a Harbhajan show with Steve Waugh scoring a hundred. In our turn the openers were back in the pavilion in no time and we looked upto Sachin again but it was not to be. For the first time, I saw Sachin being completely outfoxed by the opponent. Mcgrath had done his homework on Sachin perfectly this time. We could see him consciously shining the ball the moment Sachin came out to the crease. First ball, a sharp inswinger which Sachin just about manages to flick to square leg. Is that the cunning plan? A sharp inswinger to trap Sachin in front while playing his trademark flick? Oh it was and guess what, despite it being so obvious, Mcgrath still succeeded and trapped Sachin right in front. Switch off the TV man, forget Cricket, find something else to indulge, it’s simply not worth it – I was telling myself.
Switch off; I did only to switch it on a few minutes later! Laxman made an entertaining fifty and even the cheap pleasure of enjoying that while we were sliding down rather fast was denied by a bad umpiring decision. And with that we fell 74 runs still adrift of the follow on target. Steve Waugh was licking his lips, the final frontier appears to be a mere formality from here on, marches his bowlers to have one more crack at the Indian batsmen, enforcing the follow on without much of a hesitation. The script didn't change much in the second innings either even though Laxman and Dravid swapped places. Sachin failed in the second innings as well, a fighting partnership between Ganguly and Laxman seemed to delay the inevitable and Ganguly fell soon after as well. At 232 for 4, a guy who’s just been demoted to no.6 after a poor run, joins the guy who’s in the XI on borrowed time. They played out the rest of the day without any more damage. At least we would make them bat again, we thought at the end of the day.
Make them bat again? We did so much so that we could even dismiss them! Laxman and Dravid batted the entire day without giving a semblance of a real chance. That Dravid was overshadowed by Laxman is both sad and appropriate. Sad, because Dravid played out of his skin to prove his worth to the team, after facing a barrage of criticism post the Mumbai test. Appropriate, because for all the greatness of Dravid’s innings, Laxman was playing on a different planet. He didn’t look like getting out and nor he did have a problem in piercing the field as frequently as he wished. We have seen both Sachin and Lara at their best, but on this day, Laxman surpassed both of them. A bowling attack comprising of Mcgrath, Gillespie, Warne and Kasprowicz was made to look pedestrian so much so that Steve Waugh ended up using 9 bowlers in the innings. From the thoughts of making the Aussies bat again at the end of the third day, Laxman gave Ganguly a happy headache of deciding when to declare! Dramatic turnarounds, come from behind victories, back to the wall counter-attacking innings – we have seen them all before. But this day and this test surpassed all that we had seen in the past. The final day provided for the perfect finish to the test match with Harbhajan - with a fair bit of help from Sachin - ran through the Aussie batting line up in a little more than one session, to complete the mother of all come from behind victories.
This test match changed Indian Cricket forever. The match fixing row was a distant nightmare now, we are not a one man army any more, succumbing under pressure was not our cardinal trait and so on. Infact this was the foundation on which our test team was built, which has reached the pinnacle today. But of all its significances, the most important is that this test match buried the ghosts of match fixing completely. When Slater dropped Sachin’s catch in the next match at Chepauk, 'Pressure' was the word that came to mind and not any nexus with a bookie, when Indian batting collapsed once again in the fourth innings after Ramesh’s run-out, we rued our stupidity and lack of nerves and not lack of intent. It became a genuine world all over again or at least this test help successfully create that illusion which has been sustainable since then….
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