Victory at Perth!!

Yes...Yes...would you believe it?
We have done it....And could victory have been more sweeter?After the Sydney fiasco when most people had written India off,we have come back strongly to beat Aus in their own backyard,at Perth..



What a game?It had so many ups and downs....When Ind made 330 in the first innings,I felt that they were once again 60-70 runs short,having lost the crucial wickets of Dravid and Laxman just when the first days play was drawing to a close...Then when the Aussie openers came out to bat,Pathan bowled beautifully and swung the new ball,had good control and dismissed both the Aussie openers quickly...At 61-5,Australia were tottering..Is it?hang on...They have this uncanny knack of clawing out of difficult situations....This time ,it was Symonds and Gilchrist who came to the rescue with a wonderful partnership..At one point of time,they were going along at 7 runs per over( I was being reminded of Gilli's century in last year's WC when he bounced back after a series of dismal performances..)..That was a brilliant counter attack ....Just when they were gaining momentum,Kumble struck for his 600th wicket,getting rid of the dangerous Symonds,and when Gilli was out,there was little resistance from the tail as they surrendered quickly to be bowled out for 212...

When India batted for the 2nd time,Sehwag made his intentions clear and he was not going to hang around,though Jaffer was clawing his way out.By the end of the day's play on the 2nd day,Sehwag had quickly raced to 29 of just 35 deliveries and Pathan had been sent in as a night watchman following Jaffer's dismissal.The morning of the 3rd day belonged to Aus...Brett Lee once again stood out ...And India were reduced to a hundred odd..for the loss of 5 wickets...Following that,Laxman and Pathan notched up a good partnership and then Laxman once again in the company of Dhoni and Rp Singh added useful runs towards the end and we managed to set Australia a target of 413....

As the chase began, Pathan bowled well once again with the new ball,getting rid of the openers and by the end of the day's play on day 3,Aus still required a further 348 runs to win with 8 wickets in hand....

Hmmm...So what did you think would happen?Would India win or would Australia once again get the better of us? As it turned out,On the 4th day morning,the Indian bowlers were disciplined,and dint give away too many runs easily...Ishant Sharma bowled a fiery spell and after beating Ponting a couple of times,he finally had his man,when he got one to just straighten a bit and Dravid took an easy catch at first slip....Symonds and Hussey were clearly unlucky to have been given out lbw.In Symonds's case,luck had evened out!Just when India seemed to be gaining the upper hand,Austalia were clawing back .. Meanwhile Clarke remained aggressive at the other end,putting away the loose deliveries and carved out an excellent half century.


At 220 for 5 ( 200 odd runs further required)or so,Sehwag was introduced into the attack.I got the feeling India were trying one option too many and may be there was a sense of frustration creeping in.It was a gamble but it paid off... Sehwag got Gilli bowled round his legs...(that would have made Shane Warne proud...!!) And soon Lee followed,caught at silly point once again of Sehwag,,,And When Dhoni had Clarke stumped for 81,the score board read 253-8.Thats when Clark came to the crease...


Johnson and Clark hit some lusty blows and the score board began to move along at a rapid pace...Oh man,I must admit that when they added 50 runs or so for the 9th wicket,their were a few jitters going around in our Tv room and though Johnson slogged a few deliveries of Kumble,he looked organised and composed...while we started to lose our composure! Meanwhile,I was persuading Harish to go and have his lunch,since I felt that his departure would bring another wicket and I was also telling a few others to remain seated in particular positions only...(Superstitious!!)Finally,when Pathan got Clark ,caught behind...we sensed that victory was just a few moments away....

Eventually, the end came...Rp Singh accounting for Shaun Tait with a well pitched up delivery and as the celebrations began on the field,we were dancing around...hugging each other...shouting and screaming as though we had just conquered the world...!!!could anil Kumble ask for more..?Having got his 600th wicket in test cricket and to have captained the team.Hope we can go on to win the test at Adelaide....Wouldn't that be the icing on the cake??

Sydney Test

The Sydney test will be etched in my memory for a long time, not for good reasons though.Right from the point when Symonds was given not out on thirty ,the Indians were at the receiving end of some poor umpiring decisions.I strongly feel the time has come for Steve Bucknor to hang up his boots and bid adieu to international cricket.Yes,not doubt he has been a great umpire but there is a point in every sportsman's career when he/she starts going downhill,and to me Bucknor is right now at that point...And added to the fact that historically,the Indians have been at the receiving end of some of his most controversial decisions...

How on earth was Symonds given not out,i still cant understand...My grandfather could very well have heard the sound (of bat hitting the ball)if he was a spectator,given that there was a huge gap between bat and body.......Ricky Ponting given out lbw of a clear inside edge...Ok,the umpires i understand are also humans like us,and are prone to errors but what puzzles me the most is the third umpire ruling Symonds not out when there was clear daylight between foot and ground suggesting he wasn back in his crease when the bails were whipped off....Yes,we all say technology should be brought in as much as possible but even with such sophisticated technology in place,if right decisions are not made,we have only ourselves to blame.Added to the fact that on the last day of the test match,Dravid was adjudged out even when he clearly had not nicked the ball.And Ganguly too was another victim of a poor decision.

Talks of racial abuse continued and the conduct of some of the players left a lot to be desired.Between all these there were centuries from Laxman,Hayden,Sachin and Hussey.....Laxman came good once again against the Aussies and Sachin showed that he still has a lot to offer to International Cricket....Hussey and Hayden batted very sensibly on the 4th day when the match was delicately poised and made sure that their team would not lose the match.....also Harbhajan and Hogg did some justice to their batting talents with well composed half centuries....... BrettLee was superb.... RP Singh too bowled with a lot of fire... and Kumble showed us the kind of ''never say die attitude''that has been his trade mark over all these years by playing a captain's knock on the last day...

Unfortunately,the umpiring decisions cost us the match dearly...Having said that some of our batsmen,notably Dravid ,i felt batted very much with a defensive mindset....thereby allowing the Aussies to pile up the pressure and with a line up that includes the likes of Lee,Johnson,Hogg and Clark,they were asking for trouble....

The spirit of sportsmanship suffered the most.The Australians take pride in saying that they play the game"hard and fair"...I would rather not include the 2nd adjective there.