It was 2:40AM on Sunday. the match had lasted full 5 days, unlike the previous one which an under-prepared India lost in 4 days.. Here we were the better side for 4 days, but with poor decisions all around the test was in a balance. Symonds' 3 chances in first and a possible 1 more in 2nd added to Ponting's first reprieve and Hussey's close LBW shouts more than offset the 100 runs Sachin scored after being not given on a plumb LBW. But day 5 was when bad umpiring turned to mockery... Dravid & Ganguly were given out to shocking decisions. Dravid, to an ageing umpire's folly and Ganguly to a wily slip fielder and a spineless captains' guile.. But still despite that we were so close to saving the test. It seemed like a stab in the back... it was like justice denied!!
God had let me down... as he does so often in cricket.. (can't complain coz I often let him down too)
I was furious and disgusted.. but it couldn't change the result.
All the drama that has unfolded and still unfolds was unimaginable... but somehow I have always hated the Australian team.. more so since Steve Waugh retired. Their sledging and attitude just ain't worthy of champions and I so heartily support SAs because they've been the only consistent challengers for the top spot (but have fallen apart in last 4-5 yrs and are regrouping now).
Thinking of sledging reminds me of one of the most memorable match I have ever played.
It was in college - the semifinal of the inter class cricket tourney.. a simple 10 over 8 a side tourney. With our penetrating bowling (read Samyak) and balanced batting (all of us were handy bats), we were never really challenged. Facing us was the favourite team- the final yr comps team. Their attitude and confidence was personified by their captain (sorry forgot the name) who used to bowl out people with equal disdain as he used to clobber sixes. Anyway, we had beaten them in a practice match (their team was without their captain) and I had hit successive 6s off their best bowler to finish that match.
Our usual strategy was to chase, but we lost the toss and had to set the target.. To our dismay, we found most of the good bats missing, the ones available were strokeless woods.. We complained with no avail. A B.E. class is always more resourceful than a T.E. :(
We decided to play on and we were 30/4 when I walked in. Soon it was 31/5 as Manohar ran himself out. What I witnessed then was my first real taste of how sledging works. The keeper and close in fielders were chatting every ball even talking till the point ball was delivered. Until then I had only witnessed sledging like "he is going to get out this ball" or "we'll get him now" types. They were tempting me to go for the big shots, ridiculing Sanjay who was at other end for lack of power. I understood the reason for our top order collapse & knew we had to stay. In a way they were constantly reminding me of what I did not have to do.. go for my shots.. Sanjay was more calm and though I was struggling for timing I concentrated and we ran really well. The best part was that Parag, who was their best bowler, when he came to bowl to me did not pitch it short, where he used to be so dangerous with his bounce he used to get because of the practice match experience. Slowly we found that the sledging had lost its incisiveness and they were just trying to break our concentration. Luckily that did not happen and we finished with 58 runs in the alloted overs. In the end in a sensational finish we won the match by 1 run when off the last ball with 2 need an edge was gleefully accepted by our keeper. THis was after some good bats magically appeared in the innings break and their captain was brilliantly caught on the boundary for a fisrt ball duck. I realized how much more important those 15 or so runs were, much more than reckless batting and sensational hits I was famous for in college :) We went on to win the finals. That remains one of the best memories of my college life.
I hope Indian team also rises to the occasion and stages a comeback in the series... Not likely, but am still hopeful.
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