Why Mahi’s men have a long way to go…
When this all-conquering Indian team won the Test series 1-0 after the third and final Test in Dominica on Sunday night, I was more sad than happy. Agreed, a Test series in West Indies was won but, not how it was supposed to have. A top-ranked Test team like ours was expected to win and we did just that. However, there are a few questions which were left unanswered.
For starters, was there a plan in place on the final day to go for the kill and seal the series 2-0? Going by how the day began, there did seem to have had one but somehow it back-fired when Fidel Edwards and Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a patient knock to break the Indian team dreams. While Chanderpaul did what he does best, blocking one end to milk the Indian attack and Edwards pitched a tent in the middle to deny the visitors what seemed inevitable a few overs back. The Test was dying a slow death by the time India came down to chase 180 from the last 47 overs of the series. And India lost the battle in the first over of the final innings itself.
They saw Abhinav Mukund play across the line to Edwards, only to see the umpire’s dreaded finger rise. Excuse me; it was not Virender Sehwag who walked back to the pavilion, but Mukund, who is still to cement a permanent spot in the team. In Rahul Dravid, the visitors had one man who would hold fort at one end and Murali Vijay could have gone on to essay his shots. The two went on to accrue 73 more in the next 23 overs but suddenly in a short span of time, both Vijay and the new man Suresh Raina fall and the No.1 ranked side literally shut shop.
With Rahul at the crease and VVS Laxman, Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Harbhajan Singh still in the bank, the Indians could have still looted the cash and ran away, but were instead caught in cross-roads. Whether to chase or play it safe. Not surprisingly, Dhoni chose the latter option.
I have always been a big fan of Dhoni ever since he lifted the World T20 Trophy in 2007 as he has the uncanny knack of surprising the opposition and fans. With 86 needed off the last 90 deliveries, Dhoni surprised me yet again by not going for it. A fifth day wicket is not always easy one to mint runs but never did I doubt the ability of this Indian team that has won Tests in New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and against good oppositions over a decent period of time. An Indian defeat was a far-fetched thought. To even imagine that seven wickets would have fallen like a pack of cards is heinous but to bring the shutter down is sacrilege.
It was atrocious to see an Indian line-up that chose to take shelter in the dressing room than going out there and make a match out of it in fading daylight. Great Test teams in the past—be it Australia or West Indies, have turned the tables in an act that would border on being arrogant, but, it has fetched them victories. Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist’s spell-binding show at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart where they added 238 runs for the sixth wicket to give Australia an unlikely win over Pakistan in 1999.
While statistically, this Indian team may be sitting atop the rankings in Tests, but attitude-wise, there is a long way to go before M.S. Dhoni’s men can ‘even claim’ themselves as the true top stars of the game.
