I also hate it when God decides to tease me. Yesterday, I could not get to see the match live, reached home really late, and switched on every damn channel on TV to catch a glimpse of his prolific shot-making but saw none. I caught Dravid’s late blast, Pathan’s wild six, Bhajji’s & Karthik’s mysterious spins, but none of his 🙁 Yes I’m most surprised that TV channels did not decide to concentrate only on him. I’m also glad in a way:-)
From what I hear Sachin played an absolute blinder. I went back reminiscing the Sachin of good old days, the master of spin, the kamikaze kid, the one guy after Sunil Gavaskar who stood upright (despite his little frame) to tall and lanky pace bowlers of the world, the one who said in their face I don’t care what you bowl, I have an answer to everything.
I was most impressed seeing Rahul Dravid at the press conference; more than his batting. What a six, what a shot, he has played it before; remember Taunton, Vs SL, 1999, in that epic partnership with Saurav. It was a similar shot that started the run-riot that followed. Back to the conference, he was confident, aggressive and so sure of himself. Now that he has the reigns for a full series, there is a definite change in his demeanor, maybe we will see his aggressive side too. I did not see the entire match, but of the little I saw, I thought that the Jayasurya dismissal was very well thought out.
Sending Pathan one down was a masterstroke. I just hope that it does not become a regular thing. After a good start worth a risk, but not everytime. This young lad is going to go places.
Karthik, Bhajji and Sreesanth had a good outing and Ajit if you are not going to learn, you surely are going to be in deep trouble sooner than later. This time around your chances of bouncing back could diminish. I hope to see Sehwag back in form, he is having a poor run and it is not helping the team! I also want to see Kaif back, he is not as talented as some in the team but that guy has athleticism, is super in the field and most important of all has loads of grit. I’ll trade that last quality for most.
So as of now we will just sit back and enjoy the moment. You don’t want to get your expectations too high with the Indian team! Remember the ODI series Vs Pak in 2005?