Denzil Fernandes
Daijiworld Media Network
Oval, Aug 22: An Indian fightback which looked possible as the final day’s play began turned out to be a ‘flash in the pan’ promise when the Indian cricket team succumbed after promising to save the fourth and final Test at the Oval against England. England beat Indian by one innings and 8 runs to complete a 4-0 rout and win the series.
Starting with the score reading at 129 for 3 wickets, star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and night watchman Amit Mishra started steadily and went into lunch without being separated with all hopes of saving the match.
As the day progressed one could see the confidence in both the Indian batsmen with the scores moving well. Mishra who was drafted in primarily as a spin bowler was now batting like a seasoned batsman with support coming from Tendulkar at the other end. The two batsmen batted fluently for a partner ship of 144 runs before disaster struck. It looked like the partnership would propser when England’s star bowler Graeme Swann made one spin a wee bit too much and rocked Mishra’s off stump. By that time, Mishra had batted splendidly for a well made 84 runs with 10 fours to the fence with the partnership garnering 144 runs. What followed after Mishra was a disaster of sorts with all remaining wickets falling within a span of 21 runs. Mishra fell with the score at 262 runs and the team folded with all wickets gone at 283 runs. At one stage, Mishra looked like an established batsman in front of his other team mates.
For the first time in the series, one saw Tendulkar batting like a star and all set for his elusive 100th century. But a masterstroke from England skipper Strauss saw pace bowler Tresnan coming in and destroying Tendulkar’s hopes with a doubtful lbw decision which was upheld by Australian umpire Rob Tucker. Tendulkar was crestfallen at 91 runs after such a defiant knock which looked like going past the century mark. With Tendulkar’s exit, all hopes of India saving the match went into thin smoke.
What followed was an exhibition of rank bad batting with players like Raina, Dhoni and Gambhir failing miserably. Indian skipper Dhoni was reckless in his shot selection and fell while driving and giving a catch behind the stumps. Raina grabbed a pair of golden ducks in the Oval test and looked totally confused at the crease to say the least. For that matter, England’s spinning star Graeme Swann was turning the ball viciously and having the last laugh. No wonder, every batsmen fell into his trap and Swann ended with fantastic bowling figures of 6 wickets for the loss of 106 runs only.
It was a pity to listen to former India captain Sourav Ganguly who was commentating to mock at the batting of Indian taile enders who were not expected to score in any case. Ganguly was especially mocking at Sreesanth when he was at the crease and made a mockery of his batting which was uncalled for. For some unknown reason, Ganguly seemed delighted at England’s win probably to prove that he was a better captain than anyone else leading India. Ganguly totally forgot that Sreesanth was in the Indian team as a bowler and not as a batsman.
All said and done, it was a clinical performance by England in the entire series which took them to the top of the Test rankings and brought India into the third position. What was described as a fabulous Test series between England and India turned out to be a pale encounter with the hosts excelling in every department of the game. With top performers like man of the series Stuart Broad, Alistair Cook and Graeme Swann, England looked like a complete team under their skipper Andrew Strauss. Team India were totally outplayed and outclassed in each and every Test and England thoroughly deserved to romp home with an emphatic 4-0 victory in the series.
The Indian cricket administrators should stop taking one legged cricketers on tours abroad. Fully fit and ready to perform cricketers is the need of the hour. Whatever their past reputation, unless you are totally fit and ready there is no point in selecting these players. Best examples are those of Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and others who were not upto the task on hand.
When they get back home, the Indian think tank will have to get to the drawing boards and find ways and means of avoiding such embarrassing results. Winning and losing is part of any game, but the way Team India were demolished was unbelievable. With such a healthy background of proving to be one of the best Test teams, India were blanked out from the series by the sheer brilliance of England’s emerging stars. While there is a huge and promising future for England, Team India looks out of place at the moment unless they take stock of their failures in the Test matches and come back to take the top spot quickly. There is the urgent need to rest the veterans for ever and look at the new breed who should be groomed to take over and serve India for a winning purpose.