Monday, 30 March 2015



Ruthless Australia drowned India in its depth.

 March 26,2015,BITS Auditorium
 Geet Behera

 
 It was just another day.Another eventful day ,as usual in our drab and dreary life.But it was extraordinary for more than a billion people.It was one of the biggest day for them in last 4 years.It was a day ,which assigns some much adored and idolised persons ,the tag of real protagonists or antagonists of the 22 yard strip.Or maybe of the vast swaths of grass ,of the breathtakingly beautiful SCG.There was a battle, worth to be seen by the 42000 odd spectators.Considering the stature of the match- besides being a world cup semifinal ,it was one of the most exciting rivalry in the cricket field of recent times.The promise of unabashed stares and glares ,coupled with some cheeky abuse hurling added the necessary spice to the build up of the match.Also the pre-match  ,in the words of Steve Waugh, 'mental disintegration' ,just provided the match the spark it needed in it's build up.


India had failed to win a single match against their mighty opponent cum host ,in the entire tour ,starting from the Tests ,continued through tri series and then culminated in a warm up match humiliation.Or so we thought ,as no one really foresaw an Indo-Oz clash in the knockouts before finals.But as the tournament unfurled ,it appears increasingly likely ,with New Zealand raking up wins after wins ,and against general expectation ,resigned the more popular co-host to the second spot in the group.And here it was ,another India-Oz match - 8th ,across formats and including the unofficial warm up one also.Statistics were suggesting another win by the dominant team ,especially on their home turf.But they were up against a team ,which was on a roll.



Having won 7 games on trot in the CWC 2015 ,and their supposedly weaker department-the bowling ,firing in unison ,their bowlers having taken all 70 wickets possible in those 7 matches.They were a transformed lot.A lot oozing confidence in plenty ,were being led by a skipper who very well knows what he had to do to defend the title ,which he himself so emphatically earned from the same opponent they were facing now.He keeps talking about the need to focus on the process ,rather than the outcome.He was definitely expecting a complete performance from his guys ,to render all the previous result against them on this tour insignificant.


So ,all in all it was a battle of equals ,equals in terms of the momentum and confidence they have carried through to the semifinal.But after 8 hours ,there was only one team ,which justified their fans' faith on them.Atleast statistically ,there was only one team which played the complete game.And it was the same team which had decimated their opponents time and again this summer.The Mighty Oz.

The toss was a significant factor in this match.Though as much the pitch was batting friendly ,it had good carry and bounce ,and a chase was never really on on it ,especially if you are chasing in excess of 300.And for the batsmen who grow up playing in Indian stadiums ,the challenge of doing so in SCG with much bigger boundaries was not a bright prospect.But Michael Clarke won the first battle-the battle of luck.MSD's bad fortune with tosses is no surprise for the Indian fans.


Shami delivered a testing opening over ,being right on the money with his line and length.But Umesh Yadav ,in the process of loosening up ,provided David Warner the perfect appetite ,he wanted.A meaty push through mid off ,off a half volley and a short of length leg side delivery was met with a short arm pull for maximum ,which was an ominous sign for the Indian bowlers of another Warner spanking.But before that could materialize any further ,with Warner top edging another short arm pull off a not so short delivery down Kohli's throat at covers.Meanwhile in that small passage of play ,Shami was bowling with menace ,beating a struggling Aaron Finch all ends up.And Warner's fall brought on field , the chief tormentor of the Indians in the test series ,Steve Smith who is in the form of his life ,scoring 3 fifties on trot since replacing out of form Shane Watson at the pivotal number 3 position ,extending his remarkable consistancy since the wonderful Ashes comeback.It all started happening ,with punches and counter punches flowing throughout- Warner attacking ,India attacking back with his wicket ,Smith attacking ,and Yadav hitting back with speeds touching 150 Kph.



Indian bowlers were once again showing their ability to crank up the pace ,with Yadav leading the charge ,followed by Shami with a succession of well directed bouncers.Though India were in desperate search of Smith's wicket ,resulting in an extra over for Yadav ,which instead of deterring Smith ,inspired him to take the challenge head on.He unleashed a series of pulls off limp short balls by a jaded Yadav ,preceded by a furious cut through point region in the 10th over ,which set the tone for a long haul for the 2nd wicket partnership.The powerplay brought 56 valuable runs for the hosts ,as this period is being regularly regarded as the time to size up things and preserving wickets for a later assault.

Virat Kohli was brought on for a one off over straight away after the powerplay ended ,ahead of the favoured tactic of bringing spinners on.It could have been a tactic to break Smith's rhythm and  force him to commit a mistake against the dibbly-dobblies of Kohli.Instead Virat duly provided the customary short ball ,which was easily pulled away.From the other end Mohit Sharma was perfectly executing his buisness with a air of calmness ,by bowling tight intermixing the pace of his deliveries.Jadeja provided some jittery moments to Finch but soon a change of ends for him and R.Ashwin bowling in tandem brought the pressure back on the Oz batsmen.Jadeja started chipping through his over nonchalantly ,whereas Ashwin started showing his repertoire of variations and guile.The over excitment of Jadeja cost India their lone review ,despite Dhoni being convinced about it being not out.And in his next over ,Smith broke the shackles with a well manufactured shot to a not so bad delivery.


Mohit was brought back for another tidy spell.And though run rate stayed under the radar ,but they had nine wickets in hand and with 18 overs left ,they took the batting powerplay early.And that opened the floodgates for Smith ,whose fluent innings was effectively neutralized by a struggling ,but fighting Finch.Finch reached his fifty ,while Smith punished Shami and Mohit to reach his hundred off just 89 deliveries.Initial couple of overs brought 30 runs for the Aussie.Though the tactic of bringing Umesh back into attack yielded instantly as he finally provided the breakthrough as he coaxed Smith into top edging a hook straight to square leg fielder.



Though that brought the dangerman Maxy into the crease in a reshuffling of the batting order ,to take advantage of a solid base.Indian seamers started bowling some tired balls and and he duly dispatched them to the on side boundaries.One Pontingesque pull stood out off Yadav.The batting powerplay brought 64 runs ,just at the loss of one wicket.400 was a distinct possibility and anything under 350 would have been an achievement for India.But a strong comeback started from some spirited performance by the Indian bowlers and fielders ,who are, as throughout the tournament were brilliant.It all started in the first over post powerplay with a fresh spell of Ashwin.He first delivered a sharply turning off break to plant doubts in Maxwell's mind and then followed it up with a quicker one ,which was swept away straight down to the lap of deep backward square.It was the longer part of the ground and it resulted out of some really smart field placings.With that, the tide turned in India's favour as Umesh hurried the well set Finch in a pull which went nowhere and settled in the hands of short mid wicket.


Dhoni started rotating all his 5 bowlers to pull Aussie back in the contest ,with skipper Michael Clarke and Shane Watson going into a rebuilding mode.Though Clarke perished in trying to break the shackles with a pull straight to Dhawan at short midwicket off a harmless short ball from Mohit.Watson and Faulkner struggled early on in the face of some very disciplined bowling from the Indians.Both tried to generate some momentum with Watson spoilt the finish of a great Ashwin spell with a sailing six off his last delivery and Faulkner cashing on some tired short pitch bowling from Shami.

But ,the situations continued to oscillate with Umesh hitting the timber with an absolute beauty,an inswinging fuller length which beat the hoick across the line by Faulkner.Meanwhile Jadeja bowled some Malinga inspired slinging yorker to keep Watson quiet.And the mounting pressure resulted in yet another wicket for Mohit off a slower delivery.It looked like the Indians had almost pulled back the Aussie in the game and had a chance to go for the kill and reduce the once humongous looking target into a par one ,considering the extreamly dry nature of the pitch ,which might negotiate the pacers ,and Oz might rue the absence of a genuine spinner.


Though all hard work was undone in the last couple of overs ,with Johnson taking the attack to a tired Shami in the penultimate over ,smashing 3 consecutive fours and then finishing off in style by scoring 15 runs off the last over ,delivered by Mohit.It raised some questions on the captaincy as Umesh was looking as an obvious choice ,as he was the only one who was using the short pitched delivery with vengeance and bowled at a pace ,of which Indian fans only dreamt of earlier ,consistently bowling north of 145 Kph.It propelled their score to a still daunting 328.The first time in the whole tournament ,India couldn't take all 10.


India went to break ,knowing fully well that it's going to be quite a task ,if they have to chase the highest ever total in a world cup semis ,that too on a pitch where ball wouldn't come onto the bat.Still fans had faith on the young ,but consistent batting line up.They had showed the charecter in the whole tournament so far.They had to do it again.


Shikhar and Rohit entered with the usual confidence ,being not too much concerned with the target.
Both had some jitters early on ,with Rohit edging a Mitchell Starc ball , just short of the slip and Dhawan giving a relatively easier chance to Haddin off Josh Hazlewood ,which he couldn't get hold of.Starc was on absolute fire , touching speed in excess pf 150 Kph ,with a stunning average speed of 148.On the other end ,Josh was right on the money with some incisive line and length coupled with a hint of swing.Though the pitch was completely dry and was on the slower side ,it had some extra bounce ,which was well exploited by both of them.

Soon though ,introduction of the other Mitch ,Mitchell Johnson ,which inspired Rohit to break free and he effortlesly hooked a fiery short delivery over the deep square leg fielder.Soon ,Dhawan also got into his groove with a glorious cover drive off James Faulkner,followed by a mighty pulled six in the same over.Dhawan went on a boundary hitting spree and Sharma was perfectly playing the second fiddle.India finished the powerplay with 55 runs on board without losing a wicket.Dhawan continued to torment Faulkner though.But when the innings got going ,Dhawan ,who was till then in a cruise mode ,lost his concentration and carelessly flayed a short and wide one from Hazlewood ,straight into the safe hands of Maxwell ,the only man in the deep in the off side.


Unfortunately for the Indian team ,this dissmisal brought a mini collapse of sorts ,as Virat Kohli's scoring region was blocked in a well prepared plan against him.He repeatedly tried to strike through the field ,but unable to find the gap ,he perished trying a desperate hook in the face of some impeccable bowling by Johnson ,who soon got his act together after straying initially.He rediscovered his mojo and soon started spitting out fire against the new batsmen.Ajinkya Rahane tried to stabilize things with Rohit ,while looking particularly edgy at the start.Rohit though was trying his best to somehow retain some momentum ,which was provided earlier.He started taking some risk and in the process ,pulled another Johnson bouncer imperiously ,sending the ball sailing straight over squarish mid wicket in front of square.Though Johnson delivered a peach of a delivery next ball ,as he bended a short of length one into Rohit ,who was beaten by the pace & swing ,playing on to his stumps.



Suresh Raina came and looked confused about his role as whether to attack or build on.He pulled Faulkner for a confident boundary ,but perished next bowl in an attempt to run a slower one down to third one ,nicking off.He didn't do any justice to those fans ,who were expecting him to shoulder some responsibility on the big occassion.Out came the skipper ,one of the best finishers of the game ,facing a task more daunting than just finishing.On the other hand ,Rahane's lack of fluency against some really attacking bowling and fielding helped in escalating the run rate towards 10.With Clarke having preserved Starc's most of the overs for later and Maxi and Watto running though with economical spells ,Aussie were clearly dominant.Rahane horribly scratched around to score his runs at a run per two balls.Dhoni started taking some risks but rewards were hard to come by.Rahane bludgeoned one over mid off ,off Watson ,but played too many dots ,increasing pressure on Dhoni.


Batting powerplay yielded little for India ,as their run rate remain sub 5 and they lost a wicket for the first time in that period.Rahane tried to fiddle with a wide Starc delivery ,and no one really appealed ,though Smith and Maxi came running from covers forcing Clarke to gamble by using their review.While there was no visible deviation ,they certainly heard a sound ,which got verified by Snicko as a very small spike.Jadeja was in no great form and the quality of bowling was too good for him.Though he cracked Hazlewood for a boundary through point in his final over ,he struggled to get going.Dhoni's drop by the skipper himself denied another wicket to Hazlewood.


Jadeja was then caught short of his crease during a tight single by brilliant Smith.As the required run rate escalated over 15 ,Dhoni started aiming for big hits and absolutely smeared Watson for two biggie over long off boundary ,with an air of a man who wanted to go down aftet giving his all.India needed couple of those each over ,for a miracle to happen.But it was far too much an ask.He got run out without even trying to dive or ground his bat leaving all to probabilities ,symbollic of the state of the match and his submission to it.


And that brought a swift end to the innings ,as tailenders had nothing much to do except accepting the bitter truth -the truth of losing after playing so well ,after showing real domination ,their tormenter of the summer again out-muscled them and dethroning them.Fans of India were left with disappointments and lots of what-ifs.And some questioned the strategy of Dhoni ,after he came out to bat.But people should realize he is no God and miracles can't happen day in day out.And that too against the face of some ruthless brand of cricket played by Australia.

They should respect the man ,who had given them so many reasons to rejoice in the past and who lifted the spirits and transformed the team into churning out flawless win after win to reach semis ,after being largely written off by everyone.He provided the ray of hope to us.And he did his best to preserve that ray ,by first showing skillful captaincy to pull the hosts back after the Smith-Finch assault.And then he batted with the application and temperament ,which other lacked and while he kept loosing partner and momentum ,he played an innings worthy of praises against some ruthless bowling ,if you see that in isolation.Indian team lost ,but he won the respect for his efforts and one knock out defeat certainly don't make this team bad.They played like champions and they deserve some acknowledgement for that.Come on India ,show some heart!!

No comments:

Post a Comment