Comfortably DUMB

For the second time in my life, I cried while watching a cricket match. The first was during the 96 World Cup. No. Not during India’s shambolic defeat against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. I cried during India’s group match against West Indies. I am a leftie and Lara was the only southpaw performing well the world over(India din’t even have a decent left handed batsman in its line up then xcpt for the ever in n out vinod kambli). So naturally, I was hoping Lara would come good against India(din care much about patriotism back then…).Srinath bowled a peach of a delivery and Lara edged it to the keeper. West Indies were bowled out for 180 odd and India won comfortably. I cried.

I cried again yesterday night. Mind you, I am not a regular cricket watcher these days. I would prefer watching football over cricket. But WC is something special and I was hooked to the tele yesterday right from the first ball that Zaheer sent down to Jayasuriya.

India bowled really well and the fielding was gud enough. But Lankans had an edge over us. Even when Munaf Patel and Agarkar were bamboozling them, they dint flinch and were ready to wait for the bad balls. Compare this with Indian batting: Four dot balls. Ganguly went for a big hit and lost his wicket. One ball down the leg side that almost hit the stumps;Sehwag suddenly lost all his confidence and edged one to the slips couple of deliveries later. The less said about the other batsmen, the better I guess. This ain’t the first time. Even against Bangladesh, the same thing happened. In fact, Zaheer and Munaf Patel batted better against Bangladesh compared to the top order. Atleast now I hope, we wouldn’t be referred to as the strongest batting line-up in the whole world!

Tactically too, Lankans had an edge over us. Asking Sangakkara to keep upfront for Vaas was a brilliant ploy. And the positioning of their fielders was superb. Indian batsman struggled to get the ball past the 30 yard circle. Sachin should have opened and Dravid should have come at number 3. Knowing very well that Murali feared Ganguly, he should probably been sent down the order. Of course, its easy for us fans to suggest things. But where the heck was Greg Chappell and what the f**k was he doing??Booking tickets for the trip bak home??Chappell’s performance has made even Sven Erikson look like a great manager.

During the post-match interview, Dravid said that we din deserve to go the second round. He was spot-on. With a selection chief openly criticizing his selections and a coach whose tactically superior brain churning out one dud after the other(experimentation with the top order, pathan fiasco,etc), what could he do? I think he was ready for such a thing to happen even before the WC began.

India went into the World Cup with High Hopes. Ready to sizzle and bring back the Cup. And what happened? we all became comfortably dumb by witnessing the Great GiG in the sKy(Floyd overdose..I know).Things can’t get worse for Indian Cricket. Watching all those ads during the match only reaffirmed my view on Indian Cricket:the vultures are feasting on the carcass. Or is there still life in it as yet?
[©pictures from cricinfo.com]