This week saw the resurrection of Test cricket. The 5 day version which is on the verge of being taken over by their wham bam rivals and be pushed into obscurity, had something to cheer about this week.
I was fortunate to watch a few minutes of good cricket on the morn of the 5th Day of the second test….thanks to the time zone I’m in. I was running late for office…but I hung on and told myself that these are moments that are best watched live and ones that do not come often for an Indian cricket fan. Zaheer Khan had bowled 2 wonderful deliveries and one of them to a fellow fast bowler, Bret Lee, and the furniture was rearanged first ball.
What fascinated me the most and inspired this blog was what followed…
In walks Mitchell Johnson the Number 9 Ausy batsman…and the field was set for Zaheer who was on a hat trick. The field placement took me to the early 80’s when as a 10 year old I watched Clive Lyod setting a similar field for Dilip Doshi, the then India No 10 bat with the likes of Garner, Marshall or a Holding running into bowl.
The field was 4 Slips, a gully, a forward shortleg, a short fine leg, short mid on and a short mid off. A field placement that spells absolute dominance…well if you were rooting for the bowling team, it gave u a sadistic pleasure watching the batsmen taking guard to such a field. But unfortunately India never found itself in this situation often and on the day I was watching, India set this field, and mind u it wasn’t against Bangladesh.
Its ages since I have seen India in a position to set such a field to an opposition. The heart swelled with pride and was about to take off when my mind brought me back to ground zero and let me know that the only thing consistent about Indian Cricket was their inconsistency!!!
Friday, October 24, 2008
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1 comment:
Well written Kochu. It was ages since I saw India dominate a test match with such authority. As for the olden days of Clive Loyd & Co setting a close in field....to add insult to injury, we had probably the lousiest tail in history which never lasted more than an hour on any occasion.
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