A most special Draw

Congratulations Rahul Dravid and to the rest of the team and the country. What a fine team performance to break a 21 year old drought! Kudos to Karthik, Kumble, Dravid, Saurav, Zaheer, Sachin, Dhoni, R P Singh, Jaffer and just about everybody else. Don't even bother to think about the could have been 2-0 barrage of nonsense. While I myself never supported Dravid's move to not enforce the follow-on, but if Dravid had even an iota of doubt and just wanted to seal the series, I am all with him. When you have seen your country being battered overseas for ages, a series win is special. Losing hurts, looking at past history, even a draw is great, but a series win - that's special, something to be savoured, not to be dissected - at least not for now.

Andrew Miller at Cricinfo has summed up my emotions and that of the team beautifully, when he writes:

"India's fans may not appreciate it right now, as they quibble about the reasons behind Rahul Dravid's safety-first approach, but this draw will one day be looked upon with similar fondness."

Miller also points out what even Dravid's rival captain agreed to:

If I'd have been in his position I'd have done exactly the same," said Michael Vaughan. "They were 1-0 up and they want to make sure they win the series."

And we did win the series, didn't we? So cheers and thank you Team India for this most wonderful 60th birthday gift to the nation.

Enforce the Follow On

My first instinctive reaction to India's decision to not enforce the follow-on was Geoffrey Boycott's 'rubbish'. A lead of 319 runs, but with just under 6 sessions left in the test, on a wicket which still favours the bat over the ball, I don't understand the no follow-on strategy much. Let's look at the various option possible situations.

Scenario 1: Objective Win

India plays about 2 more sessions, declares half an hour after tea and bat at about 4.5 an over and get 270 runs. England needs an impossible 589 runs to win but India needs to get 10 England wickets in about a 110 overs, on a wicket which is unlikely to favour the ball much, even on the 5th day of the test.

Scenario 2: Objective Draw

India play on till close of play, may be even a bit tomorrow morning, play the way tests are played and match peter outs into a dull boring draw.

Scenario 3: Objective Win

Dravid is seriously looking at a 2-0 verdict. India bats for about 40 more overs, at an average of 5, one-day style, and give England a still-realistic chase of about 500. India too have over 6 sessions to bowl out England.

Now, let's add one more scenario, now a hypothetical one:

Scenario 4: If India had enforced the follow-on

Scenario 4.1

England bat solidly, losing just 3 wickets on the 4th day and reaching a healthy 250 or so.

Scenario 4.2

England bat like they did in the 1st innings, are at 250 or so for 5 or 6, at close of play on Day 4.

Out of the 5 scenarios we just discussed, where would be the highest probability of a win? I guess in Scenario 4.2, we are best off. Realistically England can go on to score about 350-400, leaving us to chase a smallish 50 - 70. Even if we look at Scenario 4.1, realistically England can go on to score about 500, still leaving us with a chance of getting the 200 odd in some 30 overs or so. Worst case, it would be a draw.

On the other hand, the follow-on has opened up a lost English cause - a chance to level the series. If we go defensive like in the first 2 scenarios, we lose the chance of winning. If we go aggressive, we allow England a chance to come back, however faint the chances may be. And there is the other possibility, the one which is happening as I write this: what if we don't bat well, and get out too soon? Unlikely, but not impossible na. And there was that other possibility, which can't happen now - England might have folded in meekly. Unlikely, but not impossible na - afterall, India are 10/2 already!

Chak De India

Kumble scored a century, every single Indian batsman made it to the double digits, Matt Prior gave away more byes than any wicket-keeper has in the last 30 years, Dhoni fired big and India piled up a mammoth 664 at the Oval. What's more, England have lost one of their openers already and things don't look too good for the home side. India have all but won the series. Can they emulate 1986 and make it 2-0?
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King Khan is in London for the promo of his soon-t0-be released "Chak De India". I captured this video of my telly: Gautam Bhimani got hold of SRK and Sunny somewhere in London, and hear the two masters as they form a mutual admiration club.

Download your Monty Mask

I'm not sure myself if a craze to wear masks of your favourite cricket stars is sweeping the globe, but BBC thinks so, and if one is a cricket fan you can't ignore the BBC, can you? Anyways, it sounds interesting. So here's the link to download the mask of England's most popular cricketer.

Click here to look like Monty Panesar

And if you agree with the BBC about the world-wide craze for sports masks, do check out this BBC story which also has the links to downloads for Flintoff, Lara, Murali, Pietersen, Tendulkar, Vaughan, Hoggard, Warne and Akhtar.

Is that an unofficial list of the English cricket fan's favourite cricketers?

400 aint enough at the Oval

It’s 2:40 in the afternoon in London and the players are back in the dressing room for tea on the first day of the 3rd Test at the Oval. Michael Vaughan must surely be enjoying his tea unlike the lunch which was taken with India at 113/1, both Karthik and Dravid looking good and solid. In a space of 10 runs, half an hour before tea, the game changed. Both the batters unbeaten at tea, one nearing his century and the other having just completed his half-century, were dismissed leaving two new batsmen at the crease. India are still at a very healthy 211/3, but Oval is unlike many other grounds in the world.

As recently as 2003, South Africa lost the test after piling up a mammoth 484 in the first innings, batting first. On 25 occasions have teams batting first scored 400 or more in their first innings and yet lost the match on as many as 7 occasions. The last 5 times a team scored 400+ in the first innings of the match, twice the match was lost. So even if India reaches 400, it’s not a guarantee of security and coupled with India’s habit of frittering away their 1-0 leads in test series abroad, things don’t look the brightest. Yet, Sachin Tendulkar is still at the crease and so is Saurav Ganguly and if they bat like they did in the last test at Trent Bridge, Michael Vaughan’s blemishless record in 11 series at home may be under some serious threat.

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The Kennington Oval Trivia:

Trivia 1: Did you know that the stadium’s tapered crescent shaped Vauxhall stand end was so designed to amplify the crowd noise within the stadium!

Trivia 2: The first cricket test on English soil was played at the Oval. (September 1880)

Cricinfo describes the Oval as the world's most important general sport venue in the world.