Dhondy Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 I disagree with anybody who says that they can't find it within themselves to celebrate this result. If you can't celebrate a draw clutched from the jaws of defeat, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Rain is very much a part of the English cricket summer. It affects one or two Tests in every series, and results are achieved despite it. The credit for this draw goes to India, and India alone. It's not as if the rain affected large parts of play. We lost only an hour on the first day, and had three full days of play on days 2,3 and 4. Even today, we had 5 uninterrupted hours of play. England had enough time to wrap it up. Those who are feeling slightly sheepish today, tell us something. Did you feel gutted when India were thwarted by the weather a year ago in the 1st Test at Antigua? West Indies were 298 for 9, chasing 392, when the last wicket pair of Edwards and Collymore held out for 44 balls. Do you remember how much time was lost on day one of that Test match to a downpour? The very next Test at St Lucia, India were again the "victims" of the rain Gods. It rained on days 2 and 3, and day 4 was entirely lost to the deluge. Following on, West Indies limped to 294 for 7 when time ran out, saved in equal measure by their captain's brave 120 as by the weather. Go back a few years. Much sterner opposition. January 1997. India are playing hosts SA at Jo'burg. Set a total of 356 to win, thanks to Dravid's amazing 148 and 81, SA are tottering at 77 for 5 when rain intervenes. Play eventually re-starts, but with 4 overs remaining and SA on the brink of defeat on 228 for 8, Cullinan, courageously playing the lone ranger, finally prevails on the umpires to call off the match for bad light. Three times in recent memory we were robbed by the weather. Three precious Test match wins- all abroad, lost to the elements. If you felt sad then, do us all a favour- rejoice now. You owe it to us and your team. Link to comment
kabira Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 well said.. My naked rain dance worked. Link to comment
DesiChap Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 well said.. My naked rain dance worked. Damn ! No wonder it took so long for the rain to finally come :giggle: Link to comment
kabira Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Let me add to what Dhondy said..England had cloud cover and conditions were favoring seamers. If there were blue skies like yesterday, who knows we would actually have won this game. Link to comment
Predator_05 Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 You also left out the draw at Chennai vs AUS back in October of '04. India needed 200 on the last day, Sehwag had hammered McGrath for 3 boundaries in an over just before stumps were called on day 4 and India were well on course. India deserved to win all those matches, just as England deserved to win today. I don't see why we should rejoice over what was a very average performance against a second string English bowling attack. Let's not attempt to gloss over this team's failures by attaching so much value to the result. As of right now I feel a sense of relief and nothing more. Link to comment
kumble_rocks Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Good Post although I don't see anything to rejoice about. What I fail to understand is why can't we have a reserve day in Test Cricket. It's not a big deal from spectator viewpoint because their is hardly any during weekdays barring Indian crowd and the orgainisers can easily accommodate an extra day for lost play. Link to comment
DesiChap Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Absolutely such a hogwash "Eng desereved to win". They had more than enough time to get the wickets. Dhoni fought it out and the game rightfully ended where it should have. Link to comment
theguyinallblue Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 i am now very positive that we will win the series.....england pretty much played to their potential..while our middle order failed.... we will win one of the two tests definitely...most probably the next one... Link to comment
Dhondy Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 We Indians want to do everything honourably, don't we? Our best batsman gets shafted by the umpire and we point to his colleague's largesse in not giving a borderline one against us in the last over. Our neighbours cheat, dope, pitch dance and get crushed three-nothing despite all their skullduggery. We play honest John, pull out one from the fire and mourn the fact that we didn't commit Sati. The English make a song and dance about how their "second string" bowlers nearly bested us (thanks mainly to the utter and inevitable propensity of their frontliners to break down at the slightest provocation and pull sickies), and we fail to point out that our two pace spearheads had precisely 11 Tests between them going into this one. Man, are we self effacing or what! Link to comment
veer Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 alright.. just for your sake dhondy.. I will enjoy this drawn test.. :D bach gaye sale pommies.. rain nahi aata to.. jeet hamari thi.. :cantstop: Link to comment
Dhondy Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 You also left out the draw at Chennai vs AUS back in October of '04. India needed 200 on the last day, Sehwag had hammered McGrath for 3 boundaries in an over just before stumps were called on day 4 and India were well on course. India deserved to win all those matches, just as England deserved to win today. I don't see why we should rejoice over what was a very average performance against a second string English bowling attack. Let's not attempt to gloss over this team's failures by attaching so much value to the result. As of right now I feel a sense of relief and nothing more. Chennai was by no means a given on the 5th day. I deliberately left that out. And OK, those who don't want to rejoice, please don't. To me, a Test match saved is worth its weight in pure gold. Spares me days, and I do not exaggerate here, days of depression. So allow me to be deliriously happy today, not the least because I kept faith yesterday, if only for the sake of self-preservation, while you lot were losing yours. Link to comment
DesiChap Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Great day for me would have facked up the week for me. :martini_shaken: Link to comment
kumble_rocks Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 We Indians want to do everything honourably, don't we? Our best batsman gets shafted by the umpire and we point to his colleague's largesse in not giving a borderline one against us in the last over. Our neighbours cheat, dope, pitch dance and get crushed three-nothing despite all their skullduggery. We play honest John, pull out one from the fire and mourn the fact that we didn't commit Sati. The English make a song and dance about how their "second string" bowlers nearly bested us (thanks mainly to the utter and inevitable propensity of their frontliners to break down at the slightest provocation and pull sickies), and we fail to point out that our two pace spearheads had precisely 11 Tests between them going into this one. Man, are we self effacing or what! Doc, with our resource , population strength and interest level and also considering the fact that this one of the few sports we play with passion and interest , we should be comprehensively beating teams where cricket may be a fringe sport at best. Yet we fail in our endeavor . Then the question begs , shouldn't we be self effacing ! Link to comment
Dhondy Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 Doc, with our resource , population strength and interest level and also considering the fact that this one of the few sports we play with passion and interest , we should be comprehensively beating teams where cricket may be a fringe sport at best. Yet we fail in our endeavor . Then the question begs , shouldn't we be self effacing ! I am not going into all that philosophy. Let's keep it simple. I am not flagellating myself tonight. I would have if we'd lost. Good enough reason for me to be a happy chappie. Link to comment
Guest BossBhai Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 -- Removed on request of the user -- Link to comment
coffee_rules Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 I am happy..any good news for the Indian team should make it's fans happy. Rest all are pretenders ....:haha: Link to comment
Gambit Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Agree whole heartedly Dhondy! Doc, with our resource , population strength and interest level and also considering the fact that this one of the few sports we play with passion and interest , we should be comprehensively beating teams where cricket may be a fringe sport at best. Yet we fail in our endeavor . Then the question begs , shouldn't we be self effacing ! I really have an aversion to posts like the one above. Same old claptrap everytime we lose or we don't win. It's almost as if we've got 1 billion cricketers to choose from. Link to comment
kabira Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 playing in England at times is lottery..One day there is no cloud cover and atmpsphere is dry..That day is perfect for batting (Day 1 and Day 4), on other days its gloomy, moist and lot of cloud cover, and suddenly its bowler friendly (Day2, 3 and 5). I was hoping for sunny day today and I think we would have seen very tight finish. Link to comment
kumble_rocks Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Agree whole heartedly Dhondy! I really have an aversion to posts like the one above. Same old claptrap everytime we lose or we don't win. It's almost as if we've got 1 billion cricketers to choose from. Dude, I am not saying that we have 1 billion cricketers to choose from , but we certainly have 10 times the resource pool to choose from then countries like SA, England or Australia etc where cricket is not even their main sport and can be described as fringe sports at best. And yet we suck ! Link to comment
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