No place for fainthearts

[Dhondy]

And I am sorry to say, that's what this Indian cricket team is. You could see them getting worried with SA on 76 for 6 and 138 for 7..."Cor, we are actually going to win this...surely not! Something's gonna go wrong". There was no pause for reflection as Kemp and Hall hammered them. It was one tumultous slide towards oblivion. Bhajji ran through and bowled with as little variety as humanly possible, completely forgetting about the doosra. Kumble loked nervous in his last two overs, like somebody expecting his luck to run out any moment. Zaheer changed his action in the final spell and bowled round arm for inexplicable reasons, and completely ignored the slower delivery. Pathan huffed and puffed, looking like a schoolboy who was clearly expecting to be spanked. And he wasn't disapppointed. Agarkar has regained the "loser" persona which had managed to hide away for a few months. When India came out to bat, you could see Sachin thinking, " I am not gonna make this. I am gonna fail again. This is a hopeless task". And sure enough, it was. Kaif's adrenaline rash betrayed a man who felt his normal game wasn't good enough for this level. Kaartick hit a few good shots, and you could clearly see that he couldn't quite believe how well the ball was hitting his bat. And, like night follows the day, he followed up the resolute straight bat shots by backing away against a fairly innocuous delivery and giving catching practice to the slips. Pathan came out and loked like a condemned man. His body language is that of a fellow who knows that his career is practically over. Only Dhoni and Dravid fought, and showed courage. They can sleep well tonight. The rest...well, I am afraid you have been shown up as the wimps that you are.

[yoda]

Re: No place for fainthearts thanks for the summary doc. i didn't watch a single ball being bowled as I wasn't feeling too well last night and boy am I glad I got some much needed sleep instead of being awake to watch this.

[Dhondy]

Re: No place for fainthearts It is not defeat, but the manner of defeat that defines men, and I am afraid, there was a singular lack of courage apart from the honourable exceptions of Dhoni & Dravid. There's not a bowler among that lot who wasn't crapping his pants in the last 10 overs. When Kemp took off his helmet, the sun shone on his face, and I felt like I was looking upon a man, a real man, for the first time in a while. His face shone with pride and self belief. The indians looked pained, a bit like a nervous spinster whose bottom has been pinched on the bus by a leery old man. How many times has Sachin done this to us? I have lost count really. Don't blame Sehwag. He has no nerves, and would have carried on had he survived. The crime is not to fail, but to fear failure to the extent that it paralyses your normal game. If you think you can't visualize how a man at complete peace with himself comes across, then take a look at what Andrew Hall looked like, walking in at 138 for 7. Calm, completely assured, the cheeky grin in place, heart rate firmly under control. From the moment his bat came down in a straight arc to keep out the first ball, you could see that this guy was in complete command of his faculties. That he was going to take the match away from India. Is it something in the Indian psyche that makes us so terrified at the prospect of victory? Defeat is almost a welcome release, a reaffirmation of our mediocrity, a comforting reminder that status quo exists, that the world hasn't changed while our back was turned. Should we be even taking part in sport?

[Gaurav]

Re: No place for fainthearts

Is it something in the Indian psyche that makes us so terrified at the prospect of victory? Defeat is almost a welcome release, a reaffirmation of our mediocrity, a comforting reminder that status quo exists, that the world hasn't changed while our back was turned. Should we be even taking part in sport?

Here I was starting to believe that the new generation is more self assured! Same old with team India :wall:

[Bumper]

Re: No place for fainthearts Its ok Doc, just an ODI loss. But point taken about the manner in which we lost. The test series is what I'll use to judge SRT & to a lesser extent Sehwag (who still has many years left in him). If SRT fails in this series too, am afraid the same qns that was asked of Ganguly must be asked of him. Besides, his legacy is at stake. If he fails this series, his avg vs the Saffies (which is 37 currently) will fall to the late 20s or early 30s. That along with his poor avg vs Pak (39), will be enuff for history to strip him of his status of an alltime great. I hope these fears spur him on to perform. PS: Saw how Dhoni mustered some form, the moment Karthik was in the lineup ? Gotta wonder if these guys need to be threatened everytime to perform

[observer1]

Re: No place for fainthearts Not too sure about how much to read into these two defeats. The first was a fairly predictable evening batting disaster in SA - teams with a better pedigree have been blown apart on a humid Durban evening. Today's match left a more bitter taste - but, it was a freak, once in a lifetime knock by Kemp, albeit with help from the umpire, SRT and perhaps Karthik. Innings like that wont happen regularly, and JK deserved to be on the winning side. Just as Shahid Afridi in Delhi, Cairns in Nairobi, Salim Malik in Calcutta etc. Weds is also a lottery - it will be galling however if India bat first and lose. The true test will be next Sunday. My own thoughts are that the team will be better off in 2007 using Sehwag Gambhir Laxman Tendulkar Dravid Yuvraj Dhoni Pathan (remember he is only 22 before cricitising him) Insert any bowler other than Agarkar, RP Singh, VRV Singh Harbhajan Zaheer It is the 7-4 formula and it has worked in the past

[Anakin]

Re: No place for fainthearts Captaincy and team selection left a lot to be desired as well. I don't know what RD was thinking, but he released the pressure by bringing up tendu to bowl and setting the most defensive field possible. That was the best time to bring back Zak or the other idiots like Pathan or Aggy. And the stupid 5 bowler theory should be discarded as soon as possible, specially when you know the batting isn't clicking for some time and there are too many inexperienced players in the team. As usual not dropping every first catch helps too.

[GoCool]

Re: No place for fainthearts Excellent observations, Dhondy. I did not watch the match, but was reminded of the time when Pakistan came back from a 36 for 6 position to win the test match.

[vroomfondel]

Re: No place for fainthearts not a biggie. our guys have had a perennial problem bowling in the death. We haven't done anything to solve it. btw, how many south african wickets were due to good bowling: Smith? Kallis got a wide half volley, Bosman is shit anyway, Gibbs hit a half volley to Kaif, AB DeV runs it down to dhoni, and then there were 2 runouts. Ok so, we didnt' really bowl that well in the first place. And the south africans actually grew a brain at 77/6. and we couldn't do much.

[gator]

Re: No place for fainthearts it is plain mental fortitude, which we lack.... if we can get rid of the top 6 batters for almost nothing and give tons to the next 2.... it is case of lack of killer instinct... we freeze up due to pressure like 40 yr old virgins... our bowlers couldnt really believe tht they are capable of closing out the team for under 100...

[dhruvdeepak]

Re: No place for fainthearts despite the appalling batting i thought it was all lost in the space of 5 overs when kemp and polly were batting. first, brian jerling, who has screwed us out of a test win in st lucia, gave kemp not out to a clear tickle down the legside. then, dravid let go of (yet another) fairly simple catch off bhajji's doosra to polly at slip. and to make matters worse, sachin, who had taken 2 nice catches at slip, dropped quite an easy one off kemp off his own bowling. i will let go kaarthick's superman attempt to catch kemp later on. if we had taken the catches, or had a bit of luck umpire-wise, we would have bowled them out for a score we would have chased, dhondy's rant about faint-hearted wimps notwithstanding.

[King Tendulkar]

Re: No place for fainthearts Can you guys lay off Sachin he has looked class. Yetserday he hit a pull shot right out of the middle just went to fielder, very unlucky. He was good in first odi as well. kaif and pathan are confirming how cr#p they are.

[Dhondy]

Re: No place for fainthearts

despite the appalling batting i thought it was all lost in the space of 5 overs when kemp and polly were batting. first' date=' brian jerling, who has screwed us out of a test win in st lucia, gave kemp not out to a clear tickle down the legside. then, dravid let go of (yet another) fairly simple catch off bhajji's doosra to polly at slip. and to make matters worse, sachin, who had taken 2 nice catches at slip, dropped quite an easy one off kemp off his own bowling. i will let go kaarthick's superman attempt to catch kemp later on. if we had taken the catches, or had a bit of luck umpire-wise, we would have bowled them out for a score we would have chased, dhondy's rant about faint-hearted wimps notwithstanding.[/quote'] Coulda..woulda...shoulda... We could have, but we didn't, did we, DD? That's how ODI cricket is played- over 100 overs. You get nothing for winning the first 35. And Jerling is just a plain not-outer. He'll not give a batsman out if he is not 100% sure. He afforded the same courtesy to the Indians with a couple of close LBW shouts.

[King]

Re: No place for fainthearts Dhondy, I have to say I'm unable to decide whether your humours writing strike the chord better or these serious writings. Fantastic write up and this should be on our front page not in the forums. Let me take your first couple of posts and put that together as an article on our front page.

[Dhondy]

Re: No place for fainthearts Thanks, Ravi. :-)

[beetle]

Re: No place for fainthearts Good post dhondy.....agree completely....

[Gambit]

Re: No place for fainthearts Dhondy, what about the fainthearts in the first game? Why is Sachin lambasted every single time India as a unit fail? Why is he the scapegoat? When he top scored with 35 in the first game, there wasn't a solitary murmur of him standing amidst the ruins(91 freaking all out). He has top scored in 5 of our last 9 ODIs. But hey, blaming SRT has been in vogue for quite sometime. Why stop doing it?

[Anakin]

Re: No place for fainthearts

Dhondy' date=' what about the fainthearts in the first game? Why is Sachin lambasted every single time India as a unit fail? Why is he the scapegoat? When he top scored with 35 in the first game, there wasn't a solitary murmur of him standing amidst the ruins(91 freaking all out). He has top scored in 5 of our last 9 ODIs. But hey, blaming SRT has been in vogue for quite sometime. Why stop doing it?[/quote'] Because he does not have a "lionheart"

[King Tendulkar]

Re: No place for fainthearts

When India came out to bat, you could see Sachin thinking, " I am not gonna make this. I am gonna fail again. This is a hopeless task". And sure enough, it was.

Rubbish. Sachin was very positive and looked in top nick. He hit one right out of the screws but very unlucky to hit fielder like a bullett. Further Sachin never goes through the mindset you state. He is a winner!

[Anakin]

Re: No place for fainthearts

When India came out to bat, you could see Sachin thinking, " I am not gonna make this. I am gonna fail again. This is a hopeless task". And sure enough, it was.

Pure BS.