Finally!!!! Team India is back on track, defeating the Proteas 2-1. All the matches were close encounters and worth the time spent. It was a treat to see Sachin bat. Finally he is back in form; he stroked the ball all around the park with panache, thereby silencing his critics. Though he wasn’t able to get to the three figure mark on both occasions but became the first batsman to score 15000 runs in the history of cricket. Even Dravid and Ganguly chipped in and played their part, I must say that the team is strengthened by Ganguly’s inclusion. Youngsters like Karthik, Yuvraj, Zaheer and RP Singh also played their part to perfection. All in all, it was a team effort.
I was highly impressed by the josh and the hunger of the trio who are on the wrong side of their thirties. I mean Ganguly scampering for runs, diving to save his wicket, throwing himself around to prevent runs being stolen off him, Sachin’s two nineties, both different from each other, first one was a much matured innings while the other reinforced his greatness as a player. Dravid also scored well and marshaled his resources very well. I felt as if the seniors knew that the pressure was on them and they had to perform to stay in the side.
Not only on the field but off the field too, the enthusiasm was palpable, Ganguly hugging and lifting Yuvi after his match winning knock of 49 not out in the 2nd match, Dravid jumping in air after India won their 3rd match and clinched the series, Sachin sharing his “man of the series” award with Yuvi and literally dragging him to the podium....
This shows that the boys have been able to reunite themselves and this win would have been a big morale booster for the men in blue. Sachin rightly said “This was a starter; the main course is yet to be served”. I hope that we continue to perform this way and this enthusiasm doesn’t fade away when we encounter the tough times….
5 comments:
Yeah... i too feel that these guys have generated a different kind of a bond among themselves after that WC debacle. The thing that looked best to me was that they expressed their emotions as u rightly said sharing of that Man of the Series award, hugging etc. I hope this unit will go along like this and I seriously wish that the legendary Indian trio get all their cricketing ambitions fulfilled before they decide to leave the game.
Nice post man...
well it might be lookin good to you, but I can't help feeling the senior players' age is starting to show. Ganguly might be scampering for singles but that's scampering from only his standards. Tendulkar seems to have lost the flair he once had, when he could demolish any attack anyday. And don't forget we are still without a coach, which we will need at some point of time, and with the senior players' high ego, I don't know how good the spirit would be with a new coach.
But there were positives, biggest being Yuvraj who is maturing into one hell of a cricketer. He is one player in Indian team with an Aussie like approach to the game. And our fast bowling department is doing good which is also a very good sign. And also Dinesh Karthick seems to have amazing determination, establishing himself as a pure batsman when his daytime job is to be a keeper who can bat.
But still I feel there is a long way to go. And although I am not saying that the seniors should be totally dropped from the team, there should be a slow steady process leading to them being replaced by young blood because we can't expect them to last till the next world cup. And we have to prepare new Tendulkar and Dravid before 2011.
yaar sattu....as u pointed out about the senior players fighting for their place in d side,don't u think could be d case wid us 2 :-).
jokes apart,i congratulate u for ur close observetion of the team's performance.ya... definitely the bonding was to be seen n i think this is due to these players getting out of the shackles of Mr Greg Chappel.Yuvraj was definitely the match winner both times though not in his prime touch.
I also do like Kaarthik's attitude on the field n these days zaheer is sweating his heart out being really aggressive{stop calling him a youngster for God's sake}.
But what i think is don't jump into any conclusions based on jst 1 good series...u never knw wid d indian cricket team.
and for rahul...i think it won't be possible to replace tendulkar.
abe o chopra, wo main nahi tha, patti hoga
main bachpan se kehe chala aa raha hoon, tendulkar is irreplaceable as of now.
Interesting to know.
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