Just when the doubting Thomas’s started writing the obituary of Test cricket, it came back with a bang! 6 different teams, 3 different zones and 3 wonderful results, all in a day’s work. India crushed Sri Lanka in Kanpur, New Zealand beat Pakistan in Dunedin and Australia stream rolled the West Indies in an exciting week of Test cricket. It gets even better, Pakistan got their revenge in Wellington, West Indies put Aussies on the back foot in Adelaide while India reached the top of test cricket for the first time when they beat the hapless Sri Lankans for the second time in a row.
Let me start with Australia. West Indies arrived in Oz with their reputation in tatters, but had managed to get their 1st team players back to the fold. The nostalgia of the 80s was still lingering when the first test began and spectators had hoped for some exciting contest. But the well-oiled machine of Ponting’s men didn’t let the West Indies settle in their grove. After scoring an exciting 480 thanks to 92 by Katich as well as some useful contributions from the entire top order as well as some wonderful batting by Hauritz at the tail, it was hoped that West Indies would put up a good fight. However, apart from some useful top order contribution and a rear guard action by Ramadin, none of the West Indian batsmen could withstand the Aussies bowlers, even Hussey managed to grab a wicket as West Indies were bowled out for 228 and Ponting asked them to follow on. Things only got worse for there for West Indies, as the second innings saw them score 187 thanks largely to the century by debutant Barath, which gave the Aussies victory by an Innings and 65 runs.
The Oz presses were after the blood of West Indies and wanted them to be stripped off their test status. How things have changed in the last 20 years, which has seen the West Indies losing their grip on the top of test cricket and the Aussies are now baying for their blood. But cricket is a great leveller and West Indies came back with a bang in the second test when they scored 451 in their first innings, while dismissing Aussies for 438, the match evenly poised at the end of day 3. Let’s hope that the Aussies media will now stop the negative rant!
New Zealand pulled off one of the most exciting wins in test cricket in Dunedin. The series being played in New Zealand due to security reasons, is for the first time in history of test cricket where the home team is actually the visiting team. Pakistan won the toss and put New Zealand in to bat and Mr Reliable, Vettori came close to a century (99) and Taylor too chipped in with 94 to give New Zealand a decent 429 on board. Pakistan in response scored 332 on the back of some fine batting by the Akmal brothers. In response, the Pakistani bowlers ripped through the Blacks Caps line up to restrict them to 153 runs. However, Bond on his comeback trail had other ideas restricted the Pakistanis to 218 to give New Zealand an exciting victory by 32 runs in Dunedin.
The second test in Wellington saw the comeback of Tuffey as Bond was once again side-lined with another injury. Tuffey did it in style with a 4 wicket haul along with Vettori (4 wickets) to restrict Pakistan to 264. But the Pakistani bowlers had other ideas when they mauled the Black caps for a meagre 99. The Pakistani’s could only manage 239 in their second test, but chasing 405 was always going to be a talk task for the fragile Black caps. Mohammed Asif, has taken 17 wickets in the 2 tests so far, took a fiver in the second innings and gave Pakistan a series levelling victory by 141 runs, when Black caps would manage only 263 in their second outing! 1-1 as the tour progresses to Napier for the 3rd and final test.
Finally to the news of the week, as India fulfils its potential in Test cricket. The Sri Lankan tour was going to be a test for Indians as Sri Lanka had some potentially explosive batsmen in the form of Dilshan, Sangakkara, Jayawardene and mercurial bowlers in form of Murali and Herath. But the bowling was also the weakest link the Sri Lankan armour!
The first test in Baroda saw a run feast as India scored 426 runs in the first innings thanks to centuries by Rahul “the wall” Dravid and captain MS Dhoni. Sri Lanka’s reply was even more emphatic as they piled on 760 which included a double hundred by Mahela Jayawardene, and centuries by Prasanna Jayawardene & man in form Dilshan. Sri Lanka were looking for their first victory in India and thought that they could get it in Baroda, but Gambhir and Tendulkar had other ideas as they both scored centuries to save any blushes for India as the match petered out to a tame draw.
The second test saw the Indian top order deliver in style as Gambhir, Shewag and Dravid all scored tons to give India a mammoth 642 on the board. Sreesanth, making a comeback bowled with venom to take a fiver and restrict Sri Lanka to 229. Following on, Sri Lanka were fighting to survive in the match, but could only manage 269 in their second outing, handing India a victory by innings and 144 runs, India’s 100th test victory. It took India 432 matches to reach this milestone, the longest by any test playing nation who have managed that, but an important one for India.
The series moved to the mecca of cricket in India, Mumbai and the home ground of Indian cricket, the Brabourne stadium. This was the first match of any significance after the incidents of 26/11 last year (the one day with Australia was washed out earlier in November) being played in Mumbai. India had a chance to go to the top of test rankings if they beat Sri Lanka 2-0.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat, given that Mumbai pitch played true for the first 2-3 days and crumbled on the final day. Murali who had been in-effective so far in the series, was looking at some salvation. However, Dilshan the man in form once again proved his worth when he scored his second century of the series to pile up 393 for Sri Lanka in the first innings. Normally, any team would be happy with that score, but this is the new India and a confident batting line up. Murali Vijay had replaced the in form Gambhir at the top, who took a leave for attending his sisters wedding. Sri Lanka were looking at the opportunity to put India on the mat, but the Sehwag had other ideas as he humiliated the Sri Lankan bowlers into submission with an amazing knock of 264 on Day 2, where India not only wiped off the 1st innings lead of 393 but scored more than 430 runs in a day in the process. The second match running when they have achieved that. Sehwag could not reach his 300 run mark the next day but once again the top order delivered for India as Dhoni piled up his second century of the series when India declared on 726. Sangakkara played a fighting knock in the second innings for Sri Lanka when he scored 137, but the deficit of 333 runs proved too much in the end as Sri Lanka folded for 309 in the second innings to hand India another innings victory and a 2-0 overall trashing in the series. This catapulted India to the #1 position in the ICC Test rankings. They overtook Sri Lanka and South Africa!
It has been a real team effort for Team India, where every individual has contributed with either Bat or Ball. For once, we are coming together as a team and are living upto our potential! Hope this is the start of better things. We will be truly called a great cricketing nation when we display the consistency of the Australians (and beat them in their own backyard) and are not seen as a flash in the pan! Go TEAM INDIA!