Half hearted attempt by India !! BG Jerling flop show to continue !!

At the lunch break on the 5th day, it looked like a historic 4th innings chase was possible, with Viru delivering punch after punch. Lara must have had butterflies flying in his stomach, especially after realizing that 2 catches were spilled off Viru; the luncheon Ten sports 'Straight Drive' featured Sanjay Manjrekar, at his conservative best (" couple of wickets can change the match " was his tone) and Ian Chappel, ever the aggressor saying "Dravid should think about the type of batting order, he must plan for the chase". But, all this vanished with the 1st ball after lunch, when Sehwag was out LBW and out walked VVS @ No.3 and down went the possibility of exhilerating chase.
India could have still gone for it around tea (with 7 an over requried) but somehow Dhoni decided to shut shop and it ended in a tame finish.
So, what do we take from this match : Nothing new, I guess :

• India lacks fire power in bowling
• Indian close catching is horrendous
• Other than Sehwag, no Indian batsman can maintain a run a ball tempo
• Dhoni is still a work in process and is way too below the 'superman' he is made out to be.

What is new is that, we have a new umpire in the 'elite panel' who has taken the 'India bashing' to new heights. Jerling negatived about 15-20 clear appeals and gave at the minimum 3 absolute not outs as outs, there by setting a new world record for India bashing. Steve Buckenor, Darryl Hair et al are poor seconds, when you compare the amount of contributions Jerling had done. Here is the worst - JERLING will stand in the next test as well, as neutral umpire !! (ugh !! is there no system of evaluation for umpires? can they not be dropped, after these horror shows?). Dravid must be hoping that this Jerling character falls sick or something. Even a West Indian 3rd umpire as substitute umpire will be more neutral than this Jerling.

New umpire BG Jerling delivers the punch !!

I am always surprised that India with all its money might in cricketing circles is still unable to get umpires who can be fair, when their team plays in tests. India, it seems , always manages to get some raw deal or other. Either it is an outwardly biased umpire (Example :-Tendulkar getting out LBW after getting hit on the helmet) or incompetent ones or sometimes absolutely raw stock like this BG Jerling, who incidentally is making his debut in the ongoing 3rd test against West Indies. I am not sure what is the qualification of this Jerling to officiate in tests, when similar umpires from India are totally ignored by the so called 'elite' panel.
BG Jerling negatived as many as 10 certain LBWs when WI batted and gave an outright free pass to all WI batsmen, who could plonk their foot in front at will. Having said that, all the Indian bowlers were a terrible let down (nothing new, of course) and that includes Bhajji, who somehow managed to get a fifer, inspite of a horredous display.
When India batted, BG Jerling decided to suddenly wake up and go for kicks with LBWs that were obvious not outs to even to TV viewers. The LBWs he handed over to Kaif and Dhoni were for balls that were on their way to 3 stumps away from leg stump. He also said 'not out' to an obvious catch when Srisanth was batting (even Srisanth could not believe his eyes because he had already started walking. Such is the class of umpiring on display these days that it is almost a laughing stock. This Jerling chap will perhps ensure that the past scares of having to face with such esteemed umpires like Steve Buckenor et al are never forgotten and the happy ways of India butchering will continue.

In the end, VVS salvaged his career with a determined 100 and it took some meaty blows from Sardar to come close to the follow on target. Kumble pitched in with a very decent cameo and Lara was forced not to enforce the followon (perhaps due to bowlers who were tired and Collins had an injury scare). I hope Jerling does not get to trigger happy mode, when India bats again on 5th day.

Lara and Rain save West Indies

India let another one slip through but it was also held in check by a brilliant innings from Lara (who decided to live up his call of 'show some character') and rain, which washed off the 4th day's play and withit the Indian hope. Dravid must be wondering about his luck since that 'Away' Test win looks so elusive - another story of so near and yet so far. For comparison, in the last Eng-SL test, England were in a similar position and went to 5th day's lunch w/o loosing a wicket but yet lost the test. Here, 3 WI 2nd innings wickets had fallen by lunch on 5th day and yet, India could not force it. The crucial difference being, there is no Murali in India's arsenel. For winning matches, you need bowlers with tremendous strike rate. Kumble tried his best but again, he is no match to Murali's guile and there was absolutely no fire power at the other end. Close in catching has been India's let down for decades and even safe fielders like Dravid had their share of spills. In the end, it was the same old story. I think, Gavaskar's old quote 'Indians think that their job is well done, if they do 60% of their job' is apt. It is a matter of will and skill and Indian team simply does not have it.

Kaif measures up, for once

I am happy to be wrong about Kaif and he proved a point by playing unlike Kaif innings. For once, he was more fluent (not the strike rate of 70-80, which you will expect for fluent, front line batsman but decent enough by Kaif standards) and more important ran every run, as if his life depended on it. Dravid did his part and notched up his 23rd 100 before falling to rank bad long hop that was directed towards gully, rather than the stumps.
I did not understand on what Dhoni was trying to do after lunch. He batted uncharacteristically and Gayle, who had been dominating India with bat, as well as ball, slipped in over after over for very few runs. Dhoni's failure to accelerate in this phase cost India atleast 50 runs overall.
It was good that India picked up 3 wickets but all said and done, Gayle's wicket is going to be the key and he can save the test for WI even now.

Viru provides a Feast !!

It has been quite a wait and I have been one of the most vocal critics of the Indian Vice captain's form (and his waistline) but man !! what a treat it was. He played an innings, which only he could have played, albeit in a none too threatening pitch (which resembled as if, someone had a bad haircut) and none too threatening attack. Sehwag's glorious counter attack had the potential to break so many records and it looked as if he had plenty of time to achieve it all but in the end, even he had to slow down and his disappointment of not reaching the 100 before lunch was visible. I thoroughly enjoyed Viru putting Bravo in his place with those glorious 6s and 4s but more than anything else, Viru simply disassembled almost every bowler to perfection. His customay, no footwork off side heaves, straight drives, cover drives with great bat speed and leg side drives were such a treat that I will not forget it for a long, long time. Dravid for his part, played a perfect test calibre inning and India ended up with a significant 364/4, inspite of the ever shaky Kaif.
VVS and Yuvi failed against the grain and detractors of both of them will be sharpening their knives but among the 2, I feel that VVS should have grabbed this chance with both hands. He came after a wonderful opening partnership, nice , small ground with little threat by way of movement, swing or bounce and he makes a duck. Come on VVS !! only last week, you talked about how well you are timing the ball and all that and end up with a zero !!
I hope that India will press the pedal (inspite of that eternal pain called Kaif ) and declare with enough time for taking 2-3 wickets of WI before end of day 2.

Another Close one - not in the bag !!

It was a fitting finale but in the end, lack of fire power at both the ends cost India another match, which another team would have won easily. Kumble bowled his heart out but the rest of the Indian bowlers were a let down and in the final analysis, I will also blame Kaif and Dravid for being not forceful while batting in the 2nd inning. I have witnessed so many close matches that never go the India way over the years and I take these in stride like true desi. What else I can say ! simply got to stomach it and move on...Good job Gayle, Mohammed..

"Too little, Too late" feeling inspite of 215 by Jaffer

In my closing comment y'day, I certainly wanted Dravid to stay around till tea on 4th day and he almost did it but with enormous damage to his and India's cause. Dravid had taken about a complete session for every 20 runs he scored and in the end, such stone-walling left hardly anytime for taking 10 WI 2nd innings wickets IMHO. Rahul's self denial (and run denial) is perhaps due to lack of confidence in the rest of the batsmen and also his bowlers (I can understand the concern since they have been leaving him high and dry for match after match).
Jaffer's effort is impressive but he too could have accelerated. I am also not convinced about his ability to pierce well set fields. Over after over, he hit drives off Bradshaw straight to fielders and all this had a telling effect on the crawling scoring rate. In the end, Dhoni restored normalcy with some meaty punches but Kaif was a pain as usual and his inability to score even in ODIs is well documented.
I have a feeling that India can not repeat SL's y'day's act of taking 10 wickets off opposition in the 2nd inning. The crucial difference - India has no Murali or not even close to Murali's wicket taking ability (man !! 53rd 5 wicket haul !!!). Kumble can give it a go but the pitch looks too slow for his style and Gayle and Sarwan are in confident form, when they see Indians. This is heading for a tame finish unless WI committs the usual mistakes of the past.

Disappointments Galore !! Jaffer restores sanity

Every International cricketing team, from Bangladesh to Zimbabwe has done the same thing, when their stock gets real low - invite India to their home and be assured of a back to form scenario. West Indies, who had been in the loosing end for years now and looked beyond redemption till a mere series ago, suddenly looks a good team - thanks to bungling Indians. Otherwise, how could you explain the pathetic performance in batting and bowling in 1st innings. Every batsmen, except Dravid was a let down and every bowler disappointed completely in bowling. Srisanth ofcourse lost it all, VRV never looked ready for International cricket and Munaf was inconsistent. Kumble was tamed partly by the pitch and partly due to enthusiastic hitting from Bravo and the rest fell into place easily for West Indies. But for all this they owe a big thanks to the gift from Pak umpire Rauf, who negated a stright forward LBW for Gayle; that ball was just missing the off and leg but not the middle.
In the 2nd innings, Jaffer has restored some sanity through his patient knock but the 2 wickets that fell were to innocous deliveries and well set Viru and VVS bungled again. Much depends on 'the Wall', whether he can carry on till tea or close of play on day 4..the rest are quite undependable to contribute anything big.