Monday, October 30, 2006

India vs Australia - Live from PCA



It was touted as the biggest match of the tournament - India v Australia and that was happening just 15 km away from my home.
Logic said that it shouldn't be missed but the tickets were sold out within hours of the counter being open. It was a lucky stroke of luck just half hour before the match when Parul informed that she had 4 VIP passes and that we could take them. It was a hectic one hour then - of trying to reach the heavily guarded stadium.
One of my dreams is to watch(Live in a stadium) Sachin make a century. Today was the day when he could thrash Mcgrath on the way to his 100. It was a comfort to see Sachin and Sehwag batting in the stunningly beautiful greens as we found seats and made ourselves more comfortable.
The match - as I saw from there on:

  • Sachin got out - to mcgrath. Some signs of what was to come.


  • There seemed to be no gaps in the field while Australians were bowling.
    Fielders amazingly came running from third man to covers to stop well hit shots. These things are not very evident on TV where the camera generally follows the ball. But seeing Australia Live on the field, I realized why they are such a great side.
    Compared to that, Indians were Pathetic - to say the least


  • When the Aussies ran - it was in a perfect rythym. Their running was something machine like - similar for almost everyone in a certain kind of rhythmic pattern - even the 12th, 13th man - who came in drinks break.
    I cried watching Powar (not in playing 11), Munaf Patel, Sehwag etc run. On TV they look fine but in real, I honestly felt there was a lot lot lot left to be done.


  • Commitment was a big Zero on the part of Indians except for some one like Raina and kaif. 2 incidents I distinctly remember:

    a) Harbhajan Singh on widish long off. Ball hit to covers. Ball rolling away (at not a very fast pace) to the fence. And bhajji strolling away like in a park - no serious attempt to save the boundary. And had he been in the crowd at that point, he would have been killed. Because everyone knew in our stand (towards which the ball came)- that it was very much possible to save that four.

    b) Ball goes between midwicket and mid on. Sehwag chases it from mid on.
    Dinesh Mongia standing on deep mid wicket doesn't move an inch.
    The concept of relay throw was omnipresent while Aussies were fielding.



  • Finally saw it in the real that how woefully pathan is out of form. He was a picture of a misery. Getting carted all around with disdain. No real zeal or enthusiasm or grit visible from his body language.
    Add to it the poor fielding of Munaf Patel. He can be arguably called the poorest fielder around these days. And you don’t bring in Anil Kumble citing poor fielding and old blood. Whereas your new blood can neither run to chase balls, throws under arm from the boundary and can't hold the bat.



  • Finally, I felt ashamed to see the Indians so out of shape when compared to the Aussies. Each one of them was perfect - not an inch of flab seemed to be hanging from their bodies. Then you looked at Sehwags and Powars and you could see why India can't win. Others like dinesh mongia, sreesanth etc seem fit but each and every Aussie looked a class apart.



Based on what I saw yesterday, I am in no doubt that India will NOT win the World Cup. It simply CAN NOT.

12 comments:

Amey said...

All I can say is, Lucky you... and Poor you...

KT said...

ah well...

I sympathise with you.. if u wasted this day in the stadium, me and amit spend the entire day infront of TV ( something that I am used to but Amit is not!!)

parts of your blog were fine... but I didn't find any commitment in Raina too, he wasted 2 slog overs when he cud have handed over the baton to Dhoni....

and guess what when India has no competent (now Pathan is not consistently competent) bowler ppl are blaming Greg and Dravid...

these channels bring in half-baked cricket-gurus who themselves might not have faced any bowls from McGrath and give their opinions as if they have won a 100 matches for India.

Anonymous said...

Tum log match dekhne gaye the issiliye to India haar gaya...

Unknown said...

abe meri foto bhi bhej do yaar...
waise wo mongia wala scene was most frustrating...bilkul bhi nahi hila tha..and wut he did for next ball..hahaha..da was funny...

SiD said...

@rompy: agli ball pe kya hua tha - cant remember!!!

@kt: man...i tell u - during those 2 overs that raina wasted - u can t imagine the frustration of 50000 ppl rising around me...
1 comment heard was: "Raina - tu [zinda] rehna hai ki nahi rehna"

and hai hai'ss were common - for munaf, raina, and steve buknor!!!

@fledge: lucky me.. atleast now i dont have great hopes!!!

Unknown said...

abe agli ball par mongia thoda aur side par khada ho gaya tha....

SiD said...

@rompy: acha acha . haaan.. :):)

Amey said...

Fledge? Why oh why?
Anyways, Indian team needs to get their performance straight, or forget great hopes, we don't have a hope...

Cuckoo said...

Heyy, I was waiting for this post !! Mohali mein match & SiD missing it? Not possible :)

Yes, you are right, it is veryyyy different watching it in the stadium with thousands of ppl around you. :) I have experienced it in Sydney. You can imagine the plight of a few indian spectators who had come there to support their team.
I agree with you. India can not win the World Cup. Competing with professionals like Aussies is no jokes. It is the best team, not without a reason. Their approach to game itself is very different from ours.
I wonder what our australian coach is doing or has he resigned to the fact that nothing can be done now with so many obstructions (politics, players attitude, lack of professionalism etc etc etc)? The way they are playing these days, we should not even think of it now.

SiD said...

@fleiger: fledge - short form of fleiger.. hehehehe...

vaise i never lose hope..specially with the erratic indian team. but i am not garnering big hopes... like before the tournament..

@cuckoo: what a globe trotter you are..ya the current performance is next to nothing.. but before last world cup it was similar scene.. and they pulled together in the WC and reached finals.. but yes.. like the WC finals.. beating Aussies is a different ball game altogether...

Amey said...

Oh no, don't shorten it that way, I am reminded of phlegm :(

Like you said to cuckoo, the team might get back in form in WC, but sometimes low aim is lesser crime than failing ;)

SiD said...

ok.. it will be fleiger only... ;)

low aim is better - totally agree.. same happened in last WC.. so terribly out of form, india reached finals... and everyone was overjoyed... May be Indian team tactics ;)