Cricket and Hockey: A Mixed Sunday For India!

India fielded a full-strength team today against Australia in its do or die match in Sydney. But, when you concentrate on rotation-experimentation instead of trying to win matches, when your ego-play gets prominence over cricket and when you mess up things unnecessarily even God does not help you when you finally wake up to reality. Team India exemplified that fully today in the tenth match of the CB Series one-day cricket played in Australia.

They wanted Zaheer Khan desperately today, but he was declared unfit. When he was fit you did not consider taking him! Even then, the Indian bowlers did a decent job getting Aus restricted to 252/9 in allotted fifty overs—a total that was very gettable. This time captain handed over the ball too to the vice captain Sehwag who obliged him with three wickets bowling the last over of the Aussie innings too. For the first time the Indian captain placed his full faith in the big three of top order. But it came too late.

Sehwag failed again with the bat getting out to the Demolition Man Hilfenhaus. Tendulkars’s run-out was the most tragic incident of the match. After that failure after failure including both seniors and youngsters with bowler Ashwin getting the highest individual score of 26! God thought you just did not deserve to go any further in the tournament.

And yes! India is out of the CB Series except for an improbable technicality of winning their last match against Sri Lanka with a bonus point and hoping that Aus beat SL in the last league match of the tournament.

Team India must learn its bitter lessons from this devastating Australian tour. It’s now or never for them if they really mean to improve their performance overseas.

Meantime great news from Indian hockey—the national sports of India! Indian Hockey Team qualified for playing in the London Olympics thumping France 8-1 in the Olympic Qualifier final today evening in New Delhi. Yes, the past king of hockey now has to qualify now-a-days for the Olympics by playing a tournament involving six teams! They won all their matches in the tournament and now are set to figure in London Olympic 2012 Hockey. Yesterday, the dream of playing in the London Olympics was cruelly broken for Indian Women’s Hockey Team when they lost against South Africa.

Hurray for the National Sport of India! And, shame for the cricket billionaires who care the least for their country India!