Cricket: India Beat England In Ahmedabad Test! Skip to main content

Cricket: India Beat England In Ahmedabad Test!


Cheteshwar Pujara
Billed as a Revenge Series the India-England 4-Match Cricket Test Series played in India started on the right note at least for an Indian television news channel who while breaking the news hoarsely cried that Ahmedabad Test becomes Revenge No.1 for Team India. The ‘patriotic’ reason being that Englandwhitewashed India most humiliatingly in the 4-Match Cricket Test Series played in England in 2011. The so-called revenge drama basically gets reduced to the battle of the extremes between spin and pace—Indiahaving the spin quality providing turners at home and England having pace providing green tops at home. In fact, each team does not mind demanding ‘conditioned’ pitches at home whenever the opponent visits there. As the battle goes on no single team ever tries mastering both of the arts.

Alistair Cook
Each team is right in their battle, essentially. Englandknows India’s weakness against seam and swing, therefore demolishes them on green-top pitches. India knows England’s weakness against spin bowling, and therefore plans revenge on slow and cracking pitches. Right from the sixties when India prided in having four deadly and specialized spinners this has been the Test scenario. No effort has been made by any cricket board in providing uniform sporting pitches or making their respective players to learn to bowl both pace and spin well and learn to play both pace and spin dexterously. Surprisingly, no takers for the simple fact that this is just not right for the interests of the Test genre for which crowd support has already been dwindling.

Given this, India were rightfully expected to crush England in the first Test in Ahmedabad to ‘avenge’ and indeed England would have obliged by crashing to an innings defeat within four days but for some splendid resistance by England captain Alistair Cook (176) and wicket keeper Matt Prior (91). These two players showed that England players are capable of playing spin well if only the right approach is adopted. On the fourth day yesterday the duo remained unbeaten with the team’s second innings score at 340/5 leading by 10 runs and the possibility of a draw was becoming a reality. But on the last day today Englandlost all five wickets by lunch giving India just 77 run target to win. India eagerly notched it up in under 16 overs losing just the wicket of Sehwag (25) and Cheteshwar Pujara remaining unbeaten again with 41. Thus India beat England by 9 wickets in the first Test in Ahmedabad leading the series 1-0.  For India predictably spinners Ashwin and Ojha captured 15 wickets between them. For England predictably too the pacers cut a sorry figure. The Scorecard:

The biggest plus of the test for Indiawas the sterling double century by Cheteshwar Pujara (206 not out in nearly two days of batting, 1st innings) whose classicist orthodoxy and perfect temperament has already earned the tag of the ‘new Wall’ for him with many cricket experts relishing similarities with the elegant VVS Laxman too. Virender Sehwag scoring a brilliant century after two years and the Indian opener duo coming good after a long time was also among other positives for Team India. Finally, Yuvraj Singh (74 in first innings) has completed this return to cricket successfully and has effectively silenced all of the skeptics including his captain about his fitness.

The second Test starts in Mumbai from 23rd November and with probably another cracker of a turning pitch here the predictability factor of ‘revenge’ seems obvious.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mitali: The Trauma of Losing a Sibling

Maybe I lied to her when I used to reassure her that she was going to be alright and was going to resume her life in some measure of normalcy in the future years; maybe all my gestures/expressions were false when I used to run my fingers across her forehead or embrace her on occasions when she was able to move around a bit; and maybe all my exhibitions of love care and responsibility were exposed as superficial when I failed to turn up in Delhi where she along with my mother were treated during September-October, 2022 (my mother Urmila Chakravarty was also diagnosed with dental cancer the same month the same year as she was) and when all the members of my parental family and the in-laws converged. Since that fateful day in August, 2022 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to that disastrous day of March 6, 2025—the day my younger blood sister Mitali (Mainu) Chakravarty Sarma (November 2, 1963—March 6, 2025) passed away in the wee hours in a hospital in Guwahati after giving a bra...

Release of Book 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories'!

The fourth collection of stories titled 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories' by Chinmay Chakravarty has been released on Amazon KDP just now! This collection, short stories in a lighter vein plus with mild satire like the previous collections, has been published in both the E-book and Paperback formats. The links are given below:  International: Click Here ! India: Click Here !  Other collections of short stories by the same author: The Cheerless Chauffeur and Other Tales(2021)--Notion Press. Funny and Fishy Tales(2022)--KDP. The Weirdos(2022)--Ukiyoto Publishing. All books of the author are available on Goodreads, apart from Amazon and other outlets! Have a look!

Kolkata: Cancel the Commerce of the Durga Puja Carnival!

Yes! We ask why shouldn't the pure Commerce show of the Durga Puja Carnival in Kolkata be canceled in view of the worsening medical crisis? For how long this cruel irony of continuing the worship of the Mother Goddess and continuing to torture/kill the Mothers in human forms going to continue?  Greed, limitless greed of humans! Dear God! This time Goddess Durga came in a cradle which in itself implies ominous times, and further, the tithis from Mahasaptami onward came mixed in such a way that you get three days of worship, technically. Yet, the greedy and selfie-social-media-crazy crowds of 'devotees' were still not satiated, descending on the Puja pandals in uncontrollable hordes for as long as seven days, and to pander to their greed and to have the maximum of business, most of the Puja organizers disregarded the tithi break-up completely and have been celebrating Bijoya Dashami or the Dussehra well into Ekadashi, the eleventh day! They expect the hordes to descend tonigh...