The boys played well
Today’s match was everything we had wanted the day before’s to be. Good batting, good fielding, the works. Is it my imagination, or were the Bangladeshis not at full power today? Or was it that Indians were really charging? Can’t say.
All I know is that we did really well. This should ease some cricketing concerns, if we can manage to make this a regular feature of our performance.
I’m not giving all details of the match, as they are easily available all over the net, but Goutam Gambhir was outstanding as the man of the match as well as the fastest century today. He just played and very well. He was hit by cramps too toward his century, but I guess it is a regular thing in this heat and humidity. Some Bangladeshis had trouble as well.
Today was what comes really close to my imagination as a good batting innings. All players did their thing as they could, even though the wickets fell. No gifts of wickets except of course for the mandatory Sehwag wicket.
About Sehwag….. I have begun getting this feeling that it is a kind of formula. He comes, blazes boundaries, and then tosses the ball into a fielder’s hands to return to the sir-conditioned dressing room. Its sad to see Utthappa being wasted in the dressing room. The only blessing I see is that he can’t be accused of hatching overs. But if the team is performing like they did today, I can see the blessing into even a Sehwag up there in the batting order. Sky-rocket the runrate for the price of one wicket.
The key in this I think is that all the other players must play the remaining game. Do their thing, keep the score board nice and high, and be careful. No need to excessively worry about wickets if all of them are keyed in like today. Even Zaheer Khan came in for the last few balls and smashed two boundaries.
Another thing I loved about todays match is the “kid” Piyush Chawla. Heh kid? Well, try to see him hugging Dhoni. He looks so small and innocent, he could be his son. He could be our next Kumble. Leg spinner, and mighty nice with it. Three wickets in an ODI debut is not bad either, but what I loved was the total bewilderment he caused in the batsmen with his bowling. It took them quite some time to figure him out, and I still am not sure they are sorted about him. That’s good for a debut. His first over was kinda flaky, but then he just went ahead and owned the pitch. Got hit around a bit too, but hey, with three wickets, from a newbie, who’s complaining?
But the thing that delighted me the most was that the Indian fielding just came to life out of nowhere today. Our men were all over the field, diving, chasing, fast reflexes…. the works. Really welcome after the endless sloppiness they had been demonstrating. One run out from Chawla and Dhoni was lightning fast. I’m impressed.
Looks like the Indian team has really taken cricket VERY seriously all of a sudden, and I for one ain’t complaining. Nothing like cheering our side to a thumping victory like todays.
