Nostradamus Lele 3, India 0

Nostradamus Lele 3, India 0
PRADEEP MAGAZINE

SYDNEY, JANUARY 4: Watching a patient on a bed with no hope of survival can be a very painful and tragic experience. No such thoughts came to mind watching the Indian team reaching the edge of a precipice and then being gently pushed toward doom inside three days. The margin of defeat: an innings and 141 runs.

There was, on the contrary, a feeling of relief that it was all over, as it happens when a sick, old withering man dies.

To mark the Indian presence was VVS Laxman who played an innings of rare brilliance and class. But all his innings could do was to delay the inevitable, not avoid it.

Indian cricket has seen many defeats in the past, more so in foreign lands. Judging by those standards, the defeat here in three days and by an innings for a 3-0 whitewash should not come as a great surprise. In fact, Indian Board secretary Jaywant Lele was in the centre of a raging storm before the series for reportedly saying that the side will be routed 0-3 by Australia. Instead of making positive strides,Indian cricket has gone two steps back, despite the manifold increase in hype, money and popularity of the game, can be a very disturbing thought.

The play on the third day of the final Test match held wonderful prospects for the Australians. Justin Langer was approaching a double hundred. Ricky Pointing had looked in very good nick yesterday. Australia were in search of quick runs so that they could grind the Indians to dust.

Everything worked for them like clockwork. And when their turn to bowl came, Glenn McGrath turned the ball into a magnet for the Indians to get drawn towards it outside the off stump and present the slip cordon catching practice.

Langer became the highest scorer for the Australians against India, while passing the double hundred milestone. Ponting was at his aggressive best while reaching his hundred. There was nothing the Indian bowlers could do. They were going through the motions with probably their minds and body somewhere else. Defeat after defeat makes a man give up indespair and that was the body language the Indians conveyed.

MSK Prasad was a sitting duck for Glenn McGrath's outswinger and so was Rahul Dravid. The story of India's miserble failure is linked directly with the failure of Dravid to get going. Then there was Saurav Ganguly, once again hanging his bat to a McGrath outswinger.

Ganguly had promised so much at the beginning but in the end he too had to see the face of failure. It probably would be cruel to expect Tendulkar to score every time he goes in to bat. He lasted four balls, showing the human face of a genius. But he had made a huge impact here and earned the man of the series award.

When it seemed an embarrassingly short end to the Indian innings, VVS Laxman decided to assert himself and play wonderful, attacking cricket full of audacious hooks, smooth drives, spanking cuts and wristy on-side play.

Even Brett Lee was not spared. Where was this man earlier? Unlike the rest, failure had spurred Laxman on to better deeds. The irony is that DevangGandhi, on whom the selectors here did not have any faith and did not play in this Test, stays back for the one-dayers while Laxman goes back.

On the strength of his knock here, one of the finest an Indian must have played in recent years not only because of the situation of the match, but also because of the very high quality of strokeplay, the thought of him returning appears absurd.

But a spurt of wickets in the end, like in the beginning, brought the match to its end. The Indians fell one batsman shot, Vijay Bhardawaj having injured his back while fielding in the morning and in no condition to bat. Doctors suspect a muscle injury and if condition does not improve tomorrow, a MRI will be done to ascertain the exact nature of the injury.

SCOREBOARD

India (1st innings): 150
Australai (1st innings):
Greg Blewett b Venkatesh Prasad 19 (90m, 54b)
(Beaten by a sharp breakback)
Michael Slater c MSK Prasad b Srinath 1(18m, 11b)
(Beaten by an outswinger)
Justin Langer c VenkateshPrasad b Tendulkar 223 ( 523m, 355b, 30x4)
(Top edge to extra cover to a wild heave)
Mark Waugh b Ganguly 32 ( 102m, 74b, 5x4)
(Played on to an inswinger)
Steve Waugh lbw Srinath 57 (151m, 124b, 9x4)
(Struck on the pads, the ball came in and kept low)
Ricky Ponting not out 141 (262m, 183b, 17x4, 1x6)
Adam Gilchrist not out 45 (65m, 56b, 5x4)
Extras (b 2, lb 21, nb11): 34
Total (for 5 wkts decl, 608 min, 140 overs): 552
Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Slater), 2-49 (Blewett),3-146 (Mark Waugh), 4-267(Steve Waugh), 5-457 (Langer)
Bowling: Srinath 28-4-105-2, Agarkar 19-3-95-0, Venkatesh Prasad 28-10-86-1, Kumble 33.2-6-126-0, Ganguly 12-1-41-0, Bhardawaj 12-1-35-0, Tendulkar 7-0-34-1, Kanitkar 1-0-2-0

India (2nd innings)
VVS Laxman c Gilchrist b Lee 167 (255m, 198b, 27x4, 1x5)
(Edging a drive outside the off stump)
MSK Prasad c Mark Waugh b McGrath 3 (19m, 7b)
(Edging an outswinger to slip)
Rahul Dravid c Warne b McGrath 0 (9m, 7b)
(Edgingan outswinger to slip)
Sachin Tendulkar c Langer b Fleming 4 (6m, 4b, 1x4)
(Driving on the up to short cover)
Saurav Ganguly c Mark Waugh b McGrath 25 (71m, 51b, 3x4)
(Edging an outswinger to slip)
Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Slater b Lee 8 (32m, 19b, 1x4)
(Edging to gully)
Anil Kumble c Ponting b McGrath 15 (32m, 19b, 1x4)
(Edging a drive to gully)
Ajit Agarkar c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 (3m, 2b)
(Beaten by the movement)
Javagal Srinath (not out) 15 (38m, 27b, 1x4, 1x5)
Venkatesh Prasad (run out) 3 (4m, 2b)
(Direct hit by Gilchrist)
Vijay Bhardwaj (did not bat)
Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 1, nb 14): 21
Total (for 9 wkts, in 58 overs): 261
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (MSK Prasad), 2-26 (Dravid), 3-33 (Tendulkar), 4-101 (Ganguly), 5-145 (Kanitkar), 6-234 (Kumble), 7-234 (garkar), 8-258 (Laxman), 9-261 (Prasad)
Bowling: McGrath 17-1-55-5, Fleming 13-2-47-1, Lee 11-2-67-2, Blewett 2-0-16-0, Warne 13-1-60-0, Ponting 1-0-8-0, Slater 1-0-2-0

Result:Australia win by an innings and 141 runs
Series: Australia win 3-0
Man of the match: Glen McGrath
Man of the series: Sachin Tendulkar