It was a ‘Kiwi-full’ Sunday to swallow for Indian fans braving Mumbai’s torrid 32 degree humidity in Wankhede Stadium, steadfast in the hope of a miracle as Rishab’s gallantry stood amongst India’s batting ruins. Those WFH (watching from home) postponed their Dewali engagements waiting for a face-saving win chasing a paltry 147 runs. But Big B had once gravely said ‘Magar Ye Ho Na Saka..’ and we capitulated by 25 runs. A dubious milestone been created in a 3-0 series loss at home India had conjured after 12 years !
My first reaction was : what a splendid performance from the low-profile visitors playing without their regular skipper (Williamson), hero of Second Test (Santner) also sitting it out in Third Test, while others went about the ‘kill’ on foreign soil with same efficiency. One hadn’t thus far heard of batter Will Young (Man of the Series) and spinner Glenn Philips who posed us myriad problems. We were successful in making champions of Santner and Ajaz Patel by preparing such turning tracks, that suited them more than us.
The reporting (in sports and social media with memes) show outrage to our cricketing senses at a series defeat that’s almost catastrophic in proportion to our past records and amounts to major national debate by experts, analysts, critics and fans alike, since we all know a bit how ‘Test’cricket is played, despite our obsession with the T20 IPL format. The man in the ‘eye of the storm’, beleaguered Captain Rohit has in the press interview pleaded guilty to all the charges framed ( starting from the batting debacle of ‘46’ in the First Test and errors of judgement, wrong calls in batting order & turning pitches etc.). He has accepted his batting lapses and decided to take the entire blame as the leader !
Since our country has many eminent lawyers (who play the devil’s advocate at times) should Rohit be the only ‘fall guy’ as they would say ? What was the Team Management doing if not advising on the right strategies and rectifying mistakes of the First Test. The experience of Coach GG and senior pro & batting legend Virat was nowhere on display in the 2nd & 3rd Test and newbie like Sarfaraz batting down the order forgot his role ! To be fair, Rohit led the charge in the 2nd innings and we all applauded India’s gumption in going for a win after being bowled out for a shocking ‘46’ in the 1st . Defense counsel would argue, Rohit was guilty of inept leadership but wasn’t supported by his advisors and support staff while he was up against a resurgent team sans superstars & heroes !
As per reports, Rohit may not fully be part of the prestigious BGT ‘Down Under’ as a shaken Indian side take on mighty Aussies and we have the unenviable task of winning 4 out of the 5 Test matches to qualify for the WTC Finals. What then is the way forward ? For the sake of motivation which team badly needs here’s a great quote that should lift them : “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” (Maya Angelou).
Working on Living 