Currently, I am watching this match between India and Bangladesh. I realize that the Bangladesh team has got zero mentality to play a match of this gravitas versus such a strong team like India. They play with too much emotion and does not have an appropriate mindset to play a test. A test match requires a huge amount of patience. Test match is like chess, where a lot of work on the mind is required to play a match that has got playing condition changing with the days. You play each move very carefully. Mushfiq looks like this small kid from local cricket matches who would cry if he loses. His height aids in this perception. I guess maturity comes in accepting defeats. Bangladesh for some reason cannot just accept their defeat (maybe against India). Else you won’t see their senior players break into an incorrigible and disdainful Nagin dance to mock their opposition after winning a match. They are as immature and as unprofessional as the crowd watching the match that is currently indulging in the same Nagin dance.
Rohit is practicing catches between breaks. Even though the current probability of India winning is too high as compared to Bangladesh even going close to a draw. Does Rohit still need his catching practice? Ban is trailing by 258 runs on 3rd day, with India still having an innings to play. On top of that BAN has lost half of its team. It's meager 85/5. Is it just one bad day? The answer is unknown to me. And I get reminded of the historical test match of 2001 India vs Australia. People on the internet now focuses on Mayanti Langer who is speaking on the microphone while Rohit and Kohli practice. She’s a charm indeed. Anyway, back to the match.
India vs Australia 2001 match at Kolkata. What happened in that match? Laxman and Dravid batted for the whole day. A whole fourth day. Can you believe it? Against the likes of McGrath, Gillespie and Shane Warne. McGrath and Warne are considered the best in seam and spin bowling respectively. I saw an interview with Ian Chappell, where he mentioned the kind of caliber that Laxman had used against Shane Warne particularly. Warne was bemused and baffled at the end of the day. Australia was winning consecutive matches and series under the charismatic Steve Waugh. They had just won the 1999 World Cup. Laxman was not a prominent batsman then. He was good but he never made it to the trio of Sachin, Sourav, and Rahul, batting just against the best. He was playing his 20th test match. It also changed him a lot as a player. Subsequently, he showed this character later on his career too. Did that match change him? Dravid has always been a mature player since day 1. (Check Laxman before and after 2001 stats). India ultimately went on to win the series too. Brett Lee didn’t play that series. Oh boy, he was some hotshot terror and went on to become a terror in the 2003 World Cup.
Ok, right now Ishant gives a bouncer. He is not happy being driven for four. ‘Spinners are the crafty ones’ says Sunny Gavaskar. The current batsmen on crease are playing on zero tolerance. They just cannot make a mistake if they are even aiming for a draw.
It's not that Indian cricket has not faced trouble ever since 2001. They have had tough times playing abroad. Currently, their overseas conditions have not been favorable. It's true they won in Australia and West Indies recently, but overall, they are not even close to the Australia team from 2001. Their current performance is somehow not good, especially in England. As a matter of fact, the concept of home-track bullies is very common in world cricket. (need more data)
Going back to Brett Lee. I feel Shoaib could have been like Brett Lee if he was not from Pakistan. He would not have been Shoaib if he was from India pre-2014-15s. I admire Pakistan for producing such good quality fast bowlers. I have a higher respect for fast bowlers than batsmen. I feel fast bowlers have more agility than other types of players. They are like dark horses who would keep on running and bowling. Good quality fast bowlers make a difference in matches like a test match. Because they need to have the ability for bowling consistently for longer hours. Anyway, the current Pakistan team is also in a mess. They have the least charismatic guy as their captain. As a result, their team is also losing the mentality of playing a test match. The last known serious, sensible guy of the team was Misbah-Ul Haq.
Mushfiq is hitting boundaries. Wonder what is going on in his head. I don’t think he should be thinking of boundaries than his own wicket. Liton das is playing more sensible shots. Played in the gap, no lofted shot, no reverse sweep. Remember Adelaide 2012 Aus vs SaF? The kind of innings Faf, ABD, and the great Kallis played? Faf was playing his first test match. He was also the man of the match. And ABD scored 33 out of 220 deliveries with a strike rate of 15. The guy who scored 24 runs in the last over of a t20 game against Ashish Nehra, the guy who had the best bowling figures for India in a World Cup.
Going back to the Australia team of 2001. They had a bigger version of ABD, and that is Ricky Ponting. That guy has the ability to change his mind as per the game’s requirement. He plays aggressively when required to, and patiently when the team is in trouble. He used to be No. 5 or no. 6 in Tests before becoming the regular No. 3. No wonder, that guy won two World Cups in succession. Australia had more batsmen like that, such as Gilchrist, Hayden. Players who would change character according to the format of the game. I haven’t seen the West Indies in the 75’s and 80’s. But that Australia team was too formidable. The current Indian team, even though formidable at home, is not as good as that Australia team of 2001. I liked the World Cup 2019. I believe the competitions were even and balanced. The winner could have been any team from the top four teams. 2011 was almost a cup like that, except for the fact that India was slightly a better team than Sri Lanka in the finals.
And Liton Das departs. Bd loses their 6th wicket after an almost growing partnership of 85 runs. 85 runs is a good partnership in terms of t20 but not for test matches. Another cheap dismissal from a very ordinary delivery. The guy stepped down, and I don’t know with what purpose. Maybe he was trying to hit over the fields. In short, that’s a dismal dismissal. The new batsman Mehdi almost gave a catch. No one was there to catch it. In his defense, he is a new batsman and the delivery was good. Ashwin is giving a hard time to Mehdi. Mehdi all of a sudden just decided to step down and hit. Nothing happened except for the ball straight hitting the wickets at the non-striker end. The commentators were analyzing Liton’s dismissal. The delivery was indeed ordinary, but the thought was marvelous. Ashwin kept on tracking where Liton was hitting and set a trap for him by pitching it little bit away from the batsman than usual. Wow. I guess that’s what is making the difference between India and Bangladesh. The thought process. Mehdi Hassan, on the other hand, gets off the mark with a six. What is this guy doing? I just remembered dialogue from a spoof video “Tujhe bass hero banna hai na? Ek chhakka marega aur ban jayega hero? Isse dekh (Mushfiq). 14 saal se chhakka mar raha hai, bana hai hero? Do centuries ki aur 5 chhakke maare India k against, wo bhi flop”.
The professionalism of the team management plays an important role in the success of a team. The team as a whole right from the top of the bureaucracy until the players need to be innovative, mature. A successful team not only plays to win, or make plans for a game ahead but also introspect on the outcome of a previous match. No matter the outcome of the match. It also depends on how seriously you are considering test matches. I guess the acceptance of the crowd also matters. After all, having a full house boosts your interest in the game. The current BD team in my opinion worries too much about t20 and ODIs. which is why perhaps their performance in t20s is better. They don’t rank high in t20s, but they have higher chances of winning a t20 match than test matches. (check the percentage of wins in all formats)
But why was 2001 so important for us? India faced corruption charges against the captain and vice-captain. By the way, both Azhar and Jadeja were good cricketers. So it was quite harsh for us cricket lovers. A lot of people lost interest in cricket just because of the incident (including my father). A lot of us were heartbroken, and lost their faith on the game. They started questioning the integrity of the game and its players. Except for the 83 cup, India has never been a dominating team even at home. But still the stadiums used to be full, people would sit in front of the TV for every match. They felt cheated. The captaincy of the Indian cricket was recently handed over to a 28 years old Sourav Ganguly in 2000, then 4 years younger than Mushfiqur currently. India went 1-0 (1) with Bangladesh (then even showing more dismal performances) and 1-0 (2) with Zimbabwe before facing Australia. Australia on the other hand under the World Cup winner Steve Waugh went 1-0 (1) against Zimbabwe, 3-0(3) against Pakistan, 3-0(3) against India, 3-0(3) against New Zealand and 4-0(4) against West Indies. They won 4-0(4) in England against the home team right after losing 2-1 to India. When India faced a follow-on of 274 runs after being bowled out for 171 in the first innings, people started switching off their TV, the crowd started coming back. Few were of the speculation that India has not recovered from the practice of match-fixing. Laxman and Dravid restored the faith of Indians in cricket by holding on to the ground for the whole fourth day. 10 years later, we lifted the cup.
Umesh Yadav just fooled Mehdi Hassan. The poor guy kept staring in disbelief. The ball hit on his elbow before hitting the stumps. The unfairness of the game got him. It doesn't matter how the ball hits the stump, it just has to hit the stumps. Bangladesh doesn’t accept the fact that they don’t have what it takes to win a test match. Is age an issue? A 20 years old spinster rattled the mighty middle-order 2001 Australian team taking the first-ever hat-trick for India in test match cricket. 28 years old Faf and ABD just refused to leave their crease against Australia in 2012. Mushfiq (32), Imrul (32), Mominul (28), Mahmudullah (33), Mithun (28) even being older players have not played sufficient number of tests.
What’s more interesting is the luck is not in favor of India. They have dropped catches, lost review chances, and still on top of this game. The current Indian team just lacks the immense experience of MS Dhoni in terms of the DRS. that’s where Dhoni makes a lot of difference from behind the stumps. Good team management and a premiere team like India should work on this shortcoming, just like the catching practice mentioned before. Shami takes his fourth wicket, as Taijul falls. ‘No DRS required for this one’ says Sanjay Manjarekar. That’s a statement that asserts that Bangladesh has got absolutely no chance of winning this match. Luck, DRS, prayers, nothing really can save them from the inevitable outcome of this match. ‘Lot of sympathy for these guys, absolutely untrained for these situations’ - Sanjay again. That’s quite harsh. Jadeja drops a catch, one such rare occasion. A very tough one though.
I again wonder what's Mushfiq is thinking. That guy hates India and losing to India more than anything. He posted a picture of India losing against West Indies 3 years back. He scored 56 vs India on the glorious day of Bd cricket history against India in 2007 WC. Currently, his team is crumbling down and slowly getting close to a huge innings defeat. He is not taking single and risking the dismissal of the No. 10th batsman. How long can he do that? If he’s aiming for a draw he has to trust his partner sometime. And..to my surprise, he tried to hit a six and got caught. THAT IS SO ANTICLIMACTIC. The cunning Ashwin just played with his Mushfiq’s mind, just like he did with Liton Das. Now it's just a matter of time. Bangladesh needs 134 runs to avoid the innings defeat. The task is on two extremely inexperienced batsmen with just a wicket remaining. Abu Jayed doesn’t like facing the ball. While batting, he rather leaves the ball to hit the stumps than hit his legs. India picks up the final wicket after a few runs. The match ended in 3 days. India’s formidable performance continues.
I wonder whether Bangladesh will analyze this loss. This is the time when they can show their character and an interest in winning test matches rather than reeking on their glory in winning the one t20 out of 3. Sanjay Manjarekar just compared India’s pace attack with West Indies’ pace attack from the 70s. That’s so stupid. It's not even close to the mighty Australian attack from the 2000s. Shami said some good words. He says “we enjoy each other's success”. That is so important for a successful team. India currently has good quality pace bowlers. They have always have had a few. The lack of consistency has made a difference. Both the captains spoke sensibly. Even Harsha mentioned the similarity between India now and Australia in 2001. Virat dodged the question well and said the focus is on winning. He spoke about overseas problems, which is indeed something that India should think about. Mominul, on the other hand, accepted the defeat with humility. He expressed their lack of experience.
Bangladesh has received a setback just before this series. Their most prominent player cum captain has been accused of match-fixing charges. Does it sound familiar? Oh yes, right. India in 2000-01. Can they use the day-night to change this? And you know what’s more familiar? The next test is going to be in my hometown. Kolkata.
Major Update on Nov 26: They failed
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