i read this article from sidharth monga on cricinfo... the premise of the article is summed up as...
Just for the high quality of consistent fast bowling throughout the match, the Dunedin Test needs to be celebrated...
then what about kanpur test mr. monga...?
it had one team playing as attacking cricket as one would have seen recently... scoring nearly 5.50 runs per over for most part of the innings... scoring more than 400 runs in a day...
we get to see a 'troubled child' of indian cricket staging a comeback into team after good 18 months... making the ball talk both ways not only with new ball but old ball as well... the best reverse swing bowling on indian pitches after a while... on a pitch that was supposed to assist spin bowling... and finishing the game in three and half days... even when there were no demons in the pitch...
in nutshell... attacking test cricket at its best...
but no we must praise dunedin test coz that had pace bowlers doing a job under favorable overcast conditions representing teams that were hell bent on surrendering the initiative to other... there by making that test interesting only coz of their age old deficiencies...
never mind the fact that a pace bowler was man of the match in kanpur test match on a pitch and conditions that had little to do with it... but purely coz of his extraordinary skills...
but i guess the choice becomes easier in the end... coz on one side we had a test match that had equivalent of armani 'pace' tag attached on a picturesque location... and on another a test match that was played on subcontinent patta wicket... that had 'spin' tag attached to it like a stigma...
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india require him at the top of his game...specially with injury of zaheer the indian pace cupboard is looking thin and bare...with not many fast bowlers knocking team india's door with conviction...
also for the fact that i strongly feel...sreesanth along with ishant and zaheer can make cricketing equivalent of 'bermuda triangle' in which lots of teams will sink without a trace...
i wrote this when there was not even a whiff of sreesanth in the air...
we knew sree will have to reborn to make it to team india again coz such was the insulation shield build around team india for him at that time...
so the freesanth was born on bored on 15th of august 2009... india's independence day... to free him from all the prejudices... and since then we have been running single minded campaign for him...
in fact cricket superblogroll announcing BCC! as the 'featured blog' has this to say... which is still up there...
And on site are real cool characters like Jatman (Sehwag), Che (Cheteshwar Pujara), Yawn T Roads, Bored Peon & Bored Neon, KhufiaBaaz, the thankless 'Thank You Sachin!' Group and the pointless FreeSanth venture.
i don't blame them... it did appear pointless to many...
now that he has come and pulled the rug from under non-believer's feet... with the five-for in his first comeback test innings after 18 months of enforced exile... it feels good that the player one was backing has come good... sree is freesanth again...
so thank you sree and well done!
but remember... its just the start though... keep all the wishes and praise you are getting now in your stride... you will need them when you will go wicket less on some days and people will inevitably try to reason it with sree the persona... rather than sree the bowler...
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so the distraction from IPL is over now...
i heard murmurs about pitch and how the pitch was the reason for the defeat of saffers...
lets have a look...
if you collapse from 151-1 to 265 out on first day will you blame pitch...then how you were at 150 odd for a loss of single wicket...good batting?
if you field like you did...on second day...dropping catches like hot potatoes...infact dropping gangly when he was around 40...who later went on to become highest scorer of the match...
even after so much of generosity...you came close to bowling opposition out without much of a lead...good bowling?
you allow tailenders to weave a partnership of around 50...on the same damn pitch...carrying on with the generosity you showed previous day...bad bowling? fielding?
then you allow that last wicket partnership to screw your head so much that there was nothing left in it...collective brain numbing and you all simply freeze...
see i didn't even used the word c-h-o-k-e-d...
so you batted badly...bowled badly and fielded badly...why?
oh...i remember...that damn pitch...
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