Ok, let me make this clear.
South Africa
deserved a tight fought draw, where they could nearly win but didn't. This is because of their terrible start but excellent fightback.
India
deserved a draw where they clung on and fought back just towards the end to hold on. This is because of their brilliant start. but absolutely appalling batting and bowling to Pollock and the tail after that.
Should have been, in a county match, 11 points to South Africa and like 7 to India for the draw.
The only way India could have lost was by poor cricket. If they played crap, then they deserved to lose.
And they did.
This will flatter South Africa, who were neither brilliant or outstanding or unplayable. They fought hard and played sensible cricket, and got a bit fo luck.
India were poor, and showed no fight until Sreesanth -who deserved a win after all his work in the entire match- and Zaheer overall and Kumble with the ball (His batting has been poor). These 3 deserve the win, the others don't. You could say VRV might for all his work, but he didn't have the results to show for it and barely troubled the bats, losing his confidence after having a few missed chances. India played poor cricket, poor shots at the wrong time, and hence deserved what bad luck they got. Apart for Dravid in the second innings. Nothing wrong with his shot, just a good ball and he played it about as well as anyone, making sure he didn't touch it. That was just crap - umpiring standards around the world just seems to be declining.
All this stuff about the 'New India' being a fighting team with spirit who won't go down quiet, seems like BS to me. Nothing, absolutely nothing, I have seen in the past year or so leads me to believe that. There are only 5 fighters in this team -Sreesanth, Kumble, Zaheer (And even these two were poor on occassions, Zaheer with ball at times, though he could be forgiven as he was tired, and Kumble with the bat, although it isn't his job to score runs), Dravid (Extremely hard done twice, although on the first occassion, it was a poor shot and a marginal decision, so you can let that slide) and Dada. And even Dada seemed meek today. He hasn't rectified his problems with the short ball, it seems that six off Ntini is a fluke. OK, granted, the first time he didn't see it. I sympathise with him, crap like that happens time to time and there is not much one can do. But the second, poor. He is aggressive, and that's the way he plays. He won't be meek and humble with the bowlers, and would like to teach them a thing or two. I just hope he controls himself a bit and does a SS, get a chance, take it, and rub it in their face later to releave all that aggression and get fined 30% of his fees
Jaffer - Poor shots, just needs to work and apply. I feel that big score is around the corner as long as he has someone cool and calming around him, constantly reminding him to look out and be careful and to stay cool.
Viru - Drop him, for heaven's sake drop him. Uppercut to keeper, slash to slip, I don't think he has gotten out any other way this entire year. I've rated his talent highly, and he can be good, but his form is wretched. In the past, you look at his good scores, the 190 in Australia, 100 in Old Trafford. He actually moved his feet then, and didn't bring out that slash till he was in. He only killed bowlers from the start on batting tracks, but he knew how to handle bowler friendly tracks. And he even played
straight on occassions, not just square of the wicket. He just seems lost now, let him go to England, play county cricket on bowling wickets, and find his form. Worked well with Dada (I think) and Zaheer.
VVS - He has been batting well, I'll give him 8/10. But his situation reading skills and use of experience is a flat out 0. Poor, poor, poor. He seems to be batting in his own world. And I like that, that's how he should be. But not anymore. He used to be that luxury batsman, the one who could score runs at will. Now, he is a crucial member, and he needs to act the role. First example I saw (I didn't watch him bat much on the first test) was when he took a single of the first ball of the over to get his fifty, exposing VRV to five balls, where he got out. In a match where runs and time were crucial, he could have held strike for longer. If he was clever, he could have added another 15-20 crucial runs and have batted for another half an hour or so, getting crucial runs and eating up time. But no. He also scored slow too with SS and Zaheer. This innings, well, just didn't perform.
Dhoni - I don't think he belongs in the test team. He is an easy target. Sure, he got 47 runs. But it is his style of play. In an attacking field, anyone can get runs. But they are worthless when time is needed. The skipper can just tell his bowlers to keep in on the stumps, and then pitch one up for the drive, and he'll fall for the trap. Sure, he'll get a few fours now and then throughout and innings, but he doesn't look like he will last out the innings and score a large ton and stuff. It's poor. It's good for ODI where runs are needed, but he just doesn't seem like the test-style, crucial, critical situations kinda guy. His keeping has improved though, props to him, it's been good.
Sachin - I'm dissapointed. He isn't past it, but just seems not able to get big scores now. Age is catching up, the way he looks when he bats, his face, it looks like scoring runs is more of an effort. Maybe he needs a rest, get re-charged? But he looks very fresh in the field. I am confused. Just hope he does well...
If we lost this, we deserved to lose. And we did. South Africa were flattered by a usual meek Indian side. We need another 3 SS's, and we'll be good. Does he have any brothers or friends who play cricket?
