What dreams may go

To rewrite a crucial line in LOTR:ROTK - "And so it ends..."

64.1 Tendulkar to Prince, 1 run, THATS IT! A great win! Looped up outside the off stump, Prince drives down the ground, Tendulkar gives a half-hearted attempt to stop it, and the ball runs right through his legs - the Gateway of India, as its called - and thats a smashing win for South Africa! Prince raises his arms in jubilation! Well played!

After Prince hit the winning runs, I shed a few tears. I wonder if any of the stalwarts in the Indian team did. Ironically, and symbolically, the winning runs came because Tendulkar let the ball through his fingers. But that was not when the match was lost. It was lost much earlier when the (once) great batsman let something more important - the game - slip out of his grasp.

When the match-fixing scandal occurred many of my friends told me that they stopped following the Indian team. All these years I've wondered how they could even think of doing something like that. Right now I am distraught enough to contemplate the same thing and I finally understand how they felt.

With India slated to play only three Tests (as of now) next year it will be a long time (June 2007) before I get a chance to have to decide what to do about my feelings for the team.

156 for 5
119 for 5

125 for 5
83 for 5

337 for 5
115 for 5

A much-heralded batting order that comprises Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly provided a good first half only once. But don't get misled by the 337 for 5. In that innings Karthik scored 63 and when Jaffer got out, after scoring 116, the total was 240.

It is time to put aside reputations and runs and decide who really wants to fight it out in the middle. Those are the players I want representing my country in Tests. I don't care if they are not good enough to win. Even if they lose, at least I will not feel let down by them for they will have fought tooth and nail for every inch.