True grit

The true measure of a person's character and aptitude is when they are under duress. Earlier today, the Indian cricket team's chances of winning the first Test against Australia was slim and edging towards none. Eight wickets had gone down, 92 runs in the arrears and at the crease were VVS Laxman, playing with a dodgy back and Ishant Sharma, on an injured knee that would cause him to miss the next Test match. One man was left in the pavilion, Pragyan Ojha.

What followed was gripping theater of the kind that only Test cricket, with the abundance of time at hand, can provide. Rather than give you a blow-by-blow account of what happened, I'll put down the various thoughts that spring to mind after this epic.


1) No team in world cricket makes the opponent sweat till the end like Australia does. I do not think Ricky Ponting is an astute tactician. Rather, the winningest captain in the history of the game has done so mainly on the coattails of a juggernaut that featured quite a few once-in-a-generation players. After the retirement of the big guns, Ponting's captaincy record is actually quite so-so (by his exalted standards). Since Gilchrist retired (and with it ending the era of McGrath, Warne, and Gilly), Ponting's record in 31 Tests as captain is: 16 wins, 9 losses, 6 draws. (Prior to that his record as captain was: 41 Tests, 31 wins, 4 losses, 6 draws). He is still winning more than half the Test matches he captains, but the losses are beginning to pile up.

Prior to the start of the 5th day's action, I had expected that Ponting's tactical acumen would get tested once the target fell below 50. Had Steve Smith's shy at the stumps, with 6 runs to win, not missed we would probably have been lauding Ponting's captaincy. In spite of losing this Test I cannot fault the overall strategy employed by Ponting (minor nitpicking can always be done). He kept the pressure up just as he had to. It was Laxman's coruscating brilliance, that found the boundaries without taking any risks, that kept the scoreboard moving along and narrowing the gap. The Australian bowlers had numerous opportunities at Ishant but could not breach his defenses (more on that in the next point). Considering the situation he was in, Ponting did just fine. It's just that today he ran, yet again, into a smiling assassin.

(AFP 2010, via CricInfo)

2) In their 81 run partnership, Ishant Sharma faced 92 balls and scored 32 runs while Laxman faced just 39 balls but extracted 44 runs. Laxman has always believed in not shielding numbers 9,10, and jack as he probably knows them better than anyone else in the top order having spent plenty of time in their company over the course of the years. On television, he said something very interesting in the aftermath of the game. "I don't consider them (to be) tail-enders. I call them lower order batsmen." It is a measure of the calmness he exudes that he rubs off onto the less-accomplished batsmen.

For most the inning his strike rate was well over 100, only dipping below it at the end when he refused singles in order to shield Ishant Sharma from Mitchell Johnson.

"What impressed me most about him (Ishant Sharma) was the temperament. We had little chats in the middle. And when, towards the end, Mitchell Johnson troubled him, he told me he wasn't comfortable facing him. Then only I started to try and face more of Johnson. It was important to have that trust. There was no way I could have done it alone. But I have always had a lot of confidence in Ishant."

3) Pop quiz: Who scored the most runs for India in this Test match? In the euphoria of the win, the contributions of Sachin Tendulkar are getting glossed over. With 136 runs in the game, he easily outscored Dravid (in second place with 90 runs), followed by Raina with 86. For decades, SRT detractors have pointed out to his lack of 4th inning productivity. Well, the fellow has 3 centuries in the 4th inning of a Test match (just one less than the record of 4 centuries shared by Ponting, Gavaskar and.....Ramnaresh Sarwan!!!). However, dissing the man's contribution to Indian wins and draws means overlooking the fact that he is one of history's most accomplished batsmen at setting up a game.

In Major League baseball, pitchers typically do not finish the game but are still credited with the win if the lead they left the game with holds up to the end. Sachin Tendulkar has more than 2 decades of data of matches where his contributions to the win have been enormous, even as his presence at the end of the game is limited in comparison to the opportunities he has had. This should not be held against him. Were it not for his 98 in the first inning, India would not have come close to overhauling Australia's big first inning total. All his contemporaries have failed in the 4th innings of Tests, yet SRT is held to a higher standard. Sometime, being excellent comes with a heavy price tag.

Of course, when you attempt shots like this on a pitch with variable bounce and the last proper batting pair at the crease, you are bound to attract the ridicule of your detractors...

(AFP 2010, via CricInfo)

4) One area where VVS Laxman has excelled in the last two years has been in the second inning of a Test match. In the two years since the start of 2009, he has had a chance to bat in the second inning of a Test match 7 times. These are his scores:

124*
61
51*
69*
69
103*
73*

550 runs at an average of 275, 2 centuries, 5 fifties, 5 not outs. In those matches India record is 3-1-3. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

5) Now, for your moment of zen...ironically it features Laxman at his most animated. I have never seen such anger and emotion from the fellow on the cricket field. Inside that calm, gentle-looking demeanor lurks a man with a fierce streak.



6) The highlights of the last 50 odd runs of the inning, ending just before Ishant's dismissal, continued till the end in point 7 that follows.



7) Additional bonus: the final moments of the game in its entirety, capping one of India's greatest wins.