Two Defeats -- One heartwarming , the other heart breaking

Cricket

An Indian  team Cricket tour of Australia is always interesting and engrossing for many reasons.  The atmosphere , the stadiums (   the  Adelaide Stadium was not the one I know – total change )  , the crowd , the pitches, the commentary and its quality and assessment , getting up early to match the Aussie time zone and finally  the intensity of the battle   . The first test at Adelaide started with the background of losing a young , upcoming player to the Sport itself. Not one of those things that  happen regularly but it was sad to see Phil Hughes die , hit by the Cricket ball. One hopes that this would be the last of its kind.

With Dhoni not available , we had a young captain who was willing to take risks.. The team had a wrist spinner in the playing XI and the decision to go with Four Bowlers may be a good one.  ( Anyway our bowlers get whacked all over and so what will one more bowler bring in – better to have  an  extra batsman). Aussies dominated the first two days and made a solid 517 . India responded well and fell short by 73 runs.  Virat made his second century at Adelaide. Most of the Indian  batsman had a decent outing

Aussies clobbered the Indian   bowling attack  for the second time with Warner notching his second century. An  overnight declaration left India  chasing 363 on the last day on a difficult pitch to  win  . Vijay and Kohli ( yet another century ) battled hard and one could scent victory in the air. It was different approach  Rather than playing for a draw , Indian team went for it. Ultimately , one wicket ( that of Vijay ) turned it for Australia and with Kohli holing out in the deep , the match was Australia’s. I was not disappointed with the loss. It was a great way to loose.Kohli was at his attacking best.   The chase was just commendable. Vijay did well as well but on 99 , he looked a nervous wreck and got out. Not sure why that happened as he had been playing solidly to get to the nineties. No wonder they call it the “ nervous nineties”

Some comments :

1.       Why pick Karn Sharma ? Ashwin would have been handy looking at the way  Nathan Lyon ran through us. One can be brave but it was clear , we need  to be rationale too.2.       

   

       Rohit Sharma – What a disappointment . looks like he can do well only on Indian Pitches against pace and alike . If Raina cannot take his place because he has shortfalls , why take him on the tour. Clearly one batting slot needs a strong resolution .. Any one else can fit this slot ?

3.

       One can argue that DRS could have helped  on few decisions for India  , but we have to be mindful that there  were some close ones that went in India’s favour which if DRS was available  would have gone the Aussie way. So  all is square on this  front

4.       Adelaide was the best venue for India to score a win.  In the other venues  pitches will be faster and bouncy and the Aussie bowlers will be a handful to handle . Batting  has to become much more technical and stronger if India has to put up a good fight in the rest of the matches

5.       It was good to see Kohli back in form after  his horrendous form on the tour of England

6.       It was a defeat alright but it was heartwarming the way the Indian team played the game. Many a time we have lost without a fight but this  defeat was commendable for the approach to the game itself.

Hockey

The champions league being played at Bhubaneswar is a strange format . Although the teams are in two  groups  and play each other within the group , the results do not matter. Each team qualifies for the quarterfinal. India after a poor start , seem to have found form and defeated Holland in the round robin and Belgium in the quarters. That was a big step for Belgium have been their nemesis in many of the  recent tournaments. And the semifinal was a mouthwatering one – against traditional rivals Pakistan – a match we cannot just loose at any cost. 

Today’s hockey is played at a fast pace . And the encounter was fast paced. India played extremely well but as the match went on , missed plenty of chances .  Pakistan defended toughly and it was” Even Stevens” at three goals apiece with three minutes to go. Poor defending  cost Indian the match as Pakistan found that extra energy to slam the winner in the dying minutes of the last quarter.  India played well but it was not their day in Hockey either. A loss at home that will not go well at all. All the more difficult since India won the Asian Games Gold medal defeating the same rival in the final very recently . Heartbreaking to say the least for the crowd that turned in great numbers to see an Indian win.