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7 Apr 2009

Brickbats Can Wait...

..for right now, I am just going to enjoy the fact that we finished our most successful tour of NZ.

After all, what is not to celebrate? We won a Test series in NZ after 41 years. We won the ODI series comprehensively. Gambhir had a terrific tour Test-wise and Sehwag took the honours in ODIs. Indian bowlers outshone their counterparts by some distance. Most of our batsmen were amongst runs. Dravid had a good series(words cannot describe how pleased I am at this). He now also holds the record for most catches. Even when the team was in a tough spot, there was always someone who put his hand up and pulled the team out of trouble. Most importantly, Dhoni passed the "overseas series" test.

Sure, people will raise legitimate concern about poor fielding/catching. Some will say that the pitches were hardly how they usually are in NZ, NZ is one of the weaker sides right now, Dhoni should have declared earlier, blah blah blah. Well you know what. I don't care. I really don't. So, for now, why don't you pass me the brickbats....and I'll forward bouquets to the team instead :)

17 comments:

Som said...

Took the cue from Sachin? Turning brickbats into bouquets sounds similar to Sachin's turning-stone-into-milestone adage!

straight point said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
straight point said...

let me be the first to wear the devil cap and here's my first brickbat...

please ask mahi how many more runs are required for him to feel secure enough to attack with more close in fielders even after second session ( start of game after tea) on fourth day when it was clear even to boycott's mom that they are NOT going for 600...

Ankit Poddar said...

megha,

precisely my point, that brickbats can now wait! if you need any help converting them into bouquets, just lemme know!

btw, you missed out on sachin, performed real well in both ODI and Tests

Megha said...

Som,

well, i wasn't really thinking of that but glad to know that Sachin n I think alike :) I am a little tired of all the negativity around these days so thought I should focus on the positives only for a change....

Megha said...

SP

even with close in fielders and such the next day, we still managed to fluff 3 chances, didn't we...who is to say what would have worked...after all India managed to bat out 2 days in the 2nd test to avoid defeat...NZ could have dropped anchor and done the same...

Now, i am not denying that mistakes were made...what you are saying is absolutely valid....but my point is that let us please not take away from the fact that we pretty much dominated througout the tour...something we couldn't have dreamt of say 5 years ago

Megha said...

Cheers Ankit

sorry for missing out on Sachin...I kinda blanked out after writing the bit about Dravid :P

Soulberry said...

No complaints at all!

Megha said...

Cheers SB :)

Anusha said...

NZ were on field for almost 5 days over a span of 2 tests..I just got a feeling that Dhoni did not want them to come and bat after a good night's rest..He wanted to drill them some more on the field and the way Mahi and Yuvi scored that morning ensured that the fielders had some running to do..we got them to 4/84 pretty soon, didn't we? and the end was soon enough but for taylor and franklin and of course the dropped catches..

i don't feel like getting hard on Dhoni and co for this..but i was wondering if sachin could have been brought on attack a little sooner..(is that a brickbat?)..even though there is always the question of what could have been, the series was pretty comprehensively won even though the scoreline does not strongly reflects that...

Your one note did wonders for dear Dravid..You keep up the good work.. :-)

Megha said...

Those are good points Anusha..Sachin *is* used very sparingly as a bowler...i wonder if it has to do with his back troubles? But all in all, a good win for India :)

Gaurav Sethi said...

Hi Megha, could you pls mail me at bcciwrites@gmail.com
thanks!

Viswanathan said...

Megha,

I have no quarrel with the result, only with the margin of the(series) victory.

NC,

I see that you are up to your usual tricks. :)

Shailesh said...

Well-written, Megha.
I agree, after all, it's the series win that should be the toast of the moment, for now.
However, for the overall verdict, I'm a bit like sitting-on-the-fence right now. I hadn't felt the timing to be as bad initially, but having read Samir's blog I also found myself agreeing to the point that why were the batsmen not bombarded with extra fielders constantly, when that was precisely the intent of such a huge, buffer's buffer's buffer-filled total?
I can understand the decl. timing but only if the reason for that timing is backed up with on-field demeanour and efforts.
But all in all, glad with the result.

Megha said...

Ottayan, Shailesh

I'm just resurfacing after an extended Easter Break :)...thanks for your comments.

Let's just think of this as taking baby steps towards "greater glory"...
You get steamrolled abroad consistently -> You at least start to put up a fight -> You actually start winning a few test here and there (only to lose the series!) -> You start winning series overseas

The next step of course will be to display more agression and go for, say a 2-0 result instead of settling for the safer 1-0 option :)

Shailesh said...

Yup, atleast we finally won an Kiwi-land series (after 41 years) and it was only because we were so dominant that we are debating about the pros and cons of the decl timing.
I'm sure had the match even been on tenterhooks (50-50, or 60-40 favoring India), everybody wudv preferred to play it safe and just secure the series win with a 1-0 lead already in the bag.

PS - No wonder you were on a break. I was wondering how a true-blue Dravid fan can stop herself from writing after the inaugural match of the RCs:-)

Megha said...

ha ha ha...that is just because I'm not an IPL fan, so I don't follow it that much. I do occasionally check in on RD though..excellent stuff in the opening match...not so much yesterday :)