It's India vs England and to be honest up until the start of play of Day 1 of the 3rd test, I was in fact quite a happy camper, but now is a completely different story.
You have now gone 1-0 in the test series after a fantastic win, that too at the Home of Cricket after 28 years and now you let it slip straight away. SO FRUSTRATING!
We have not performed to our potential but then to be 1-0 up was an amazing achievement without any assistance from Dhawan, Kohli or Pujara in the batting department and Ashwin on the bowling side. Stand out perfromances from Rahane, Bhuvi, Vijay & Ishant had brought us to where we are and now, over a week later, we are staring down the barrel with 1 FULL DAY to go and 6 wickets left and over 300 runs to score. Even though, I will always believe in the chance of a miracle, I am not so hopeful this time.
Before the 3rd test, I really thought I had Mahi figured out when it came to team selection for the upcoming test; yes I understand that no one expected Ishant to be injured at the last minute but then why do we have an 18 man squad??? I was pretty sure when speaking to friends that when it came to team selection, that changes would be as follows:
- Dhawan REPLACED by Gambhir
- Binny REPLACED by Ashwin
- Shami REPLACED by Pandey or Aaron
But then again, Mahi has his own way of doing things - you don't replace Dhawan, who failed yet again and then replace Binny (an all-rounder) with Rohit Sharma (a batsman who can bowl a bit (1 wicket in his handful of tests)) and then bring in debutante Pankaj Singh for Ishant when Pandey would have definitely been a better pick. I agree that Pankaj has been unlucky with his first innings spell where he had Cook dropped early and an LBW appeal against Bell turned down but we just haven't done enough with either bat or ball this test match and England took advantage with Balance (already in sublime form) and then allowing Bell & Cook to get into form again (how typical of Indian bowling). I do not know why but whenever batsmen need runs and need to get into form - I think the answer is usually to face India at home.
Today is the last day and will the rest of the Indian batting line up be able to stand up and be counted? I wonder. I do not have high hopes but if we save this test, I do not know what expect for the 4th test. This test was set up for us to consolidate the lead we worked so hard to get and what we have done is just put in on a platter for England to nicely take out of our hands without even the smallest of fights. People like Pujara (whom I expect a lot out of) and Kohli need to buckle down and start making larger contributions (significantly larger) so as to put India in better positions going forward.
If we save this test match, will Mahi stick to the same squad? Will the changes happen? They should as people like Gambhir, Aaron and Pandey are probably itching to have a go and why not try something different?
My legs and fingers are now crossed and hoping for a positive outcome - only a few hours to go.
