Cricket: From the Far End

Nobody asks India to follow-on anymore. Not if there is enough time for them to bounce back like they did in Kolkata in 2001. How much impact can a single match have! Overall, as this piece on Rediff mentions, eight times the opponents have opted to bat again to set a target to India instead of asking to follow-on. Five of those instances are after the Kolkata game.

After Kolkata 2001, there was only once instance of India actually following on. Even in that case the opponent (New Zealand) asked India to bat again because the first innings ended on the fifth day morning, so the only chance New Zealand had of winning that match was to get India out quickly; and there was no away India could have batted out of that deficit and trouble New Zealand as there was no time left. In all other cases the opposing team chose to bat again and set them a target. Batting fourth, India lost all of these matches.

These incidences and there scorecards from the Cricinfo website

* Against West Indies in 2002

Only a day’s play left with West Indies’ innings still going on, Lara looking for a safe total to declare on and India’s innings not even started yet, this on a pitch not very bowler friendly. In similar situations involving other teams, this would have been a sure draw. But with India to bat on the last day, Lara must have looked at recent history and fancied his chances. This is the fifth incidence in last 18 months or so where India had to bat fourth with a large total to chase. Of the earlier four, only once India has survived.Here are India’s recent attempts to play out the last day:

Saurav Ganguly gave an interview to BBC and just like many of his previous ones this is wonderful, with Dada tellings things very frankly as he thinks about them. Like the answer to the question about playing as a mere player and not a captain, his most answers seem very straight. That’s one thing I have always liked about Ganguly.