Sunday, February 14, 2010

Hullabaloo at Eden Gardens

9,209,43. What do you reckon comes next? Turns out, 35. The first South African wicket fell at 9. Then the second wicket partnership added 209. Seven wickets then fell in the space of 43 runs. And the tenth wicket partnership added 35 (a pretty sloppy show by the Indians this morning). All said, a topsy-turvy series of events. How I wish I had been able to watch the post-tea session as it unfolded yesterday. To think that Sharma and Mishra picked up their first wickets of the series, that Harbhajan put himself on a hat-trick again at the Eden Gardens (and a non-bogus one at that, given how awful Gilchrist's LBW was at Kolkata in 2001), that Zaheer triggered a run-out with a direct-hit, and that Harris paid the price for getting distracted by a fast bowler. All in front of a crowd of "only" 35,000, small for the Eden Gardens, and yet big enough to pack any ground in England.

There are lots of reasons to dislike living on the East Coast. Missing this test's post-tea session because of the timezones will get added to that list.

Needless to say, I've been looking forward to the Indian batting response in this test, starting with the openers, and the next hour or so should be enthralling. Viru has already started off with a bang.

If only Laxman Sivramakrishnan weren't commentating.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Jaunty Quicksand said...

Time zone, shime zone. Pshaw! I stayed up and watched it unfold. And watched every minute of yesterday, too. :-)

And yes, still managed to get here in time to teach my 9am class. Best of both worlds.

At the point of the run-out Sehwag was 44 from 22 balls. He slowed down to get to a 100 in 87 balls. Getting Gambhir out slowed that revving engine of his and ensured that he got the proverbial big-un. Of course, when he slows down he just chunters along at a run-a-ball. Wonderful.

12:02 PM  
Blogger Samir Chopra said...

JQ: Kudos. You're a tough man. I try and stay up till 1AM. Thats all I can handle. My rising time tends to be around 6 by which time the test is over. I could get up at 5 but there have been too many times that I've been disappointed by India in that time-frame, so I've given up.

Teaching at 9 after staying up is mind-boggling. How old are you? :)

That runout certainly distracted Viru for a bit. But he can't stay quiet for too long. What a gem, and how badly have India wasted his many wonderful innings over the years.

1:37 PM  
Blogger Jaunty Quicksand said...

Samir, I finished high school a few months before SRT hit his first Test fifty in Pakistan, if that helps you!

I agree with your point that India has wasted too many of Sehwag's innings. The poor guy must get so angry in the pavilion watching his teammates make the like of Harris look like world beaters.

4:29 PM  
Blogger Samir Chopra said...

JQ: Respect. Thats tough. In my defense, all I can say is that I watch the cricket on a desktop which is pretty darn uncomfortable and sends me to sleep quicker. I think I would be able to stay up a bit longer if I could watch it on a big screen.

9:22 AM  

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