And Pop Goes The Bubble
Complete Fiasco At Lord’s For India
By S Zeyaur Rahman

Once again the critics and cricket lovers are struggling to formulate their responses to the latest test debacle at Lord’s. Of course it is not a pleasant thing to do on nay occasion and the sickening regularity with which we are confronted with the same set of problems, the task becomes all the more despicable. All such exercises boil down to the same fundamental question what went wrong again?     

Can we really say that our worst apprehensions were proved correct? India losing a test match abroad is not a rarity and therefore not a nightmarish possibility. We do that very often and with regularity. We have almost perfected into an art, losing here there and everywhere. So what if the odds were in our favor to start with, so what if the pitch was not a green top, so what if the opposition attack was without its four top bowlers, so what if we have the best batting line up in the world….

We should not really be upset if India loses a test match abroad. In fact we would do well to be prepared for it, expect it, anticipate it or even predict it whenever we can no matter what the pundits say. We were the favorites to win the series in West Indies not a long time ago. But we contrived to end up on the losing side. Even at Lord’s, it was India which held the upper hand, on paper though. But still we were pretty close to earning an innings defeat (had the follow on been implemented).

Historically speaking, Indians are supposed to be a pessimistic or at least a fatalistic lot. Then how come we are so optimistic when it comes to cricket results? We must get down and investigate into the reasons for the aberration in our national psyche in this particular case. Shall we blame it on the influence of modernity that has changed our national character? But then we should be expecting such results in other games as well. Why only games, in everything else in fact.

I wonder what makes us entertain the notion that India will win a test series abroad. I for one don’t even recollect even a single instance in the last 16 years when India even came remotely close to winning a test series against a decent opposition outside the subcontinent. May be the veil of Maya, which is another inherent characteristic of the nation, prohibits us from seeing the reality.

Yes, illusion can be the reason for that. And the more glittering ones make us visualize phantasmagoric dreams. The recent triumph in the triangular series was one such dream which percolated into realty and blurred our vision horribly.  

Secondly, England was without it strike bowlers. Not only Gough and Caddick were absent, second rung strike bowlers like Cork and Tudor were also missing. If we can’t negotiate the opponent attack without four top bowlers on a flat pitch, do we have any moral right to stay in business? Would not be a crime or insanity to entertain visions of victory under the circumstances.

It was difficult to believe that it was the same Indian team which played so wonderfully well in the triangular trophy and scripted a memorable victory in the finals. Almost all the countries have the two-team strategy for the different versions of the game. But none of them have such glaring contradictions in their performances. Top teams like Australia, South Africa, Pakistan win regularly both in test and one dayers despite having different combinations. Why does the experiment fail with India? Why do we become such a hopeless test side?    

This question needs serious pondering and more than that an answer must be found quickly. It was shocking to hear the skipper dismissing the debacle as ‘these things happen in the beginning of the series’. Mr Ganguly, why these things happen to India and not any other team? And why did these things happen in the end in the West Indies, when we slipped from 1-0 to lose 1-2?