If you are an Indian cricket supporter you must often be getting to the brink of banging your head on the nearest wall at the man's propensity to discard reason for valour just when he is getting on top. His self-dismissing horror of a shot just 2 balls before the tea interval on the 5th day at Durban had just that effect on me, as did his dismissal at Capetown in the 3rd ODI of the preceding one day series and his hoick at Malaysia in the knockout match versus Australia a few months back.
Yet we must let go of the numerous failures-at-the-doorstep-of-success that this amazing player has returned for his team this year if we desire to sit back and relish the clean, dunno-what-to-expect entertainment he made available to all who cared to watch these cameos.
Yet we must let go of the numerous failures-at-the-doorstep-of-success that this amazing player has returned for his team this year if we desire to sit back and relish the clean, dunno-what-to-expect entertainment he made available to all who cared to watch these cameos.
Even as we watch him walk back after each such dismissal, do we not sometimes wonder about what puts us off more - the implication of his dismissal to our beloved team at a crucial juncture, or being denied the promised lump of sumptuous old world cricket entertainment rarely allowed in any sport by the result-oriented ways of most modern players?
These are 2 successive mails I sent to friends when Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored his 47 at Durban:
These are 2 successive mails I sent to friends when Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored his 47 at Durban:
Mail 1:
-----Original Message-----
From: HAZRA, ANGSHUMAN
Sent: 30 December 2006 17:23
To: *****
Subject: look who's battingMS Dhoni (rhb) 2 (32)Mail 2:-----Original Message-----From: HAZRA, ANGSHUMAN
Sent: 30 December 2006 17:53
To: *****
Subject: Look who's batting AGAIN
MS Dhoni (rhb) 36 (54)
Of all the men playing international cricket at this point of time, I cannot think of a name other than that of another wicketkeeper in another hemisphere who can knock a few years off blokes like me in that fashion.
1 comment:
When you are batting to save a Test match in testing conditions with a pumped up bowling attack breathing fire, every ball that is kept out is a small victory.
I was quite enjoying Dhoni's front foot defence on the last day and given a choice, would have preferred watching him leave balls outside the off stump and duck under the bouncers to the flamboyantly expansive strokes in his repertoire.
The significance of the last day's batting display by the Indians in Durban will only be known at the end of the series.
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