Indians Haven't Learnt From The Past

Well as the fear was still on, the most unexpected happened as far as the Indian team is concerned. Rain interrupts the match which has finally been forced to be declared as a draw, thus bringing all the good work from the Indian players and Gautam Gambhir especially to an abrupt end. Although nothing could be done regarding the pouring showers, something could have really been done by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in particular to see India sneek a 2-0 triumph. But, unfortunately that never meant so at Wellington. More of the blame from me would be on M.S.Dhoni for such a debacle.

For, this is not the first time that India have been a part of such an anti climax. Atleast not so if the past one year or so is taken into consideration for India. The last time, in the recent past, I still remember in the second test match against England in December last year, India lost an opportunity to win the series 2-0 and instead won it by 1-0. In the second test at Mohali, India imposed a target of 453 on the fifth, which was always threatened by showers to play a spoilsport and which actually happened. And the result as expected was accepted.

Despite rain interruptions since day 1 of that test match at Mohali, there was no point in imposing a mammoth target of 453, with just few hours of play left. A target of 453 would mean to England to be an impossible target which the England team eventually decided not to go chasing it. Likewise, if a feasible target was imposed, England would have made an attempt to chase down that target and a few tricks from the Indian bowlers would have got them the match. The thinking from Mahendra Singh Dhoni was no different this time either at Welington.

The game was in favor of team India since day 1. Not only did India score a decent 379, but also bowled the New Zealand side for a low score of 197, in the process taking a lead of 182 runs. This was the scenario at the end of the second day's play. So, with three more days of play still left and with hints of rain very much on the cards, a little bit of thinking from Dhoni was expected. A lesser target of somewhere around say 450 would have been ideal, taking into account the batting strength of the New Zealand side. Also, if not for Zaheer Khan, none of the Indian bowlers viz Ishanth Sharma, Munaf Patel were found bowling with a determination. Someone like Sachin was able to capture 2 wickets and the so called frontline bowlers could not do so.

So, it was not just rain that spoilt India's chance of taking a 2-0 win but also on the Indian team to a greater extent.