Frenetic series ends in rain

What if Harbhajan Singh had hung on for a bit longer in the first game at Vadodara after he led a brave late charge with Praveen Kumar? What if Virender Sehwag had lasted a few more balls at Mohali while he was in dangerously good touch when India were chasing 250? And what if Ravindra Jadeja had managed a few edges when he tied down the Aussies during their tough chase of 170 on a spin-friendly track in Guwahati? And,most importantly,what if Tendulkar had read the slower ball from Clint McKay at Hyderabad?

If these situations sent the fans on a roller-coaster ride,there were a few statistics that stood out during the last 18 days. Despite India losing the series,they had two hundreds while Aussies had one. But a deeper analysis of the stats revealed that while India will remember the series for Tendulkar’s 175 and Dhoni’s 124,the Australian batting partnerships were more decisive throughout.

For their part,the Aussies will savour the win for both its geographical significance,and for the fact that five of their pacemen got injured over the course of the series — including Moises Henriques who came as a replacement for James Hopes.

A freak feature of the series that went unnoticed,however,was the sudden emergence of Indian all-rounders — a department where a vacancy had been publicised by Dhoni following the Champions Trophy loss. Praveen Kumar’s batting average of 40 was better than Gautam Gambhir,Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina’s,while spinners Harbhajan Singh and Jadeja too were among the runs.

Dhoni would have liked to end the series on a high,especially because their only bad loss came in the sixth match in Guwahati three days ago. But inclement weather is just a harsh reality of the game of uncertainties. Cricket and clouds aren’t really the twain who never meet.