The year 2008 seems to be heading towards a paradoxical end for India. Flipping the pages of the last 12 months, in which Team India developed a habit of winning and earned a reputation of being aggressive, the final chapter spells out a rather timid climax with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni deciding to adopt a better-safe-than-sorry policy in the season-ending second Test against England.

Dhoni and his team mates had watched the highlights of the famous six-wicket victory for South Africa against Australia on TV last night. Not too long ago, they were in front of the cameras scripting a similar turnaround win. After two weeks of successive big fourth-innings blasts — in Chennai and Perth — Dhoni perhaps felt there was little logic in setting up a challenging total for England, with his team already 1-0 up in the series, and with truncated 70-over days the norm in this match.

After gaining a 151-run advantage going into their second innings, India killed time, and the hopes of their fans, to end up at 134/4 from 50 overs, ahead by 285 runs when they could’ve even taken the lead to 350-plus with a more attacking approach.

Gautam Gambhir, the year’s brightest star for India, played an uncharacteristic, muted innings — a 155-ball 44 with just three boundaries — and except for a late evening burst of 39 not out from Yuvraj Singh, the spectators snored at the PCA stadium as runs came in only a trickle.

S-factor

Once again, India’s plans of going for a win seemed to hinge on Virender Sehwag. If Chennai showed what the team could achieve, Mohali was a reminder of their inability to set the pace once the Delhi batsman was out of the equation. While India have their set of contributors, silently constructing a solid foundation, the lack of options to grab the initiative has been a perennial problem.

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