A victory of the positives

Such was the mood at the post-match press conference that even the repeatedly asked irritating question — how long will the experiments continue? — saw a deadpan Dravid reply, “As long as we need.” When asked if he was relieved seeing Tendulkar being among runs at No 4, he was almost in splits.

“It was never a concern for the team management, so there is no question of being relieved. But the thing is, now even those who were concerned should relax,” Dravid said.

And, as an afterthought, he added with a naughty smile: “But then what will we talk about? Maybe you guys will find something else,” he added.

But that exercise will be a real brain teaser in case one goes by today’s proceeding. There wasn’t one foot laid wrong. Read on:

• Sourav Ganguly showed he can pull the short ball over the fence with the same elan he drives through the covers. Ironically he missed his favourite ‘stepping out lofted shot’ to be stumped but after his 82 balls 68 he had done the job.

• Rahul Dravid had said after the Chennai game that he should have been around longer, which made it difficult for the team to approach the 300 mark. Today he stuck around till the 44th over, scoring 78, and that meant the final score almost reached the 350 mark.

• Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 at No 4 meant India’s middle order muddle was not quite that.

• MS Dhoni’s blitzkrieg in the final overs meant a nightmare for rival bowlers bowling at the death.

• Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar confirmed their status at India’s top-two new ball bowlers. They showed that variety and change of pace is the way to bowl on dead track. Moreover, Agarkar also exposed that getting Chris Gayle early means the probability of a West Indies collapse increases.

... contd.