The emotional, roller-coaster of the Nagpur Test

It has been an eon since one came across an emotional, roller-coaster of a set of moments, as one did on the last day of the final test match between arguably, two of the biggest cricketing giants in the world of cricket, for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. That India went on to clinch the series with consummate ease, and with it, the very coveted trophy probably got lost somewhere in the heap, as the headlines were dominated by the retirements of two of the greatest cricketers to have represented India, and some surprising and questionable moves by the Aussie counterparts.

The final day of the series had begun with the tourists needing a highly improbable 369 to get to a come-from-behind series levelling victory, but they were soon in trouble after losing the overtly aggressive Simon Katich and this was soon followed by Ricky Ponting running himself out by a pumped up Amit Mishra. Michael Clarke left soon after to leave not too many with any doubt about the result. Mathew Hayden and Michael Hussey delayed the inevitable with some audacious stroke play, but the Indian spinners were more than a handful on a fifth day wicket as the Aussies collapsed a little before the tea break to hand India over the trophy.

However, the test match memoirs would be penned down more so with Sourav Ganguly’s retirement in mind. Ganguly had made his announcement before the series had begun, and his last inning duck – after an inning of 85 in the first – had only added to his legend. Walking out on to the field for that one last occasion, he was afforded a guard of honour by the Indian fielders, but what sent those goose-bumps on an overdrive was when the newly crowned skipper, M.S. Dhoni, requested the former, outgoing Nawab from Bengal to lead the side for a period of fifteen odd minutes. If that wasn’t enough to send a chill down one’s spine, then Ganguly’s statement after the match, “I didn’t expect MS to ask me to captain the side for five overs. I was already switched off, so he woke me up. I didn’t know what was happening the first six-seven balls” did the needful.

For some moments, Ganguly was his old self, shouting orders, shuffling fielders and trying to extract the best out of them. And then, probably the moment of truth dawned upon him, as Mitchell Johnson padded one to Harbhajan Singh to be adjudged leg-before the wicket.

The match was won, the southpaw was lifted off the field by some of his team-mates, and carried all the way up to the pavilion. Hands were shaken with the vanquished, and the smile never left the batsman from Bengal.

Only a minute earlier, a hand on his shoulder by Rahul Dravid, and for a moment, the surreal thought of two of the best Indian cricketers departing into the sunshine came rushing through one’s mind. Then as soon as it had come, the moment had passed. Dravid rushed past him and disappeared into the dressing room, probably mulling over his future after a dreadful last one year or so. At the post-match conference, Dhoni had one of his very few troubles in describing Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly, but when he did find his tongue, he was lavish in his praise. Sharing the same dressing room with the people whom he had grown up to admire had been great, he said.

Clearly, the Indian TV producers’ strike did not prevent too many in the audience from shedding much more than a tear or two in the end.

However, all this mush wouldn’t have seemed so rosy in the end, had Ricky Ponting not blundered in bowling his part time bowlers at a time when the Indians looked to be under the weather. With a lead of only 86 runs in their kitty, the Australians had managed to wrest the initiative back by restricting the hosts to 166/6 at team on the fourth day, due to some excellent reverse swing bowling by Shane Watson and prodigious turn by Jason Krejza. With only Dhoni to get out of the way, it needed a few more very tight overs from both the ends to restrict the target down to a total of around 280 to chase.

All of a sudden, the post-tea session saw a shocker.

Ponting, who had been under the cosh for slow over-rates chose the most inopportune of moments to exhibit that his team also played the game “in its true spirits” and got the likes of Cameron White, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke from one end. Apparently, another transgression would have seen him get banned for one test match as a captain. The pressure was off the back of Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh, the runs came like the Mumbai rains, and the target swelled to 382 runs!

Two of the greatest former Aussie greats, Allan Border and Ian Chappell, had to almost pinch themselves out of the reverie they found themselves in, looking at these anything-but-aggressive tactics. Border went on to thank god that Ponting couldn’t read his mind at that point in time, simply because he wouldn’t have read something nice! Chappell was more critical about Ponting’s inability to complete the overs within the stipulated norms, a charge he has been guilty of for sustained periods now. The CEO of Cricket Australia (CA), James Sutherland looked to be as baffled by Pontng’s strategy and promised to have a quiet word with the Aussie skipper on return.

Two of the greatest Indian cricketers had walked into the sunset, and one hopes that Ponting’s performances, both, in terms of results, body language and tactical blunders, do not result in the same kind of fate for this reasonably efficient skipper of the Australian team. The gut feel is that Ponting may not be shown the door for now, but would be under the scanner. Fortunately for him, not too many Aussies look like they can take over as the captain from him, and with a relatively easier home series against the Kiwis, things may improve for him from here.

Or at least one hopes so.