SLOW DEATH ON THE FASTEST PITCH

Many a times, Media and Experts romanticize a particular match. It could be a statistic or a past incident or a piece of history of the venue or the teams. As Vikram Sathaye says, “half the credit of the excitement of Sachin’s Sharjah innings should go to Tony Craig and his ‘straight down the ground all the way for six’ remark”. With Perth, it’s always the bounce.  Everybody likes to talk about the bounce and the difficulty batsmen face in handling it. It makes the match that much more exciting. Well! Not this one. After a few short balls from Bhuvneshwar Kumar & Mohit Sharma and a brief fiery spell from Umesh Yadav, M.S. Dhoni decided to end the ‘Perth excitement’ and introduced R. Ashwin in the 11^th over itself.

There is a wonderful short story by Alfred Hitchcock in which a nurse is hired to take care of a lone ailing old lady with a healthy will. The nurse tries a ‘slow poison death’ on the old lady by mixing a small portion of a poison in her daily milk. Every time Dhoni’s spinners choke the opposition batting, I cannot help but think of this analogy. That’s how M.S.Dhoni likes it, doesn’t he? While Ashwin and Jadeja slowly strangled UAE’s batting, one fact emerged very strongly, which is encouraging and possibly the most crucial in India’s title defense.

India’s pace bowling looked sharp against South Africa but history of Indian fast bowling tells us that it has been very consistent in one aspect, its inconsistency. India’s current fast bowling is definitely prone to inconsistency.  It is natural and to some extent acceptable if this young pace bowling attack cracks under the pressure of a knock-out game. It needs a dependable back up. Ashwin and Jadeja are experienced enough to take that responsibility.

Quality spin attack is the only factor which distinguishes India from rest of the Quarter-Finalists. It certainly gives India some comfort in a potential banana skin match against Ireland. In Australia, spin has to be the ventilator in case the heart fails. UAE is an associate nation. Sachin’s Desert Storm in 1998 is the most scintillating moment in India’s association with UAE till date. It was unlikely that this match was going to match up to it. But Ashwin and Jadeja’s performance in the match, on the back of last two matches will give India confidence that it can depend on them. Dhoni will be beyond doubt depending on his spinners with all his silly points, short legs and leg slips. That’s how he likes it. That’s how he prefers it. Strangle them until they choke. Slow death so that you enjoy every bit of it. Just like the master, Alfred Hitchcock.