Cricket: India On The Backfoot Again In Nagpur Test Against England!

That the normally greenish bouncing pitch in Nagpur behaved like an under-prepared one from the first day yesterday maybe thanks to MS Dhoni’s diktats, he lost the toss though this time. That India included four spinners and a lonely pace bowler called Ishant Sharma. That India managed to put England in a spot thanks not to the spinners galore, but to the lone pacer. That India allowed England to wriggle out of the spot easily and later on in different similar spots too, though India did manage to slow down run-scoring which rather helped England as they would win the Series with a draw. That on Dhoni’s pitch England got to a healthy total of 330 runs thanks to brave low order efforts by Prior and spinner Swann. That England’s two excellent spinners got more of the pitch than the four Indian ones. That England put India on the backfoot reducing them to 87 for 4 at stumps on the second day today with all the top four guns back in pavilion. All these cricketing facts hardly matter. What matter are the news about the game of Indian Cricket, the speculations and the possible outcome not naturally to follow after this last Test between India and England. What finally happens in Nagpur Test is not the concern; the concern is what finally does not happen to Indian Cricket. Indian cricket fans have been focused on devouring more and more news about cricket of late. Pity! (By the way, if you are still interested in this Test here is the Scorecard)

Immediately after Humiliation No.2 in Kolkata the squad for the fourth Test was announced. We have said here that the three replacements were scapegoats, and Indian cricket’s living legend Sunil Gavaskar later in the day called two of the three as scapegoats indeed. Two days later ace ex-cricketer Mohinder, fondly called Jimmy, Amarnath spilled the beans as to why big superstars always get protected by the Big (Money?) for a variety of reasons and vested interests. Amarnath, one of the then selectors in BCCI, asked for Dhoni's sack and he mustered three of the five votes, but nothing happened to Dhoni and instead Jimmy found himself sacked in the next appointment of national selectors.  The speculations got wild with experts, ex-players, lovers of the game and fans crying about a no-good or divided or demoralized Team India. Of course, some of them lambasted the fact that it was not the right time for such debates as Team India had yet to play the last Test and that they should not get demoralized. Well, the boys are always the pampered ones regardless of what they do on the field.

The old Indian story is too obvious. Here the dirty rich ones and the powerful ones get dirtier richer and more powerful as they grow old. They muster so much clout over time that their age never becomes a consideration. They can be found sitting mighty in any field of activity—be it politics, arts, sports or cricket. Therefore, the result of the Nagpur Test is hardly a concern as we have mentioned in the beginning. What might still not happen to Indian cricket in the coming days or months is the overwhelming mystery for all concerned.