Seriously, have we ever heard, or seen, or read about, or bloody imagined a greater anti-climax than the one served up by our savior, Sehwag?
Messiah. Revenge taker. English Beater. Baba Sehwag Dev. The Man!
The hype generated, especially by the Indian media, already had Sehwag scoring a triple hundred in each inning at Edgbaston.
Well, he missed by just a little bit.
Each test shows the surreal progression. The English have gotten better and better, and Indians have scaled depths of equal proportions. 196 in the first test, over 300 in the second, and now marching handsomely-all-trumpets-blowing towards an innings defeat, as an Indian fan, I shudder at the thought of the defeat margin in the fourth test.
Cook’s brilliant double, and Sehwag’s King Pair has perfectly embodied this tour for India. The visitors have gone into each game hoping for a fortune-changing performance that would rouse the sleeping lion.
However, Tests require eleven performances to come together in a perfect Cricket-symphony; they are not won or lost by one sparkling hurrah.
I had hoped that the stark difference between a 100 meter sprinter and a marathoner would dawn upon us after we bid farewell to our last gunslinger-test players. That it would come while they are still around is both a shame and a leveler, in perfectly balanced glory.
Great tests have always come about when two equal-ish teams created epic battles. Sometimes though, one team has to carry the baton and create dominant brilliance that overshadows everything.
So far, it seems, India made the trip for nothing. They could have played these matches from the comfort of their living rooms back home.
It was great while it lasted…..but friends, it is time,
We are not number one. They are.
Period.
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