An Indian defeat is never a reason to celebrate. In fact, it leaves ReverseSwing quite distraught. (A celebrity write would have said: 'It (being sad)is the least I can do for the country.')
Today’s defeat in Ahmedabad will rankle more than usual. Not because of anyempathy with Mr Modi and antipathy towards 'Mian Musharraf', butbecause it is one more barb in the hands of those who have been trying to makethe case that Sachin does not win matches. Beyond helping the team get to 315 in48 overs on a pitch where television experts were pitching 260 as a winningscore, what could he have done? Bowled 10 overs and taken five for 38? Come on,guys, leave him alone.
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Still, there is a bright side to the defeat, for, it is also a defeat of thecoin, which had of late become the most potent factor in this India-Pakistanone-day series. Inzamam and Saurav, it seemed, had become more concerned aboutthe tossing form than batting or bowling. (Wonder if there underwent speciallyorganised net sessions for it, too.)
And why not? Match strategy had lately been reduced to a straight line: winthe toss. Bat, bat, bat and bat. Make the other team sweat, sweat, sweat andsweat. Then relax and carry out that onerous formality of bowling and fielding,secure in the knowledge that the match is already in the bag.
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Column after column, expert after expert, and those include current players,have been talking about the importance of the toss. Statistics have been dishedout revealing how many matches India have won after winning the toss and viceversa.
Why? India may have the reputation of lousy chasers, but they havesuccessfully chased over 300 in one-day cricket on at least four occasions,every time against a credible attack. Pakistan hadn’t, till today, but thenthey had Inzamam in their ranks. It is well established that with him on thecrease, no total is safe – a fact that was underlined today. The pitches,graveyards for bowlers, haven’t changed their character during the course of amatch. So why this mindset? Why did Inzamam’s face this morning looked likethe face of a vanquished warrior. He had merely lost the toss.
Reverse Swing hopes that, now that Pakistan have prevailed with Inzamam’slast ball strike in today’s match, sanity too will prevail. Fine! Don’tlisten to Reverse Swing. Just rewind one of Steve Waugh’s quotes, which saidthat the toss is merely the start of a game, not the end. And then run a checkthrough the number of matches the great man won against all odds.
