History at the Wanderers
Published by Sameer on Monday, December 18, 2006.
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There! ... it is done!
India have finally won a Test Match in South Africa. It's a 123-run victory over an opposition that indulged themselves into believing that the Indians would be easy meat. However, India won the match by playing some good, solid cricket. The Indians were, by far, the better team in the contest in all the departments of the game. Yes... even the Indian fielding was on par with the South African effort, if not better. And that is saying a lot!
Of course, the Indian team management has a couple of vexing issues to sort out before the next Test begins, namely the opening partnership (or the lack of it) and the below-grade bowling performance by VRV Singh, especially in the second innings. But that will not take away from this tremendous occasion of a rare overseas win... and that too in a country where victory has always eluded the Indians.
Its difficult to pick an outright man of the match, as far as I am concerned. It's true that Sreesanth's bowling sparked off the South African collapse in the first innings to set up the stage for a Indian win, but lets not forget Zaheer Khan's performance with the ball and the bat! ... and ohh! who can forget his swooping run to collect and throw the ball in one smooth motion, hitting the middle stump and running out AB DeVilliers!
In fact, I feel that the "man" of the match was "Team India" rather than any individual team members. And that's how things should be! Let's hope they stay the same! :-)
India have finally won a Test Match in South Africa. It's a 123-run victory over an opposition that indulged themselves into believing that the Indians would be easy meat. However, India won the match by playing some good, solid cricket. The Indians were, by far, the better team in the contest in all the departments of the game. Yes... even the Indian fielding was on par with the South African effort, if not better. And that is saying a lot!
Of course, the Indian team management has a couple of vexing issues to sort out before the next Test begins, namely the opening partnership (or the lack of it) and the below-grade bowling performance by VRV Singh, especially in the second innings. But that will not take away from this tremendous occasion of a rare overseas win... and that too in a country where victory has always eluded the Indians.
Its difficult to pick an outright man of the match, as far as I am concerned. It's true that Sreesanth's bowling sparked off the South African collapse in the first innings to set up the stage for a Indian win, but lets not forget Zaheer Khan's performance with the ball and the bat! ... and ohh! who can forget his swooping run to collect and throw the ball in one smooth motion, hitting the middle stump and running out AB DeVilliers!
In fact, I feel that the "man" of the match was "Team India" rather than any individual team members. And that's how things should be! Let's hope they stay the same! :-)
I agree with you that it is hard to chose a man-of-the-match. It is at times like this that I detest this title. Like you, I am ecstatic too over the win. Check out my comments at http://mohankaus.blogspot.com -- Mohan