Blogs Was India Wrong at Batting Slow?
December 23rd, 2008 by punterA lot of noise was raised about India’s batting on the fourth day of the last of the two test matches between India and England. Some newspapers even dug up some uninteresting statistical figures to exemplify how slow was the Indian batting during their fourth innings on a very crucial fourth day of the test match. But considering the situation of the match, was batting carefully and yes, slowly, really that bad a decision?
As far as I can see, India didn’t do anything really so horribly wrong. The team had lost some quick wickets and the likes of Tendulkar and Laxman somehow managed to look out of form. With a lead of just about 200+ runs it was only natural for Gambhir to hold anchor at one end as he tried his level best to make sure that the Englishmen didn’t gain anymore advantage. In fact, his effort should be applauded. One can only imagine how difficult it was for a batsman usually so intent on playing his strokes to restrain his natural instincts and grind out a match-saving innings. Just imagine what would have happened had Indian lost six or seven wickets at the end of play and in the end managed a lead of just about 230 – 250 runs?
That kind of a score surely wasn’t going to be easy to score on a fifth day track but it wasn’t impossible. So, the team was right in making sure that they didn’t hand over any leverage to England. By batting slow, India made sure of two things. Firstly, the time factor started working in India’s favour and secondly, any chances of England really going for a run chase were halted. Indian being bowled out quickly might have made for good TV viewing but should entertainment be the result of India losing the advantage of winning the series 1-0?
