Well, there are times when your predictions come out true and you want to shout out from rooftops “I said so”. Similar are my sentiments following the conclusion of the India-South Africa test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In fact, the topic for my last post (“Kolkata…. Déjà vu?”) seems so prophetic now that I am putting up another post on the topic. Forgive me friends for this show of self-indulgence, my sense of bravado being heightened by the emphatic win India achieved to retain the No.1 spot in a fiercely contested match and series.
And what a series it was…
World No. 1 v/s World No.2, top ranking at stake, a drawn series 1-1, both teams winning a test by an innings each and the series undecided till the last 9 balls on Day Five of the last test. Had Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel seen off those 9 balls, the series would have been the Proteas’ and with it the No. 1 ranking.
However, Eden Gardens had scripted a different epic for the capacity crowd gathered there. The Eden nominated one of its favorite adopted sons, Harbhajan Singh to execute the final act in a brilliant tale. He caught Morkel plumb in line to make India victors by an innings and 58 runs and the celebration that ensued showed how much the win mattered for India, in general and Harbhajan, in particular. He had come under a lot of flak for his below-par performance in the last Test and he was lambasted for not taking up the responsibility as a senior with the team missing certain key players. He replied with a solid performance picking up 8 wickets in the match with a 5-wickwt haul in the second innings.
This brings me back to the topic of the sense of déjà vu and the feeling of nostalgia that this Test invoked.
Just like the ‘01 test v/s Australia at the Eden, where the stars were Laxman, Dravid and Bhajji (as I tabulated in the last post) ; Laxman and Bhajji played important roles in this game too. (Dravid sat out due to injury). Though this time around there were contributions from Tendulkar, Sehwag , Mishra and Dhoni as well.
The similarity in some of the events in the two tests couldn’t have been more stark .
In 2001, Australia were going along at 193/1 when Harbhajan took a fiver (including that famous hat-trick) to reduce them to 291/8 in the last session.
Here, South Africa was coasting along on Day 1 at 218/1 when Harbhajan picked up 3 wickets in quick succession and aided by Zaheer reduced SA to 266/9 by day end. He was also on a hat-trick at one point of time but missed it.
Now, the second favorite son of the Eden, VVS Laxman. Laxman played one of the finest innings(281*) in the 2001 Test which redeemed India from a seemingly hopeless situation.
Here, after Sehwag and Tendulkar had given a solid start, he produced an unbeaten hundred under much less pressure but in a match of no less importance.
All in all, a heart- warming performance by India coupled with some nostalgic moments of triumph from Harbhajan and Laxman made it a game which the Indian supporters will remember for some time to come.
And so will I, especially if my predictions keep coming out true. ;)
P.S. This article was posted after the Test but due to a technical error, it didn’t come up on the blog. So, I am posting it again.
