Date: 9-13 August 2007
Day 4 (12 Aug 2007): Dravid leads with poor strategy
A poor approach by the Indians let the game slip away from them and gave England some breath at the end of the penultimate day. This is a day that should go into the cricketing text books for wrong reasons.
After claiming the last wicket in the morning, India had a lead of 319 runs with still about 170 overs left in the game. Dravid's decision not to enforce the follow-on is understandable, but his approach later on is incomprehensible. The way Dravid batted gave a feeling that India is fighting hard to save the match. How else can you describe an innings from the captain who scores 12 runs off 96 deliveries?
The situation demanded some quick runs, but the early wickets of Jaffer, Karthik and Sachin upset Dravid's plans. Even then, if a player of Dravid's calibre is unable to rotate strike by taking singles, then this team is not deserved to win. While at the other end Ganguly was scoring almost a run a ball, Dravid was defending. Ganguly contributed 57 runs to the 4th wicket partnership of 65 runs. Finally, when Dravid declared,they have consumed 58 valuable overs. Any other international team would have cashed in on the situation to score about 200 runs in 40 to 50 overs.
With exactly 500 runs to win, England finished day 4 positively without losing any wicket in the 20 overs. England might not be able to chase down another 444 runs in 90 overs, at about 4.93 runs per over. But, they could well bat out the day. If that happens, India has to blame only themselves for losing the stronghold in the match. The approach by Dravid to safely hold the 1-0 lead is ridiculous. Stronger teams emerge when you are always on the look-out for victories.
1st innings:
India 664 (Kumble 110 not out, Dhoni 92, Karthik 91, Sachin 91, Dravid 55, Laxman 51, Anderson 4 for 182)
England 345 (Bell 63, Collingwood 62, Cook 61, Zaheer 3 for 32, Kumble 3 for 94)
2nd innings:
India 180/6 declared (Ganguly 57, Collingwood 2 for 24)
England 56/0 (Cook 27 not out)
After claiming the last wicket in the morning, India had a lead of 319 runs with still about 170 overs left in the game. Dravid's decision not to enforce the follow-on is understandable, but his approach later on is incomprehensible. The way Dravid batted gave a feeling that India is fighting hard to save the match. How else can you describe an innings from the captain who scores 12 runs off 96 deliveries?
The situation demanded some quick runs, but the early wickets of Jaffer, Karthik and Sachin upset Dravid's plans. Even then, if a player of Dravid's calibre is unable to rotate strike by taking singles, then this team is not deserved to win. While at the other end Ganguly was scoring almost a run a ball, Dravid was defending. Ganguly contributed 57 runs to the 4th wicket partnership of 65 runs. Finally, when Dravid declared,they have consumed 58 valuable overs. Any other international team would have cashed in on the situation to score about 200 runs in 40 to 50 overs.
With exactly 500 runs to win, England finished day 4 positively without losing any wicket in the 20 overs. England might not be able to chase down another 444 runs in 90 overs, at about 4.93 runs per over. But, they could well bat out the day. If that happens, India has to blame only themselves for losing the stronghold in the match. The approach by Dravid to safely hold the 1-0 lead is ridiculous. Stronger teams emerge when you are always on the look-out for victories.
1st innings:
India 664 (Kumble 110 not out, Dhoni 92, Karthik 91, Sachin 91, Dravid 55, Laxman 51, Anderson 4 for 182)
England 345 (Bell 63, Collingwood 62, Cook 61, Zaheer 3 for 32, Kumble 3 for 94)
2nd innings:
India 180/6 declared (Ganguly 57, Collingwood 2 for 24)
England 56/0 (Cook 27 not out)
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