Musings on the Mohali Test

Deferred work timings on Monday meant that I got to watch most of the final day's play - but had to leave as soon as the ninth wicket fell, as the pickup cab arrived. Many regrets for not being able to watch the finish, that disallowed lbw, overthrows and all.

VVS Laxman - well, what to say. Like Elaine Benes from the Seinfeld big four, he was always the most underrated (or undervalued) member of India's current batting quartet. This here innings of 73 was played in the sternest of circumstances, and I suspect it marks his transition from celebrated cult-hero to nationwide phenomenon.

The umpiring, hmm. It was faultless until the fourth day, and then went downhill with the decisions agiainst Hussey and Gambhir. Ducking Beamers has posted a compelling argument in favour of the umpires retaining their powers and being the sole adjudicators, and how this would reaffirm cricket's acknowledgement of chance and fate and human agency. I must side with the pro-UDRS crowd on this one, however. All that romanticism was fine in the days when technology hadn't permeated television coverage to a great extent. On Monday, those two incorrect decisions towards the end of the game only made Bowden and Gould look silly, and left an awkward taste in the mouth of the viewer.

Interesting that a Mohali pitch criticised for not offering its usual pace and bounce should provide the setting for a great test (though the turnout as usual could've been better). Having said that, batting wasn't easy and demanded skill and patience.

I was disappointed with the shots Sehwag and Tendulkar got out to during the chase. I wonder if their relative underachieving in the fourth innings is now more a mental thing than just a jinx.

It's great to see Zaheer Khan back to somewhere near his best - possibly the finest old-ball bowler in the business now. Harbhajan should have hopefully recovered some confidence going into Bangalore.

The Aussie pace trio was magnificent defending 200-plus, and would have probbaly pulled it off had Bollinger been available later in the day. They'll be a definite threat during the Ashes though I'm not so sure of Hauritz.

The Australian batting however has been the most brittle I can remember for a long time. Ponting and Hussey's drought isn't helping matters, and the English bowlers will no doubt have watched that Clarke dismissal - snuffed out by Ishant's lifter -with great interest. And there's Marcus North, who is threatening to become a specialist partnership breaker (with both ball and bat in hand).

Ponting seems to aspire to lofty ideals before the start of every series. In the last one down under, there was his "pact" with Kumble on taking the opposition fielder's world in the event of a contentious catch, and we all know how that ended. Now, he wants a "controversy free" series and allows himself to get into a tiff with Zaheer on the opening day. This time he's trying harder by the looks of it.

This sets up things beautifully for the Bangalore test, and I'll be catching the first two days from the T-stand, yipee. But, we've seen heavy rain this week...