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Eden and mishti doi get me going

By Rajesh Kumar, Section Sports & Fun
Posted on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 11:45:46 PM EST

Getting so close to victory and not being able to pull it off has left the entire team very disappointed, but it has also made us more focused for the next Test. In my first article I had said that these Pakistanis were no pushovers. Unfortunately, on the last day at Mohali, they proved me right.

While Kamran Akmal is a bit of an unknown quantity for us, we have played against Abdul Razzaq on numerous occasions. Yet, I have never seen him score 70-odd runs in 250 balls. It was an innings that was completely unlike his attacking style, and it was the manner in which he handled pressure that made Pakistan emerge from a hopeless situation.

Though we dominated the game for four days, we were unable to push home the advantage in the first session of the final morning. There were a few edges that did not go to hand, and even though the bowlers toiled hard, Akmal and Razzaq were too good for us in that session.

Their heroic exploits have been dubbed as a moral victory for the visitors. I have heard this phrase `moral victory' pretty often, but have never been able to understand what it actually means. Perhaps it's just another of those tags that the media uses every now and then. Every game starts at 0 for 0, and even when a team is ahead in the series, the last game and its result are history when a new match begins. I am not interested in moral victory and would any day prefer a real win -- because that's what every team plays for.

While it was pretty disappointing to be out of the eleven for the Mohali Test, it was a good decision for the team since the conditions did favour seamers. Hopefully I will get a chance in Kolkata, my favourite venue. I have played four Tests here, and my hat trick, 10 wickets against Australia and man of the match-winning performance against South Africa last December make it my most successful venue.

Eden Gardens for me is the best arena that this sport has to offer, especially when 100,000 people are cheering me when I come in to bowl. We landed late last night, and there were a large number of people at the airport to welcome us. There is a masti in this city, and a love for the game that really enthuses us whenever we come here.

The crowds will have plenty to cheer about here. After all, Virender Sehwag looked in absolutely smashing form at Mohali. Veeru and Yuvraj Singh are players who can really leave bowlers clueless once they get going. Balaji was also great in the last game and should relish playing in Eden Gardens. He is a quiet, shy person but on the field he is a smiling assassin. | Indo-Pak series full coverage | |Advt: Tickets2India|

I was also very impressed with Danish Kaneria. It's not easy for a spinner to bowl well against Indians, who are the best players of spin. However, he bowled magnificently on an unresponsive surface and I'm convinced after this performance that he has the class to do well against the best.

The team is gearing up to perform even better than we did at Mohali. The guys are disappointed but we know we were the better team in the last Test. The Kolkata crowds, the Eden pitch and large helpings of mishti doi always gets me going, and I'm hoping I get a chance to do well at this special venue once again. (Gameplan)

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