India Vs South Africa : Unable to rise to the occasion

Unable to rise to the occasion

At the end of the 4th day of the final test match in India-SA test series, it has become clear that India will have to most probably wait longer to take the trophy to India from the protean land. While there may not be any disgrace in drawing the test series ( or even losing it..after all India did manage to win a test match overseas.quite an achievement by Indian standards and Indian mentality…) , here are some of my observations regarding that 4th day..

That was undoubtedly the most important day of the test series…Both teams were at even position…Had India managed to get SA out early there was a chance to create history..But that has not happened….

Indian bowling attack , generally criticized for helping batsmen from other countries gain confidence , had a golden opportunity to wipe all of it and prove to the world that “WE CAN”… The requirement was to rise to the occasion and bowl the best bowling of their lives and get the job done…But if you ball leg stump line to no 8 batsman , then surely you have not done that…The opportunity is gone..It is unfair to always blame your fortune, the pitch & the weather for your failure..

This reminds me of one of my favourite dialogues “Sattar Minute” from the movie Chak-de India..The coach tells the team before the World-Cup final that he firmly believes if every player plays the best game of his life on that day , nobody including the almighty can stop them….Indian bowlers probably needed such a talk from someone…The passion to win, that killing instinct to deliver was missing…On the other hand, an injured batsman of South Africa realised the need of his contribution and what a fantastic achievement it was from him…Hats off to Kallis for rising to the occasion…!!!

As said earlier, nobody would really blame Indian team for not winning the series…Media is too busy with different types of scams these days..But the point is the ability to deliver something unexpected on those few special occasions is what differentiates the champions from others…Australia had the uncanny habit of doing it for a long time…Our Very Very Special Laxman did it in Kolkata against the Aussies..Sachin did it in Sharjah…Gilchrist did it against Srilanka in World Cup final 2007..Nadal did it 3 years back to defeat Federer at the latter’s pet tournament, the Wimbledon..Miandad just had to hit that Six to take Pakistan home..On the other side nobody really blamed India for not winning the World Cup in 2003..But even that time our bowlers had failed to rise to the occasion ( They actually fared much worse than not just rising to the occasion..)

The lesson for us is that winners are not necessarily more talented than the others…It is just they manage to push themselves into the 5th gear when it matters the most..