Dismal start to a Test Series!

But for Veeru’s brilliance, the Chennai Test was a big yawn. It was a pleasure to watch the master at work, cutting, driving, at will, almost took the match away from the visitors single handedly. The fact that he ran hard even at the fag end of the day, showed his mental fitness more than anything. Now he joins a very elite group of batsmen, Don and Lara, who have scored two triples in their career. For all we may know, Veeru might score one more, even if not many more.

Veeru’s belligerence eclipsed everything, including Amla’s and Mckenzie’s fifties and hundreds. But being a Dravid fan, the next thing that comes to my mind is his entry into the 10,000 run club. One set of people thought that he was terribly slow, whereas others thought that he was a calming influence on Sehwag. In any case, he was his usual self and it would not have made any difference in the end, with such a lifeless track. I hope the curators try and prepare a wicket which has something for the bowlers. After all our recent wins have all come in bouncy tracks or tracks with movement. Anyway, the Chennai crowd deserved the treat, so far the best crowd in the whole of India. Best in terms of behaviour and best in terms of Cricketing knowledge. If you have any doubts, you should do well to remember that the Test match, when Pak won in 1999, would have taken place in an empty stand had it been in any other stadium.