He keeps that unorthodox element
in his batting as well ,bat -speed combined with strong wrists as the sphere
was sent rocketing to distant corners was the ‘power play ‘ by Mahendra Singh Dhoni at MA Chidambaram Stadium
,Chennai. Many batsman might also thinks to do the same but there is difference
between only thinking and actually implementing it , he takes care of later
part too ,probably that’s why he is termed as great finisher of modern days and
a captain who leads from front .
Many players were under radar
before the start of Border- Gavaskar trophy and eventually maximum of them have
performed in the first test match .After the retirement of Dravid and Laxman
,Sachin Tendulkar had superbly played the role of sheet anchor after not so
good start from openers and soaked the pressure and made the things look simple
again with his experience in willow wielding craft .He guided young Cheteshwar Pujara
and Virat Kohli in consolidating their innings
,before getting dismissed by an off-spin that turned sharply from the
edge of the rough just beyond the good length area (bowled again !!! ).
The Australian close-in cordon
was in and the host was under stress. But Dhoni had disrupted Lyon’s length by
getting forward and clouting the spinner to leg without allowing the ball to
spin or jump .Then comes the adventurous final session which was the replica of
shorter formats of the game where Mahendra Singh Dhoni always fell short of
partners but he always keeps his cool and respond to the pressure .Dhoni showed
no mercy to the bowlers as he smashed 109 runs in the final sessions and
completes his first double century in test cricket.
Both Indian bowlers and batsmen
performed in the way they were expected . Ravichandran Ashwin took two 5 wicket
hauls , Mahendra Singh Dhoni hits double ton , Virat Kohli scored a ton and Sachin
Tendulkar scored valuable 81 , but
slight concern still remain about the openers which was compensated though by
Tendulkar's message to Lyon by hitting two sixes of the first two balls he has
faced in his second innings !! However we should not get carried away by this
as England was also smashed in their first test match but came back ! Panesar
was not rated much by anyone and he surprised a few , but India seems to be
aware of this factor as they were a bit surprised as Xavier Doherty was not
included in the team as second spinner for the first test.
The best part is team India won
the test match and this time they were not tired and have actually prepared for
this important series .The pitch responded the way it was meant to be and ball
turned for Indian spinners and favored Indian batsmen more than the visiting
players. Hopefully pitch respond in the same way at other venues as well and India continue to perform well throughout the
series.
