One wonders why the England team is complaining so much. They did not really do that well or that much over the span of eighty-nine overs to claim a plausible victory. Really the ICC authorities, the boards of the two countries and the England team could have used Dhoni’s foresight and benefitted from it and spared the cricket fans, a mournful nag.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted promptly as did Gary Kirsten that they had obvious light conditions during practice on the eve of the match and knew that the Duckworth Lewis system would come into play. Keeping that eventuality in mind, the Indians went about planning what they would do at the toss and how they would go about their innings. What then blinded England to doing the same?
Kevin Pietersen was seen in an animated debate with the umpires even as the unrelentingly offered the light to the Indian batsmen during the 40th over. Pietersen was cautious enough to refer to his Duckworth Lewis statistics sheet ever so often but failed to really get his team to put their best foot forward when they were batting to set a target. If one read the match review yesterday (read Collingwood was Right; But What Were England Thinking? ) , it was stated that England did not particularly fuss about to inject life in their innings and quite content to pander around for a modest total when they should have really been more proactive about the proceedings.
Cricket is certainly not in the if’s and but’s. So, for England to claim that the series could have been 2-1 had the light option been addressed, is like saying India did not deserve their victory for doing most things right, on and off the field. It seems like England have found the perfect excuse. Gone are the days of uneasy tummy and viral illness. Say hello to light problems.
Now even as England should be planning and preparing to prevent India running away from taking the next game and the series with it, they are already dabbling in excuses with Pietersen already expressing concern that the match in Guwahati could go the same way as the one in Green Park stadium, Kanpur. While the timing of the tour as well as a little bit of foresight on the part of the two boards and the ICC itself should have ensured that games under lights should also have been taken into consideration as also of using the floodlight facilities where feasible. Surely one would have thought that after the fiasco that was the World Cup of 2007 when Sri Lanka and Australia were forced to carry on in a charade despite the foregone conclusion of the match should have been a grim reminder. It could still have been India in England’s place but one wonders if India would be able to put forth the same excuse simply because they took light into factoring among other things.
Instead cricket is faced with days when we are still complaining of the lack of vision and understanding and allowing teams to complain about such issues when really they should have been making a great effort to show that they are willing to stretch themselves, despite the conditions. If one team showed planning and foresight, why has the other chosen the route of excuses?
