A Frustrating End For |Brilliant Indians

Ugly might be an understatement to describe events on the final day in the SCG. A potentially cracking Test match was botched, an open series was all but shut and the beautiful scenes that the game produced were forgotten. This was a record-equalling Test containing contrasting centuries on all five days. But it ended bitterly.

Rahul Dravid, out of sorts recently, appeared to be finding his groove. His 61-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly seemed to have eased the nerves, his positive attitude was just returning, the cover drives were being struck crunchily, a corner was being turned, and a game was being saved. And he was robbed.

Ganguly flowed gracefully, counterattacking with gusto. So gorgeous were the three consecutive fours he struck off Brad Hogg that the frames could be pasted on a picture postcard and sent back to Kolkata. He didn't hold back against the faster men, trying to show that draws and style can go together. Until he was done in.


Australia's tactics were simple: declare only after you ensure against defeat. They wanted India to go in with an intention to draw and choke them. No dangling carrots, no tempting targets. Bat them out and try to close the game. India would have known that, yet the runs were being leaked generously. Wasn't this the best chance to dry up the runs and delay the declaration? Were they too lax in conceding 119 in 24 overs on a fifth-day pitch? Often they appeared to be waiting for the declaration, when, in fact, there was still a chance to win.