As you slow, so you reap

It was surreal to watch. An over after tea, India were 167 for 6, leading by 253, and with the game very much in the balance. Mitchell Johnson had just bowled a maiden to Harbhajan Singh, and there was the scent of the big kill in Australian nostrils. Then, Ricky Ponting backed off. A word from the dressing room, a reminder of how abysmal the over-rate was, and the game had changed.

Cameron White bowled the next over, and by the time Shane Watson came back to try and replicate a hugely impressive first spell, the clock had ticked past 4pm. The three part-time bowlers used - White, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke - had conceded 47 from 12 overs, and MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh had stretched the advantage to 360.

It's hard to imagine what Ponting was thinking, but from the outside, the choice was clear. He could have pressed on for the win with Watson and Lee, who had bowled superbly before the interval, and risked suspension for a Test match against New Zealand, hardly the most formidable opponents in the game. Instead, he opted to try and get through the overs, in the process surrendering a slim chance of holding on to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Small wonder that Border was nearly apoplectic up in the commentary box.

It brings you back to that old proverb though. Right through the four Tests, Australia have struggled to get through 90 overs in a day, even with the half-hour extension. And at a pivotal moment in the series, it had come back to haunt them. A ban might still follow, and it would be a welcome one if it means that teams take the 90-over business more seriously. Fines are of no consequence to men who can pay it back ten times with one IPL hit.

Brad Haddin, who has endured the toughest of tours, had a moment to forget as well, with fine penalty runs awarded in the second session after he had thrown his glove to try and stop the ball going past him. A schoolboy error, and a reminder of what the pressure at this level can do to even the most competent players.

There had been controversy earlier in the day too, with Aleem Dar, the umpire, speaking to Ponting about one of his players apparently changing the condition of the ball. With Virender Sehwag smashing the ball to all corners, a piece of leather or part of the seam had come loose, and Dar insisted that any repairs needed would be carried out by the umpires. Another little sideshow in a series where the main event hasn't quite lived up to its top billing.

The post-tea farce largely obscured what had gone before, especially the moments of drama just before the interval. As they had at Cape Town two years ago, India's batting stalwarts folded at a vital moment, and Krejza and Watson threw an outplayed Australian team a precious lifeline. Batting had appeared so simple when Sehwag and Murali Vijay were at the crease, but subsequently, the Fab Four managed just 19 between them. As a farewell, it wasn't quite Let It Be.

Sourav Ganguly had arrived to the kind of reception that gives you goosebumps. There may only have been a few thousand in the stands, but the noise they made threatened the vast girders overhead. Painted faces and placards were everywhere, along with text messages displayed on the giant screen. Even the press box, or much of it, gave him a standing ovation.

After such a build-up though, there could only be anticlimax. Jason Krejza looped one into the pads, and Ganguly's attempt to work it to mid-on went off the leading edge back to the bowler. After a brief funereal silence interrupted only by Australian celebrations, the stadium erupted again. A century on debut at Lord's, an 85 in his penultimate innings and now this, a golden duck in his last visit to the crease.

For Australia, it was brief respite before the game turned again. Much will be said and written at the end of this match, especially about Ponting's captaincy, but all might be forgiven if the batsmen can go out on Monday and do what's never been accomplished before on an Indian pitch. Don't bet your mortgage on it happening though.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Comments

[Rusty]

bitch, bitch, bitch.... what a bunch of hypocrites many cricket fans are. How fickle!

Last summer Ponting was being hung out to dry of being to win-at-all-costs. And slow over rates. Now, he's being hung out trying to do something about it.

Strop

as far as Indians are concerned. Aussies are always ruthless cheats - everything they ever do is suspect. It's pointless trying to defend or explain. Don't expect clear thinking and objectivity from an Indian when it comes to their no. 1 religion, and the team they envy above things.

[Crofty]

This is interesting, especially for the Aussies.

The "rule" about the over rates came about, courtesy of especially the Aussies and the English, because West Indians Mike Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner bowled, way back in the 1980's, at about 12-13 overs per hour.

No-one mentioned then, nor indeed now, that the West Indies then, finished, winning most of their Test matches, in 3-4 days!

What this also shows is that some captains, very few, but Ricky Ponting is one; think that they are more important than the game.

So what if he misses a game? Someone else will be captain anyway? He could have come back for Test No. 2 v NZ.

I am also sure that even if he had done the "correct" thing, and still lost the Test match, no-one will have held it against him.

I know that neither Viv Richards or Clive Lloyd, as captains, would have cared about a suspension.

They played to win at all times, especially Richards.

Additionally, both would have had a mutiny on his hands if either were even to suggest a plan as Ponting did in the last Test.

It seems that, strangely, the Aussies are becoming like the English - safe but certainly unsure.

The Aussies players on the field were just as much at fault at the lack of fight as their captain!

[Milind]

Ponting is not stupid. Far from it. What he made sure was that he gets to play every test in the next New Zealand series where he can score easy centuries. He is eyeing Sachin's record and knows that his place in the Australian line up is only secure if his batting is.. which kinda crumbled in India.

Shrewd.. He knew he did not have the firepower to get to even 250 on the last day and the test was already lost.

[Bijesh]

@STROP, we dont have a stock market at New Delhi....

[Hari]

By the time of writing, India has won the Nagpur test. Defensive tactics non-withstanding (from both teams), Australia has been inadequate to say the least. Ponting's inexplicable refusal to bowl Lee and Johnson probably cost them their last opportunity in the match.

Contrary to what the popular view implies, I would believe the Aussies will come out stronger in their summer of cricket. Expect the Kiwis to be hammered. And while the South Africans with Steyn, Ntini, Morkel and Harris will provide a stiffer test, the Aussies should put it across both opponents.

An interesting winter of cricket beckons for India, with series against England, who India should NOT underestimate, a tour to Pakistan followed by a tour to NZ which WILL be a test on green-tops

[Crickerlover]

Its a shame that nobody is talking about Match fixing, had it been an Indian or Pakistani captain doing such a thing, there would have been accusation of match fixing.
Secondly.I hope match referee of watching, if that was tampering with the ball what is and Pointing should get some punishment for his animated argument with Dar as he knows the rules

[Paul]

OK, gripe time. The incredible fallout and the BCCI's standover tactics after the Sydney test are still hanging over the Australian captain, now seemingly always looking over his shoulder at the administration. In Sydney, Australia had won 16 tests in a row. Since then, they have not won one of their last six! The skipper I fear is no longer up to the task. Will CA replace him? And the BCCI tried to do similar things in this series by trying to get Gambhir's suspension overruled. The BCCI should be more worried about lack of crowds at its own games. Even most of the IPL tickets were handed out for free...well now we are seeing the best of cricket - India has replied with 12 overs an hour and not even looking worried; they will get away with it as they will bowl out the aussies within the day.

[Pritam Sinha]

This is being written at the time of lunch on day 5 where 21.3 over were bowled and also two catches dropped. If somehow India doesn't go on and win the Test the catching must be be a big concern. Test after Test catches are going down in direct propotion to the sportsmanship.

As for Day 4, I also felt Ponting erred in not going for the kill. India are happy though. Might make it 2-0 despite the catching being dropped. Poor Dravid, give him a break.

[Dileep]

India bowled 21.3 overs before lunch today. If the ICC wants to save whatever little face they have left, both captains need to be banned for such appalling over-rates. No excuses.

[Dan]

I notice the Indians have started the morning at a rate of 10 overs per hour. I wonder if the torrent of criticism Australia has received for their slow over rates will continue now that the shoe is (and let's be honest, has been for the whole series) on the other foot.

[Cameron]

Some of the coomments on this blog are just rediculous & I must say the Indian fans in general are making highly irrational comments. I can't see how if ponting went for the win and kept the fast bowlers on it would make a mockery of the ICC rules. If one assumes that he would have been suspended for the next test match as suspected it would actually show the ICC had some real teeth. As it turns out it appears the fear of this outcome was put ahead of giving the team the best chance of winning the match and retaining the trophy. It would have been a much different dynamic chasing 330 off 100 overs.
If you were to read the posts of Indian fans you would believe that it is only the Australian team who are guilty of this sin yet as I write this we are 1 hour and 40 minutes into play on day five and the Indians have bowled the sum total of 17 overs, about 8 behind schedule. This is truly rediculous and cynical stuff & as a cricket lover it drives me crazy. Given the proportion of the overs bowled by the spinners in this series neither side has an excuse for this.
As to Dileep's question I do not think Ponting has captained well this series and that has flowed through to the broader team. He should not be replaced in the short term but he does need to learn from this series and improve in the future. Clarke is not yet ready to to take over the top job.
The Indian team in this series have not really been any better. Given the team they have they have been far too quick to resort to negative and cynical tactics rather than playing for the win. When you add to this the appallingly bad pitches that have been prepared for this series you can only shake your head. What should have been an a shining example of this great game that we love has descended into a farce.
As you may sense I am a little frustrated.

[Chandra]

Had he coped a fine or a ban, the media would have attacked him for doing anything to win. They were running some 5-6 overs behind schedule in the first innings and they needed to complete 40 overs in the next 2 hours yesterday. The average until then was 25-30 in 2 hours

[Fairdes]

I suppose Ponting could have played outside the spirit of the game (nothing unusual there) and risked a ban for the next match. But that would be pushing the law, and as Yogeth rightly pointed out, it would have been the ultimate slap in the face to the ICC.

As to the Australian team, you have to pay some credit for their willingness to fight to the last ball. It's not easy to win in India and not many great Australia teams have enjoyed success there. People seemed to forget this fact in their over the top criticism of the team. Remember, they are going through a rebuilding phase having lost a number of excellent players in the past two seasons. This series will be the making of players like Johnson, Katich and Watson. The future is bright.

[Nathan]

Ponting has always been a reactive rather than proactive captain. In this situation it was his poor management of the bowlers that led him to be warned about appaling over rates.
I agree that he should be sacked as captain and replaced with Michael Clarke. It was Clarke that showed leardersip credentials dealing with the standing down of Andrew Symonds.

[andrew]

Surely Lee or Johnson off a short run up would have been better than part-timers. Even better to go for the win and hang the consequences. Very good batsman, not a good leader.

[Strop]

There are occcasionally situations in life where one has no alternative but to scratch one's head and wonder whether the world has gone completely mad..

I have spent the last few weeks reading comment after comment panning Ponting for the slow over rate and screaming "bias" when there has been no punishment.

Now, when the choice was to continue using the quicks (with the likelyhood of putting Australia back into a winning position) or get the over rate back up with the part-timers (but accept that this may cost the series) he has chosen to "play in the spirit of the game" instead of try to "win at all costs".

I await the flood of contributions from DS, Duncan, Prateek et al writing in to congratulate the Australians on the way they have played the game.

The only consistent message I can read into the commentary seems to be that the Aussies are either ruthless cheats when they play to win or terrible cricketers who are spitting in the faces of the "great" Australian players of yore who got them to the top of the tree in the first place. There is no middle ground.

One can only speculate how many more overs the pacemen could have bowled if the Indian captain hadn't (again) chewed up so much time with on-field medical treatment (could the BCCI not make physical fitness one of the selection criteria for the job?). However I'm sure that this will receive about as much attention as Harbhajan's glove problem in Sydney.
Bowlers are not always the ones responsible for slow play.

I doubt very much if the Australians can get the required runs today but I would have a big bet that they give it a red hot go.

I am not sure if the same could be said for an Indian side in the same situation but I am confident that, if the Aussies start looking like they are in range, the over rate will drop faster than the New Delhi stock market.

[Shyam]

Credit to Krejza and Watson for their bowling, but I wonder what the Indian batsmen were thinking?? To throw away an advantage of 116-0 to slip to 166-6 was really appalling. Given the situation now, I think it's unlikely that Australia will score 382 to win, but had Ponting stuck the boot in instead of losing his mind, this could have ended up being one of the most shattering defeats for the Indian team, worse than the hammering in West Indies chasing 120 in 1997, or defeat to England in Mumbai in 2006 and in Cape Town recently.

[neilsrini]

Ricky was never a great captain. He had big boots to fill in Border, Taylor and Waugh and was never going to live up to their level. In 2005 Vaughn found him out and he panicked and lost it despite born leaders within his ranks. Here MS Dhoni has done him over in two tests and he has had no answer to it.

Ponting is great when he leads by example and his team are on top, but when things don't go his way he has been found wanting. I think even Flemming gave him a run for his money recently and I suggest Vetori will to in the upcoming series.

Perhaps they should punt for MR Cricket as the leader. Border has every right to be fuming. At a time when there was nothing he poured blood, sweat and tears to make this empire.

[Yogesh]

I am happy that the cricketing gods punished Ponting when the match referees were reluctant. Hope he learns the lesson. Had Ponting risked the ban, wouldn't it have caused greater outrage. It would have made ICC laws sound even more stupid. Another time, another captain, will do this surely. Ban me and I've a welcome rest.

[RM]

Ponting has lost it completely. He looks totally distraught and demoralised and his pathetic captaincy is telling on the Aussies as a whole.