Snatching draw from the jaws of victory

UMPIRE'S POST

Sports' power lies in its ability to create elation and a sense of achievement. Rahul Dravid's team, in winning the Test series in England, gets A+ on the second parameter but C- on the first.

Winning is not merely about sneaking through to the podium. While it is not necessary to be crass like Australia, it is important to be self-assured, confident and authoritative. Anyone who has watched Vivian Richards bat will know how aura can supplement skill.

In recent years this Indian team has won more Test matches overseas than any, except Australia. Yet, it seems to have evaded the self-belief that comes as a very pleasant side effect of winning.

When the Oval Test ended in a draw, giving India the series, the celebrations looked strangely out of place. The shrieks of delight sounded hollow and the victory huddle loose. The most outrageous gesture Sreesanth made was to thrust a victory sign to the camera lens. By his standards, that is really muted.

Perhaps the players knew that while they were certain to be feted for the historic series win "" India's third in England in 75 years and first in 21 "" it would inevitably be said that they won, "albeit" 1-0. Sure enough, every report, while lavish in praise, did capture the aspect of "what if the follow-on had been enforced".

It would have certainly put England creaking under the task of either scaling a high mountain of lead and setting a challenging target or batting out six sessions. Pressure can do funny things; the Indian team is a living testimony to that.

The opposite is equally true. In not enforcing the follow-on, we admitted to our fear of the England batting. Funny, since the line-up failed to reach 400 the entire series. We also betrayed fear of the England bowling.

Even if England had batted very well, it could not have left us with more than 100 or 150 to chase in the fourth innings.

The most pathetic sight was of the captain scoring a listless 12 in 96 balls. Watching him bat, you would have thought he was trying to save the game, not set a target.

Still, the decision to bat again and the listless batting were the second and third most atrocious things Dravid did last Sunday. The worst move was to send hapless Chandu Borde to the slaughter at the evening press conference.

Borde went on to surpass Dravid, insisting that England could still break all records by successfully chasing 500. If England find themselves looking down the barrel again, they know whom to look to for succour. Dravid, stupid!