Captain Courageous

Kumble deserves all the praise for today’s historic Test victory at the WACA.

The imaginative Indian captain sowed the seeds of confidence in his team, utilised the hitherto-under-used pace power to the hilt, employed exemplary field placements to stop the Australians from registering 17th consecutive Test wins.

Beating Australia at their home turf is special. When it comes at the WACA, which is considered as the unbreakable Aussie fortress, it becomes doubly special. Remember, Australia have won 20 of the 35 Test matches (8 matches lost, and 7 drawn) here.

Thirty one years ago, Bishen Singh Bedi & Co. had squandered the edge and suffered a two-wicket defeat at this ground. Mohammed Azharuddin-led Indian side had suffered a humiliating defeat – by 300 runs – fifteen years later (in 1992).

Kumble’s Ploy

Kumble had his plans cut out from day one.

He elected batting after winning the toss. The decision dismayed many a cricket pundit. They predicted the Indian decimation in three days at the WACA, which is said to be world’s fastest pitch.

Unlike the first two Tests, the top order showed greater maturity. They got good backing from the middle order. Thus India piled up 330 runs.

Pace bowlers took the honours on the second day. R P Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma bowled their heart out. The swing, coupled with exemplary field placements, worked wonders for India.

The Australians started feeling the heat. They lost wickets at crucial junctures.

Though Symonds braved the Indian attack for quite some time, Kumble got him with a peach of a delivery. The crucial wicket fetched Kumble another record. He became the third member of the elite 600-wicket club.

India stayed focused on the third and fourth days. It was obvious from their body language. They were not ready to concede a defeat; they didn’t play for a draw; their only aim was a victory.

And they achieved that in style. Well done, Kumble’s boys.

The People’s Car Is Here

“Now, I can also dream of a car,” Nagendra, who runs a make-shift tea shop near my office, told me a day after the Tatas had launched Nano, the Rs. one lakh car.

“I will sell off my scooter to buy one.”

Come September, thousands of Nagendras will throng Tata showrooms to buy their Nano, the people’s car.

Reliance Model?

At the launch ceremony, Ratan Tata told the gathering: “Today, everybody focuses on the urban areas. We want to provide the masses in the rural part of India with a good means of transport that doesn’t exist there.”

Is Tata following the reliance footsteps?

The Ambanis had staged a marketing coup three years back with the introduction of Rs. 501 Reliance Mobile.

Till then, cell phone was considered as a status symbol, affordable only for the middle class Indians.

But the advent of Reliance Mobile revolutionized the market. Laymen became proud owners of cell phones. Phone prices plummeted to a new low. Thus, rural India began ‘walk the talk.’

The Nano, too, has created ripples in the market. Bajaj has announced their plans to launch small-prize car – Concept –by the end of 2009. The price will be in the range of 1.6 – 1.8 lakh. Many more companies will follow suit, according to industry experts.

So the Nano is going to trigger a price war in the Indian car market.

Pressure on Our Roads

But can our roads withstand the pressure of more cars?

At present, five Indian metros account for around 1,64,00000 private vehicles.

Delhi tops the list with 48 lakh vehicles, followed by Bangalore on 31 lakh.

Chennai has 30 lakh vehicles, while Kolkata (18 lakh) and Hyderabad (17 lakh) are at the fourth and fifth places.

The number is growing with people opting for personalized transportation.

Can you imagine the state of our metro roads five years down the line? It will be utter chaos, if the vehicular population is going at the current rate.

The situation will be no different in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Because we do not have the infrastructure to support this kind of growth.

The Singapore Model

It is high time the government curbed proliferation of vehicles. I think the government should emulate the Singapore model of Vehicle Quota System. Under the VQS, the government has the power to decide the number of new vehicles allowed on the road each year.

Strengthening public transport is the other available option. People should be encouraged to use the metro bus and metro train services, at least during the week days. Thus we can avoid traffic jams, reduce pollution and preserve energy for future generations!

Complacency Did India In At Sydney

So everybody is putting the blame on Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson for India’s unexpected defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The wizards of Oz stole the Test, which was meandering into a draw, in the last eight minutes, thanks to ‘Punter’ Ponting’s ploy.

Test cricket has never witnessed such anxious moments in the near future. For a brief period, the match attained the hue of a one-day international.

Australians, who played attacking cricket, had the last laugh, while Indians left the SCG blaming the umpires.

True, the Australian side got favourable umpiring decisions at crucial junctures. It was established that Messrs Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson erred in judging Ganguly and Dravid out. The unfair verdicts gave the Australians an unfair advantage over the fighting Indians.

But is it good to gloss over the incompetence of the Indian batsmen by putting the whole blame on the umpires?

What we have seen at the SCG is a complete failure of the Indian team. The famed Indian batting lin-up crumbled like nine pins. So there is no point in arguing that umpires failed us. It is meaningless to say ‘men in white coat’ colluded with the Australians.

Australia had declared their second innings on 401 for seven, leaving India a target of 333 runs. In other words, Anil Kumble and co. had to bat for only 72 overs.

The chinks in India’s batting-line up were exposed once again. Jaffer fell to Lee for naught. Tendulkar, Laxman and Yuvraj all returned to pavilion in quick succession. Dravid and Ganguly, who gave a glimmer of hope, fell to debatable decisions.

Though Dhoni and Kumble tried to steady the sinking Indian ship, Aussie bowlers outsmarted them. Harbhajan, R P Singh and Ishant Sharma threw away their wickets without any semblance of resistance.

Now it is time to come to terms with the failure and prepare for the next two tests. Don't waste the precious time by blaming umpires.

Players should, at first, learn from their mistakes. The management should not tolerate the complacency that had crept into the Indian side.

If the players have the right spirit, no umpire in the world can beat us.

Newzy wishes you a happy and healthy 2008