So near... yet so far...

It is rightly said by someone: "Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital". So, after a few years from now, when you will look at the statistics of the 2010 series between India and SA, you will just see that India drew the Test series 1-1 and won the first of the 3 ODIs at Jaipur, but you will not remember that how close Proteas were from drawing the second test and winning the first ODI.

They were just 9 balls away from drawing the test match and regaining their no 1 Test spot, but Bhajji had other plans. He got Morkel leg before wicket and helped India retain their no. 1 spot. But Morkel almost did an Onions. He was about to do the same to India, what Onions did to them in their home series. Enough said and done, All Izz Well now... :)

But talking about today's match, had that penultimate ball been given a boundary, India would have lost this one. A desperate dive from Sachin would have gone into vain. But our very own Third umpire ,Mr. Hazare, was not sure even after looking at the replay for about 10 minutes and that too from every possible angle. This is what will be called so near yet so far for the South Africans.

Now talking about the shortcomings about India today... well there are lots. India again fail to capitalize in the last 10 overs making just 60 odd runs. With 9 batsmen in the team, India should have scored atleast 80 in the last 10 overs. Yusuf Pathan did not learn the lesson even after being thrown out of the team. He still wants to hit every ball out of the park, though he was successful a couple of times, but he should learn that every ball is not supposed to be hit out of the park. Suresh Raina once again, after getting to his 50, got out in the slog overs.

There is nothing much to be talked about the Indian bowling. With all 3 regular bowlers in the team going for runs, India should consider themselves lucky today that they ended up winning the game. Shreesanth was looking awry with no control over his line and length, so too Nehra. Parveen bowled well in patches, but we need a bowler, who is consistent with his performance. Lets see, whether India will be able to find out a suitable successor to Zaheer and Anil kumble before the world cup or they will rely on their batting to win the matches. Its still one year to go for the World cup, lets see now how India will fare in the next game.