West Indies Diaries: A mysterious Test in which team India said a big no to target of 180

Jan 9, 2019 at 4:13 PM

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West Indies Diaries: A mysterious Test in which team India said a big no to target of 180

Team India was in the driving seat in the third Test match and the final Test of West Indies tour 2011 at the Windsore Park, Roseau,Dominica which was played from July 6 to July 10. Indian team was chasing a meagre target of 180 runs in the fourth innings, a wicket off the very first ball could not shake team India’s confidence as the Wall Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay shared a partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket. Though the team lost next two wickets in quick succession but hopes were alive as two of the most experienced batsmen – Dravid and Laxman – were at the crease now, one of them was present since the second ball of the innings.

Hopes were there that both will emerge as the hero of the chase and will win the game for the team but all the hopes and desire of the fans was put to rest as the captain M.S. Dhoni decided to shake hands with counterpart Darren Sammy with 1 hour of play left in the innings. At the time of declaration, India was in a safe position as the score was 94/3 and they just needed 86 runs off 90 balls to come with 7 wickets in hand.

Now that was a strange call from M.S. Dhoni as in today’s world where cricketers play T20 cricket more than Test cricket, the decision came as a surprise to the cricket fraternity but Dhoni being Dhoni managed to defend his decision by saying that he did not want to risk the series going for a target.

Now these words from World cup winning captain shocked one and all and the decision clearly showed that Dhoni feared team India may lose the Test match.

Some called it a black day for cricket and all blamed M.S. Dhoni for it. The answer that Dhoni gave was not at all a satisfying as this was the best time to check the capability of youngsters down the batting order. It was a litmus test for Dhoni himself as a Test batsman but as we know that he decided not to risk the Series for a ‘mere’ Test win.

That decision is still regarded as one of the foolish decision taken by the wise captain M.S. Dhoni. It was a situation where he should have tested the youngsters but that, of course, did not happen. It was unfortunate that Dhoni decided to throw in the towel.

His successor Virat Kohli, in many regards, is opposite to him in this as he showed his desire to achieve in the first match as captain itself. Instead of taking Test match to a draw, he decided to chase a big target against Australia at Adelaide. Though Indian team lost the match in the end but Kohli was praised for showing guts on the Australian soil. Kohli led an example, scoring 115 in the first innings followed by a 141 in the second innings. Now that is a captain needs to do, show fighting spirit instead of running away.

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