the match between the Indian Captain and Eden Gardens Curator !!

In the World of Wresting (WWF or WWE) – prematch hype constitutes a bigger part of the strategy….. Cricket used to be different – for long the game was more important than the individuals and off-field gossips… 

The venue is Eden Gardens, the ground of the Bengal Cricket association had been attracting huge crowds.  It first hosted a Test back in the days of India's cricketing infancy, with Douglas Jardine's team easing to victory inside four days in 1934.  One of the finest wins of India came here in Mar 2001 when  VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid set the stage for the greatest come-from-behind victory of modern times, against an Australian team poised for an unprecedented 17th straight Test win.

Perhaps baiting famous people is one way of easily becoming popular, at least temporarily…… Prabir Mukherjee, a virtual nobody is often on news ~ he is curator of  the Eden Gardens and is in news for strong criticism of the man who was once touted as moving everything right.  Not any longer,  MS Dhoni's call for turning pitches, is termed "immoral" by the curator who sought a month's leave from work; Cricket Association of Bengal had convinced Mukherjee to come back to work.  Earlier BCCI deployed Ashish Bhowmick, a member of its grounds and pitches committee from Tripura, to "assist" in the preparation for the Test which starts today. 

The Series has swung widely…..  some terming it to be a revenge series for the 4-0 loss handed out at England !  the script for the First Test at Motera was on expected lines……. At Mumbai, everything was as per the game plan, a rank turner, India having 3 spinners with Harbhajan making a comeback ~ Dhoni winning the toss, predictably electing to play but Monty Panesar with the ball and Cook and Pietersen with the bat changed the result.  Now Indians are under immense pressure in their own land.    

The curator tried to implore his own brand of logic that if it were to be a square turner, the match might not lost for 5 days and then selling tickets for 5 days would be immoral !!  ~ how logical is that ?  Matches should not be dull dreary draws ~ should produce a result and for the Indian fan, that means a result in favour of India.  Even today, the average fan wants Sachin to score a century and want an Indian win…  Most Captains have their say and most pitches do favour hosts ~ suddenly too much of hype surrounds Mukherjee as if he could doctor things but refuses due to his strong sense of morality.

From 1934, India and England have played nine times at the venue. England have won once, in 1977, while the most recent contest in 1993 was an eight-wicket win for India where England's leading wicket-taker was Graeme Hick.  The only win was during the John Lever Vaseline tainted series, but in that match it was RGD Willis who was the feared bowler.

Will India bounce back and restore the confidence and win back the pride remains to be seen…….

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.