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Rain cuts another day
PORT OF SPAIN: It took just over an hour to decide the ground at Queen’s Park Oval was not fit for play on the fourth day. Going by the ground staff’s progress on
PORT OF SPAIN: It took just over an hour to decide the ground at Queen’s Park Oval was not fit for play on the fourth day. Going by the ground staff’s progress on Saturday, it anyway looked that they were trying to salvage the fifth day before another spell of rain interrupted their work. But what if India and West Indies finally get the fifth day? Will they show the gamesmanship to make a match out of this, like England and South Africa had done at the Centurion 16 years ago?
India have a 2-0 lead. They won’t mind shaking hands after reaching the mandatory hour of bowling on Monday. It basically boils down to how the West Indies team, coach and management included, want their legacy to be in this series. It could peter out into a tame draw. Or they could make it interesting. This anyway shouldn’t have been such a long rubber.
A four-Test series, or five for that matter, should always be preserved for the most competitive teams in the business. Right now, India, Pakistan, Australia and England are the top four cricket nations in the world. No one can justify the need behind arranging four Tests between the current No.1 side and the No.8 but such are the ways of the International Cricket Council that comes up with the Future Tours Programme (FTP).
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was anyway in a fragile position after their team had pulled out of India tour in 2014. The BCCI had slapped a case of $42 million before waiving it off on the condition that West Indies would return next year to complete the tour. But is the politicking producing watchable cricket? The Caribbean people would give a huge thumbs-down to that. The only way West Indies could redeem themselves this tour is by playing the fifth day 50-over style.
If they are serious about rejuvenating Test cricket they should make India an offer similar to the one the late Hansie Cronje had made to Nasser Hussain on the fifth day morning in the fifth Test after three days had been washed out, just like here.
The series too had been won 2-0 by South Africa, just like here. Now we know Cronje had other intentions behind making that offer but there’s no denying it produced gripping cricket. The match was fast-forwarded by declaring two innings at 0 before England snatched breaths by chasing down 248 in 75.1 overs and losing eight wickets. In one day, in a matter of just over 100 overs, history was made. West Indies need a brainwave like that to prove to their people Test cricket too can be fun. Otherwise, this will be another damp squib.
