Cyclone Thane threatens, Anna retires and India succumbs tamely

It is raining incessantly and there are fears about the  “very severe” cyclonic storm as it  lay centered about 250 km of Chennai, with the weather office forecasting winds touching up to 135 kph and advising fishermen against venturing into sea for the next two days.   “The very severe cyclonic storm ‘Thane’ over southwest Bay of Bengal  is likely to move westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Chennai, close to Puducherry around early morning of December 30th,” the regional Meteorological department said.   Here is something on cyclone ‘Thane”

Anna has retired hurt – he has ended his fast; Mumbai was certainly not the best of venues.  At his favourite ground in Delhi, the  Lokpal Bill survived a near-death experience in the Lok Sabha, but its passage in the Rajya Sabha is in grave danger.  With all the rhetoric it  may eventually end up in empty nothing.  Clearly the UPA does not have a majority in Rajya Sabha having only 95 off 243 members – so once again the smaller parties and splinter groups can make or mar the calculations of the bigger parties.   Assuming that is has a passage also, its fate could still be uncertain – the situation is more complex with TMC opposing it ; the major Political opponent wants amendments. If any amendments are made to the Bill as passed by the Lok Sabha, the bill will have to be sent back for passage again. If the Lok Sabha rejects those amendments, a joint session of Parliament may be required to get the Bill passed.  Another example of how politicians can make it appear but at the same time ensure that it would never happen.   -  and for the Public there should be some passage of time or some other more controversial news would ensure that this is no longer remembered.  It has also revealed that when it comes to weakening any strong move, all parties are more or less equal..   

At Melbourne, after raised expectations yesterday – the reality dawned today with the tail wagging long enough and Aussie bowling power combining to ensure that the chase became meaningless and visitors succumbed too meekly and easily to a 122 run loss on day 4 at MCG.  This morning  Pattinson played for long to take the score to 240 setting up a overall target of 292.

The highest 4^th innings total in a winning cause stands 332/7 of  England way back in 1928 and all chases above 230 came before 1963.  Historically, no team has chased down a 200+ target at MCG.  India has made some successful chases in 4^th innings in recent times but none of them are outside the continent.  In the first essay Indian middle order and late middle order folded so cheaply that this is one of their lowest.  

One did not need history or statistics to back an Indian loss.  Indian cricket fan wishing a victory was more of ‘only hope than any thinking of reality’ and the soon the reality dawned rather crudely. 

The man who was expected to take the fight to opposition Virender Sehwag was out for 7 before lunch; Gambhir scratched for a while for his 13, Dravid was bowled once again for 10, Laxman made 1 and Virat Kohli made none – 5 down and nothing to look forward to. Soon Sachin returned with his top scoring becoming meaningless.  Ashwin’s 30, Dhoni 23 and Yadav’s 21 can at best be regarded as some nuisance value as Indians buckled showing no resilence at all. 

There were many opportunities in this Test and all went begging – Indians never showed the gumption to capitalise on them. So another time, after the first test, Indians are down 0-1 in an away series.

In the era of spin quartet, Indian batsmen flinched regularly, then when our batting peaked, we did not have quality bowlers to support the great Kapil Dev. This time the raw bowling attack has done rather well bowling Aussies out for 333 and 240 – but Indian batting came apart.   Umesh Yadav bowled extra ordinarily.  Ishant was not amongst wickets but Ian Chappel commented that one of this deliveries to Ponting was 152 kmph – ever heard an Indian bowler delivering beyond 150 !! – when he bowled Michael Clarke,  the leg bail flew over MS Dhoni's hand.

So we will look forward to the next test starting on 2^nd day of new year 2012 at Sydney. 

With regards - S. Sampathkumar