The Big Test – the opening stroke

It was exactly 1124 days ago , Indians last had the colossal pleasure of a test win overseas , at a period when a young captain was ably guiding his ship full of proven old-warriors to greater glories . But then , change being the only constant factor in this dramatic world , the wheels of fortune had their way and what followed was a never seen before drought of wins abroad , and a ever-increasing list of humiliation for  the men in blue , together with the supporters . And then , who has been spared the axe for non-performance , we saw stars fall high from the skies , and the replacements come and go , each time bringing in a higher disappointment for the cricket crazy nation . Calls for shedding the scapegoat , gradually raised voice , and even the charismatic leader in Dhoni wasn’t spared of this .

the last tour brought about
some horrid experience for msd

From the 8-0 drubbing from England and Australia , to the claims of going soft to let go winning conditions in New Zealand and South Africa , the charge sheet was full with every possible clause by the media and the critics . But even after this , we had a captain , holding on to the driving wheels , each time with  a greater zeal to get ashore , taking away all the goodwill and dropping all chirping bull sh*t . People were made to come in terms with “perform or perish “ rather than the “easy life for seniors “ , players were asked to follow their fighting captain , and failures were only told “better next time “ .

All this while , the whole media fraternity , along with the followers had run out of patience listening to “rebuilding phase” of their team , and took the nurturing  steps of captain cool to be a “defensive school “ , and this came at a point when , even the great man (master blaster ) had left the pavilion’s company .

All amid st this the impeding bad record of overseas drought had cast a shadow on the signs of resurgence , though in bleaker by the new flag bearers , it had dwarfed some rather amazing victories (though mostly domestic ) , and then came the Big Test , India’s tour of England 2014 , three years after the drubbing began . The cycle was now complete ……………….to be continued.

Team India aim at redemption this time round