Open Magazine – August 07, 2018

D

es Pite a fantastiC win at lord’s in the

second test, which will easily rank as one

of india’s best ever, the team, quite unexpect-

edly, lost track from the third test at south-

ampton and ended losing the series 1-3 with

captain Ms dhoni unable to stem the tide on

green english wickets. this series loss hurt

more because the indians were hardly com-

petitive in tests 4 and 5 and a change of guard

at the top was imminent.

C

oMinG in the immediate aftermath of the cWc

2007 disaster, the 2007 series win in england was a major

turning point in the history of indian cricket. under a new

regime with coach Greg chappell shown the door, this was

also the high point of rahul dravid’s captaincy. Zaheer Khan

was the new indian bowling spearhead and the real star of

the tour picking bulk of the english wickets. he finished the

tour with an enhanced reputation and was widely recog-

nised as one of the best exponents of reverse swing in the

world. Luck, not always given its due in international sport,

went the indian way with umpire steve Bucknor not giving

last man s sreesanth out in the first test at Lord’s, a close

LBW call that would have given england a 1-0 lead. as it

happened, the skies opened up soon after making sure india

went into the second test unscathed.

the comeback, which started in england, was complete

when the reins of a young indian team was handed over to

Ms dhoni in september 2007. under dhoni, the indians

scripted history in south africa by winning the inaugural

t-20 World cup tournament.

losing track

All is lost

In 2007, India broke a 21-year jinx to win a Test series in England

Scorecard of the third Test match at Edgbaston, August 2011

turning Point

Alastair Cook

(left) with the

trophy after

England’s 3-1

win in 2014

T

he horror of eight straight test match defeats on away soil

began with the mauling at Lord’s in July 2011. disaster struck on

the first day of the tour when Zaheer Khan pulled up a hamstring

injury. it was astonishing to see wicket-keeper captain Ms dhoni

trying to bowl medium pace—indication of india’s troubles, which

ended in a 0-4 series loss. the only stand-out performer was rahul

dravid, with three hundreds in the four test matches.

cricket

46

2007

2011

2014

Boria majumdar is a sports

journalist and author. These are

edited excerpts from his book

Eleven Gods and a

Billion Indians

6 august 2018