Will history repeat?

When Steve Bucknor surprisingly (or shockingly, as some would say) turned down Monty Panesar's appeal against last man Sreesanth, all his past indiscretions against Indian team and its players were forgotten. For, that was as plum as a rather large plum from a big plum tree in Plumshire! To me, it was also the most definitive moment of the final day of the intensely fought first test at Lords. Simply because without it, everything including Karthik's gritty 60, MS Dhoni's gallant 76 n.o, his stand with VVS Laxman or even the heavenly intervention would have been rendered ineffective.

Much as I would have preferred to see the first test end in an unambiguous manner rather than a rain forced draw, I was also relieved that India luckily wriggled out of what potentially could have been a series costing loss. In recent past Indian team has found itself agonisingly close to victory, most notably during the test series in Caribbean last year, when they failed to dismiss the WI tail enders both at Antigua and St Lucia. May be India deserved the rub of green too!

Indians may have escaped defeat, but make no mistake, their batsmen are scarred. If a young and second string English attack can so rattle the 'famed' Indian line up, I don't want to imagine what a full fledged seam attack of Flintoff, Hoggard and Harmison was capable of. And we aren't even talking of Simon Jones. There are questions asked of the Indian middle order, and rightly so.

Sachin Tendulkar finds himself in the spotlight and as often was the case for last couple of years, all for wrong reasons. Along with Rahul Dravid he is still the 'untouchable' as far as selectors are concerned. But it may not be for long. This series could well answer the questions that his critics have raised on his reliability as a frontline batsmen. Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman seem to play to survive the next test. Atleast it appears so. If Sachin still has couple of tests to prove a point or two to his critics, Ganguly and VVS won't be so fortunate. One of them will have to make way for Yuvraj, who is too good a player to be sitting on the bench when others on the field are either failing or are only moderately successful.

The bowlers meanwhile have come out of the Lords test with their reputation enhanced. If not for their efforts, India would not have possibly taken this game into the fifth day. I believe they have a more prominent role to play in the remaining tests, for, Trent Bridge and Kennington Oval will offer more help to bowlers than Lords.

India has a 100% record of winning the series when they have forced a draw in the first test in England. The 1971 series was won without 'meaningful' contribution from batsmen. 1986 was more of a all round effort, with almost equal contributions from both bowlers and batsmen. If India are to maintain that record, they will need batsmen to set aside their 'tentativitis' while facing the swinging ball and bowlers to continue their good work.

Will the real Chandra, Vengsarkar and Chetan Sharma from current squad stand up please?

Lords Test, Potter Mania and the Blank Out

What does one do if he is smitten, equally, by the ‘Potter Mania’ on one hand and the good old genre of gentleman’s game called ‘Test Cricket’ on the other? Saturday dawned upon with a mad scramble to get hold of the ‘Deathly Hallows’. That the book was last in its series and over 600 pages long did not help in making the choice less difficult.

It was ‘Star Cricket’ that unwittingly solved this conundrum by blanking out the first test. If you are living in India, this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. It happens every time a new sports channel sprouts up from nowhere. ESPN - Star Sports already has two channels in their bouquet, exclusively dedicated to sports. What value did they bring by having a third channel is beyond imagination, if one discounts the ‘raking in moolah at the expense of end user’ factor. With cable distribution largely in the hands of unorganized sector, I suspect, it isn’t the end of travail for sports fans in the country.

But having your cable feed blanked, comes with its own fringe benefits. I took this opportunity to tune in to BBC’s Radio Five Live. Listening to the likes of Boycott, Henry Blofeld, Gavaskar and Christopher Martin Jenkins was a throwback to the 1980s, when live telecast was still in its nascent stages in India. To some extent, it alleviated the gloom of having missed out on a test match at Lords.

The Lords test itself is tantalizingly poised. Like the two England wickets that tilted the balance slightly towards India on first day, Jaffer’s wicket last evening couldn’t have come at a better time for England. At 145/4, it reminds me of the first test against Australia at Brisbane in 2003. Then, Australia, having scored 323 in their first essay, had reduced India to 127/4. Gangly was fighting the demons of fast bowling, both in his mind and on the field. In company of VVS Laxman added 145 priceless runs for the fifth wicket and in the process not only scored his first century in Australia, but also earned a creditable draw for India.

Coincidentally, that match was also marred by weather. Weather permitting, this one looks dead set for a result. Indian bowlers have got their team back into the match after letting them down on the first day. Can the batsmen do the same for their team on day three?

As for Harry Potter’s last book, I would rather disclose not its content. But a word on my favourite charm/magical spell from the HP series - The Patronus Charm - which conjures an incarnation of the caster's innermost positive feelings, such as joy, hope, or the desire to survive, known as a Patronus.

I expect Indian team to conjure up a good Patronus Charm to shield themselves from First Test Blues on an overseas tour.

Expecto Patronum!