A tame farewell

The sense of urgency was unmistakable as the sun set behind the PCA Stadium on Tuesday. The match, meandering towards a dull draw, was called off early in the evening on the fifth day to help in transporting the bulky red-and-blue baggage of the English team to their chartered flight

The sense of urgency was unmistakable as the sun set behind the PCA Stadium on Tuesday. The match, meandering towards a dull draw, was called off early in the evening on the fifth day to help in transporting the bulky red-and-blue baggage of the English team to their chartered flight, which was set to leave at 9.30 pm for Dubai.

The Indians looked pretty eager too as they rammed in the overs required for play to be called off an hour ahead of schedule with England at 64/1. With the Pakistan tour called off, this is the longest break for Team India since 2006, but Subramanium Badrinath and Murali Vijay were all set to hop on to the early morning flight to play some domestic cricket after two weeks in the nets, and Rahul Dravid was ready to head for Mumbai to reiterate that his first-innings knock here was no mirage.

Not far behind

Now that the series is over, the extra policeman are suddenly missing from the Chandigarh streets, and the Taj hotel is no longer a fortress. Coming to India after the terror attacks, England played some hard cricket, and though they were involved in two Tests as compared to the four Australia that had played earlier this year, the competition was twice as riveting.

Contrary to perception, the visitors didn8217;t merely make a symbolic appearance, but dominated five out of 10 match-days in this series. Kevin Pietersen may not have laid his hands on the trophy, losing 1-0, but England did succeed in halting skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni8217;s winning steak by forcing a draw here in Mohali. They matched India in individual performances as well. Pietersen8217;s 144 in Mohali was as special as Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar8217;s knocks had been in Chennai, Andrew Strauss8217;s two centuries in Chennai were comparable with Gautam Gambhir8217;s 179 and 97 here, and Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad and James Anderson bowled at par with Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

All in all, another Test series win was the perfect icing on the cake for India in an eventful 2008, while England returned home with their heads held high and their reputation intact.

Artificial excitement

But the cricket on Tuesday did not have any real excitement. The final six-ball burst from Mahendra Singh Dhoni 8212; bowling between a healthy 120-127 kmph with VVS Laxman keeping wickets 8212; was the best PR exercise for spectators, better than the mock soft-drink fight between Ishant, Zaheer, Dhoni and Yuvraj during the presentation ceremony, with Harbhajan Singh8217;s attempt to switch-hit finishing a close third.

India continued batting on Day Five, delayed again by fog, but were more aggressive than they had been on Monday. Yuvraj started the surge, hitting effortlessly over long-on and square-leg 8212; he smacked Broad for two consecutive sixes 8212; as Gambhir joined the fun. Both quickly got past their 50s, but India batted on after lunch, declaring only after Yuvraj was run out for 86 and Gambhir had fallen three short of a ton.

Story continues below this ad

Leaving England with 403 to chase from a scheduled 43 overs, they got the wicket of Alastair Cook, caught off Zaheer Khan at second slip, but couldn8217;t make any further inroads as Ian Bell 24 and Strauss 21 stood firm until stumps.

As India gathered for a little huddle at the end, the visitors deserved a vote of thanks too.

Gautam Gambhir interview Page 22